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Mayor Eric Adams took a victory lap at the seedy “Broadway of the Bronx” Wednesday, one week after the city launched a crackdown to rid the “Hub” of trash and junkies — although the effort is looking more like a Band Aid than a cure.
One block from Adams’ press conference at Roberto Clemente Park on the success of the cleanup effort, zonked-out junkies were spotted passed out right outside the park, including one man sleeping it off on top of a trash can and another hunched over with his pants down.
The Post blew the whistle on the drug-plagued area between Melrose and Mott avenues, where more than 300 storefronts and 50 commercial properties co-exist with passed-out junkies, used needles and trash strewn around their businesses.
Last week, US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) issued a new report on problems in the area, saying the issues remain — including as many as 20 overdoses in a single week in and around the park.
“The City of New York has fundamentally failed to deliver a durable solution to a crisis that continues to spiral out of control,” Torres said last week.
“The city’s response has amounted to little more than a game of whack-a-mole — briefly suppressing illicit activity, only for the drug market to re-emerge with greater intensity.”
One day later, more than a half dozen city agencies swept into the South Bronx neighborhood, cleaning up piles of trash, beefing up police patrols, and clearing the park of drugged-out vagrants.
Despite signs that there’s still more work to do, Adams said the city will remain focused on the area.
“Last week, after seeing reports of poor conditions at The Hub, we sent our city agencies to make things clean and safe for everyone,” the mayor wrote on X. “We won’t let any areas be neglected.”
“@NYCSantination, @NYPDNews and @NYC_DOG will stay on the ground to maintain and further improve conditions,” Adams added.
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