Jackson Heights Life

There is a very severe problem with drunkards living in front of the old Burger King on 82nd Street, and smaller groups scattered around 82nd and 37th Avenues.  I cannot walk by the Burger King location anymore--it is rancid with urine and excrement.  The local city council person, Danny Dromm, has been MIA since the start of COVID, and was not much help before that in terms of cracking down on this disorderly conduct.  Unfortunately, focusing on quality of life concerns in the neighborhood is not a priority for any of the pols.

Councilmember Francisco Moya covers 82nd Street, not Councilmember Dromm.  So if you have concerns about the conditions on 82nd Street - as it relates to the men hanging out and the proliferation of street vendors - then you MUST contact Councilmember Moya as follows:

fmoya@council.nyc.gov 
his staff person Phiviline Solano at psolano@council.nyc.gov

His district office: Tel: 718-651-1917

Please contact his office on a regular basis. As the old adage states: The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
That is not to say that expressing your concerns to Councilmember Dromm is not warranted, so do both!!

Something needs to be done about this, and I don't just mean the drunks at the post office or on 82nd Street. There is also a group of men who drink outside of the grocery on 86th and 37th who like to harass women as they walk by, not to mention the skinny, moron of a drug dealer operating openly across the street (he's brought some real stand up citizens to the area). Our current elected officials (Dromm and Moya) are useless. The candidates for District 25 seem to think that the only thing that matters is OpEn StReEEEEEETS and the choices for District 21 consist of Moya (useless), someone who appears to be functionally illiterate, a domestic abuser/felon, and a social worker who seems to only want to give people good vibes. I'm not convinced that any of these candidates are going to do anything to combat these issues. The 115th clearly doesn't care, and hasn't for some time.

I've been calling 311, as well as Dromm and Moya's offices, about these things regularly (several times a week) for the better part of the last nine months with no positive results. My 311 complaints are closed within 10 minutes of me calling. Moya's office simply doesn't respond. At least Dromm's office sends a stock email.

The end result is that we have people changing their daily routines, avoiding certain stores, and feeling unnecessarily uncomfortable in their surroundings. This isn't right and it isn't good for our community.

This is what I walk past every morning on 82nd Street.  Not the most cheering sight .

The people discussed in this thread are human beings with substance abuse and/or mental health issues. Instead of calling for policing and punishment, how about some compassion? If one feels strongly about not wanting to see people passed out drunk on the sidewalks in the neighborhood, consider joining or starting a group to give them the help and support they need to get them off the streets and simultaneously improve their well-being and the health of the neighborhood.

Twmeb, I prefer not to step over human shit  and piss while I walk my daughter to school in the morning.  Is that too much to ask?

I’m sure you have a foyer or perhaps even a back garden, if you feel they are in need, please don’t be a hypocrite and invite them over to your extra space.

The JH populace in favor of stepping over human waste is non-existent. The question is how to solve the problem. I do not have extra space, or the resources required, to house and rehabilitate 10 to 20 people who are alcoholic. Perhaps we can work together to propose possible solutions, not just vilify the downtrodden.

The people discussed in this thread are human beings with substance abuse and/or mental health issues. Instead of calling for policing and punishment, how about some compassion? If one feels strongly about not wanting to see people passed out drunk on the sidewalks in the neighborhood, consider joining or starting a group to give them the help and support they need to get them off the streets and simultaneously improve their well-being and the health of the neighborhood.

I've seen people from organizations similar to the ones you are suggesting approaching these people. Made no difference. So yeah, I'm worried and I don't know what the solution is.

A few weeks ago someone clearly intoxicated pushed another one very violently in front of the subway stairs. The second person fell on the ground hard. He missed my 5 yo by 3 or 4 inches. This time. What about the next? This was at 5 pm. We were just trying to return home from afterschool.