While New York is talking about homeless encampments on the outskirts of the Intrepid Museum, those who work in the heart of the city say Times Square and other points on the West Side are suffering from rampant drug use and public urination.
The massive homeless encampment on West 45th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, according to reports from the New York Post, is causing locals strife as an eyesore, with some claiming people nearby were using drugs. Upon investigation, amNewYork found a few meager shanties in small patches at the location occupied by several individuals.
One homeless man at the encampment spoke to amNewYork after published reports accused his encampment of proliferating a massive eyesore on the outskirts of the iconic Intrepid Museum. The 41-year-old dweller of the camp, who identified himself as Shokeok, spoke about the notoriety his encampment has received.
“They are complaining, that means that they’re not doing anything to help us fix our situation,” Shokeok said as he munched on some pizza near several umbrellas that made up his home.
Shokeok also told amNewYork that he and his fellow rough sleepers try to avoid locals to avoid unwanted attention while also keeping the sidewalks clear.
“They avoid us. We usually avoid them. We try to make sure that the walkways are clear enough for them to get through,” Shokeok said. “This is the block with the fewest tenants in the neighborhood, almost everywhere. The block with the least traffic. It’s wide enough for us to have space and a walkway. There’s a lot of different calculations that go into finding comfort when there’s nowhere for comfort.”
What we saw on the West Side: Homelessness, poverty and apparent mental illness
Meanwhile, while other news outlets have been focusing on the pepperings of encampments near the Hudson, workers in Times Square told amNewYork they are crying out for help from disorderly conduct and threats of violence in one of the world’s most iconic tourist hubs.
Workers say their lives are being made hell from much more than just encampments. From the corner of West 42nd Street and 7th Avenue to the streets and avenues near the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th Avenue, amNewYork observed on Wednesday numerous shirtless individuals lying out in a stupor, men ranting and raving to themselves, and others meandering either on bare feet or with just one shoe on, begging for cash.
While documenting the situation, one man who lay next to a concrete traffic barrier leaped to his feet and threatened an amNewYork reporter for taking photographs.
“I will break your camera!” he roared while giving the finger and yelling, leaving several tourists shaking their heads.
According to Liman Ahmed, a man selling bus tours for Topview, this man is a “regular” known to cause havoc.
“Especially him, he is so violent. He is always trying to get someone to fight. My God he is crazy,” Ahmed said. “Everything comes from drugs. They take it right here.”
Ahmed added that in addition to drug use, he often sees public urination right on the street as he works and in the view of passersby. He says he often has to call 911 when left with no other choice.
“Sometimes they (police) take them away. Maybe two or three weeks later, they come back and start again. It’s always the same, they will always come back,” Ahmed said. “It’s not easy, though. That’s what we face. You see them stealing. The next time you see them peeing. Sometimes I do approach them and ask ‘Why are you doing this?’ This is where you sit, and this is where you live.’”
Tourist complaints
Much of this abhorrent behavior occurs outside tourist attractions like Madame Tussauds and Dave & Buster’s. A security guard at the nearby Hilton Hotel, who asked to remain nameless but has been on the job for about two decades, said that things in the area have grown increasingly worse.
“This block is always homeless people walking back and forth. Sometimes you have to kick them out because they are here all the time asking for money,” the security guard said, adding that he sees people using the cement blocks to sleep on. “You got those little blocks, it’s like a seat, it’s also a bed sometimes. You can’t do nothing about that because you need safety that protects cars driving on the sidewalk, right? So, we can’t get rid of the blocks, but they use those blocks.”
He also added that guests complain at the sight of human suffering on such broad display, even referring to one shirtless homeless man as “gone” and a “zombie.”
“They (tourists) realize they are in New York, they get a wake-up call. They will say something, they will complain,” he said. “We call the police if we have to, but usually we just tell them to move.”
A source with knowledge of the shirtless individual told amNewYork that he is known in the area and was connected with services and hospitalized after it became apparent amNewYork was making inquiries into the matter.
NYPD says it is cracking down on quality of life problems
According to the NYPD, in the area from 40th to 50th Streets between 6th and 9th Avenues, all major crimes are down year-to-date by 18.4%. Robbery is down by 29.1%, and felony assault is down by 24.7%. Police also say gun arrests are up by 55.6%.
However, they also say that Oath Sumonses, which incorporates public urination, open alcohol containers, disorderly behavior, littering, and more, are up by 20.8%.
According to the Times Square Alliance President Tom Harris, his team has been making efforts to connect those in the area with mental health and housing services, and has been able to reunite some individuals with their families.
Harris also says that his team, which includes two dedicated outreach workers, is aware of the holdouts and is attempting to make inroads with them, including the man who threatened to attack an amNewYork reporter.
“I think we’re doing better than in a lot of areas, but we can certainly always do better. As far as the public urination, when they decriminalized this, they took away any teeth for enforcement, and that presents the police department with a real challenge as far as enforcement. To me, they almost accepted this and gave up, and that’s a challenge that we face every day. And we’re hopeful that the city will come up with more public restrooms that would help alleviate this issue,” Harris said.
A hard life
During a press conference on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked about the encampments near the Intrepid and why they have stayed standing despite his administration’s previous pledge to remove the tents and other structures from public spaces.
“We are focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and on establishing a pipeline to stable housing, not just moving New Yorkers from one place to another place. And so, we made it very clear at the beginning of this year that our approach was going to be one where we would have DHS outreach teams. The work of conducting daily outreach to homeless New Yorkers who were living in an encampment following the notice of that encampment sweep. So, those would be a full week’s worth of daily engagements and outreach once that notice was provided. And the goal of that outreach is to ensure that we’re building trust, that we’re actually able to connect those New Yorkers with services, and that we can connect them with any other things that they need,” Mamdani said. “To this specific encampment that you brought up, we’re going to look into the details of that.”
The Mayor’s office did not immediately respond for request for comment regarding the Times Square situation on Wednsday.
The Adams administration became infamous in the homeless community for what became known as the sweeps, a collaboration of police, homeless services, and sanitation workers who would tear down encampments and often throw out the belongings of the unhoused who refused to comply.
Famously, occupants of an East Village encampment dubbed Anarchy Row became a focal point of resistance against the sweeps in 2022, even seeing the homeless individuals there arrested on multiple occasions.
According to Shokeok, the Mamdaini administration has not been as heavy-handed.
“There has been less targeting because it seems like during Adams, there was constant surveillance or constant checkups just to make sure that we’re where they want us to be, when they want us to be, and they were a lot more controlling by using police and sanitation. It’s been a while since I heard any of my people say that sanitation threw away all of their stuff again. So, we are gonna keep it on a temporary movement type scheduling, so we don’t get too sore on the eyes and have the opportunity for sanitation to come clean up,” Shokeok said.
When asked about what he wanted the public to know about his situation, he indicated that he wanted to be treated as a human being and be communicated with, not tossed around like garbage.
“It’s a hard life, no matter whether you’re on this side of the interview or that side of the interview. Either way, we still got to live our lives,” Shokeok said. “The homeless rate is just going to keep rising, and there’s not going to be any solution in sight. We have to put our resources together and put our willpower together. It’s not just about what they can offer us-it’s about whether they can help us get to these appointments? Can they make sure that we’re in an environment that makes us comfortable enough to not want to go out and stay out and be out?”
