New York City Congressman Ritchie Torres is eviscerating Gov. Kathy Hochul for her “passive” stance on an insidious open-air drug market festering in the South Bronx.
A Post exposé revealed that the area known as “The Hub” — a commercial zone between Melrose and Mott Haven avenues that encompasses Roberto Clemente Plaza — has become a junkie wasteland despite city officials’ years-long pledge to end the ceaseless squalor.
Torres, who is eyeing a run for governor, wrote in a strongly worded letter to Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams that in addition to amending New York’s lax bail and stringent evidence-discovery laws, the state must grant Hizzoner greater authority to place individuals with severe mental illness and chemical addiction into involuntary care — whether it takes the form of inpatient commitment or Outpatient Assisted Treatment (OAT).
“The Governor would never tolerate an open-air drug market outside of the governor’s mansion,” the Democratic Bronx pol said in the missive.
“The State’s do-nothing approach and the City’s ad-hoc approach has led to a game of whack-a-mole in which the NYPD temporarily removes the open-air drug market, only to see it re-emerge almost overnight.”
Torres questioned why residents are “forced to see drug addicts injecting themselves with fentanyl in the presence of their children — all in broad daylight” and demanded that New Yorkers living in the area be given “the same standard of public safety and quality of life as everyone else.”
Efforts by City Hall and the NYPD to permanently clamp down on the open-air drug market have been unsuccessful over the years.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio dedicated $8 million to fight the opioid epidemic in The Bronx, and after taking office, Adams continued efforts to try to scrub “The Hub,” launching what City Hall called a “comprehensive, multi-agency approach” against drug activity and associated problems there.
But even as City Hall-driven efforts – including an October-to-November enforcement sweep – cleaned up thousands of syringes, handed out overdose reversal kits and led to dozens of arrests, the dismal conditions remain stubbornly persistent.
“What the Bronx needs is not a short-term band-aid but a long-term solution to the crisis in the Hub,” Torres wrote. “What we deserve and demand is not a temporary relocation of the drug users and dealers but a permanent removal of the open-air drug market itself, which has become a deepening rot at the commercial core of the South Bronx.”
The Bronx rep pointed to surging recidivism as part of the problem.
“Criminals feel more emboldened than ever before to use and sell drugs out in the open, confident that the criminal justice system will never hold them accountable and keep releasing them back onto the streets,” Torres said.
“The recidivists know the rules of the game and know how to game the broken system to break the rules.”
Hochul spokesman Avi Small fired back in a statement to The Post, “We’re not taking public safety advice from a politician who supported defunding $1 billion from the NYPD and voted to decriminalize public urination.
“Governor Hochul is committed to public safety which is why she fought to change the bail laws to give judges more discretion and crack down on repeat offenders, and will introduce legislation this year to fix involuntary commitment.”
Torres’ call for action comes just over a week after Hochul pledged to make it easier to involuntarily commit and treat dangerous mentally ill New Yorkers in the wake of a spate of violent subway crime — although details of the plan have been blasted for being vague.
The gov said she’d finally tighten “involuntary commitment standards,” as well as a bill involving Kendra’s Law, “improving the process through which a court can order certain individuals to participate in Assisted Outpatient Treatment while also making it easier for individuals to voluntarily sign up for this treatment.”
Last week, Adams vowed to help mentally ill and homeless New Yorkers as a matter of priority during his State of the City address.
Part of his solution is an ambitious five-year proposal — which is set to include a new facility to house and treat mentally ill New Yorkers — and again called on the governor to expand the city’s powers to remove mentally ill New Yorkers from public spaces.
Adams’ camp did not respond to a Post request for comment on Torres’ letter.
