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This block is in vogue with bums!
Anna Wintour’s posh Greenwich Village block has become a haven for the homeless who turned it into their own outdoor flophouse, frustrated residents and workers told The Post.
At least five other vagrants have moved onto Sullivan Street between East Houston and Bleecker streets since The Post revealed its dodgiest denizen: a pot-puffing, booze-swigging, twerking vagrant named “Tiger,” for the striped orange tail secured to his rump.
The motley crew has assembled a hodgepodge of chairs, storage containers, books, decorative planters, side tables and bedding in front of shuttered businesses in and around the same stretch where the legendary Vogue editor lives in her $11.5 million townhome, part of a preserved stretch of buildings in the MacDougal-Sullivan Historic District.
Besides boozing at all hours, the vagrants shoot up drugs, poop in the street, lie around naked, and harass passersby, neighbors said.
Since The Post’s shocking July 4 report on Tiger, there have been 49 reports to 311 of encampments on that block, and six more calls for homeless person assistance, public data revealed.
“The street is a veritable homeless encampment with homeless people that unfortunately are very strung out and very aggressive,” said a father of two who lives on Sullivan Street and who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the vagrants.
Another local said he saw one man across from Wintour’s lavish four-story, 3,690-square-foot manse with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, splayed out in an alcove and brazenly shooting up drugs.
“Everyday that goes by they do a huge amount of drugs and drink a huge amount of booze and you see them kind of rotting away,” the concerned dad said.
Both his kids, ages 16 and 12, have had terrifying encounters with the encampment.
“One night the one who goes by Tiger chased my son around the street for no reason. My son is 16 and is quite fast so he ran away,” the concerned father added.
And his young daughter got an eyeful of Tiger naked while she was on the way to school.
“My daughter one day, it was a school day, she went by, she said, ‘Oh my God, I just saw everything.’ I try to minimize it. ‘It’s just a body, it’s private parts. It’s not that big a deal.’ But, you know.
“I understand that the laws of the city, the district attorney, they’re not on the cops’ side. However, it’s really out of control.”
Wintour, who snagged the property in 1992 for $1.4 million, did not return a request for comment.
The manager of Thin Cookies on Bleecker Street said they’ve repeatedly called cops to address the encampments, which sandwich the small storefront and leave it littered with trash and feces.
“First it was just [Tiger] now it’s him, his girlfriend, one guy to the right, two guys further over and another guy around the corner,” said Eric Minchan, 33.
“One of the guys, he took a s–t on the door,” he said, referring to the closed shop one storefront east of Thin Cookies.
Most galling is that the encampment is abetted by bleeding heart locals, the worker claimed.
“Three days ago we saw a lady, rich lady, Tiger goes out into her car and goes with her. He returned with bags of stuff,” Minchan said in disbelief.
Another BMW-driving man has made friends with Tiger and possibly warns the group of vagrants when the police are coming, the worker suggested.
“So the police now come more, but you know, I think they have one person around the corner. It’s one neighbor and I think he’s talking with these people when the police come. And these people leave and come back,” Minchan said.
“We think he’s this older person. We always see him driving his BMW and he comes to talk to these people all the time,” Minchan said.
The derelict scene is making some longtime residents pine for the days pine for the days when the mafia controlled the neighborhood.
“When [the mafia] was around they made the rules and when you didn’t follow the rules they did what they had to do,” said Norm, who did not provide a last name.
“Police should be doing the same thing.”
English (US)