Quality of Life and Public Safety (Homeless on Streets)

I have lived at 136 Waverly Pl at 6th Av for 30 years. This is not homelessness as much as drug addicts and vagrants who are more aggressive and emboldened to utilize drugs in full view, fight at all hours including the early morning hours, frighten and accost pedestrians, including many w small children and women traveling alone, urinate and masturbate in full view or barely hidden between cars or trash bins, defecate (!) on the street and between cars, literally change clothes (one woman in a wheelchair deficates from the wheelchair on 6th Ave, changes her clothes and often right in front of children heading to the Catholic school around the corner on Washington Place) and more. I travel throughout the city and in many much more modest neighborhoods there is no such filth and rampant discard for basic laws and regulations that everyone of us abide. I have spoken to the commissioner and many senior police officials, and although they are sympathetic to our concerns, they also appear limited in what they are sanctioned to do. Bottom line, downtown neighbors are becoming NYC’s cesspool. New York stand to lose a tremendous amount of revenue as one of its most touristed spots becomes degraded.

I have been working in the city for over 25 years. Take the subway everywhere. I am usually between the downtown financial district, Chambers area, Chelsea, Penn Station, Times Square, East side. The homelessness is out of control and clearly visible everywhere. It took DeBlasio less than a year to undo all of the clean-up that Bloomberg and Giuliani were able to do. It's all over!

I've lived here more than 30yrs and I want out of this disgusting city !'m a registered democrat and I'd NEVER vote for a demorat again ! They destroy cities !!!

I have lived in Chelsea’s for 5 years now with homeless always being present but never as bad as this year. Especially in the past few months and weeks the problem has become increasingly worse. The homeless issue has exploded with no reaction from city officials or agencies. I like to use the 311 app to ask for homeless assistance for those I see in the neighborhood who need assistance but its harder and harder to do this. Before I knew the familiar faces of those in the neighborhood who needed help but now with this increase it’s harder each day. It’s no longer just those who lived in the shelters but many who just roam the streets falling asleep on benches or in corners wherever they can find to rest. On top of this feces has become an increasingly disgusting issue plaguing the streets. The homeless use our streets as their bathroom and most days I see men who relieve themselves even during the day with people all around. No shame. No cares about their actions. This problem needs to be addressed!

We just moved to the neighborhood (29th btwn 7th and 8th) from Beekman/Sutton and have been quite shocked with how bad the homeless/vagrant problem is in the immediate area. My level of tolerance when it comes to homelessness is high — I understand it’s a systemic problem and these people need help more than anything — but what I’ve experienced day in and day out is unacceptable. In the absence of effective outreach and assistance programs, it unfortunately falls on the police to ensure our streets are safe and clean. Programs that are properly tailored to assisting the homeless stay off the streets are the best approach to dealing with the issue, but those programs either do not exist or operate ineffectively. Until such programs are helping these people in the most productive ways possible, we residents needn’t contend with the daily hazards in the absence of action. Something must be done.

My four year old and I were yelled at by a woman obviously high on drugs outside of my apartment. This woman lives on my street and I see her every day. She makes me frightened to walk by so now I either have to cross in middle of the street or go around the block to walk east from my front door. I also have an 8 month old and am frightened for both of my children’s safety. There are three groups of people permanently living on the south west corner of 15th and 5th and it is stressful with little kids.

Gramercy too!

As someone who works at an accounting job in Manhattan, things with the homeless and panhandling problems has gotten so bad I no longer work late or come in early because then I have to worry if something bad will break out in public before I even make it from point A to point B. Heck, I am currently making plans of getting out of New York and move back to SE Pennsylvania once my lease expires in April next year.

I recently purchased a coop in Chelsea having moved from the West Village where I had lived for over 7 years. I have noticed an uptick in homelessness the past few years but am horrified by my daily encounters in chelsea. W. 23rd St from 6th Ave to the Hudson as well as 6th, 7th and 8th Aves are particularly dodgy. I won’t walk home by myself at night anymore - even if it’s early.

This petition is mentioned in the New York Post today. I lived in Chelsea for two decades, and moved elsewhere in Manhattan about 15 years ago. I still have lots of ties to Chelsea, and when I go down there for whatever reason I can't believe the transformation. Out of affection/nostalgia I get off the train at Penn Station and take a good walk around. (Side note: Too bad the C train runs only on the whim of some lunar calendar or something. It used to be much better.) Anyway, the area around Penn Station has always been sketchy, but the entire neighborhood, from Sixth Avenue to the Hudson, from 34th to 14th, is sometimes like a Penn Station bathroom circa 1989. In 1989 Chelsea wasn't as bad as it is now, which is weird because I could never afford to live there now and yet the quality of public life has degraded so badly.

The streets are disgusting. Get it together

I was born and raised on the Island of Manhattan. I have lived all over the borough, including Chelsea, the Flatiron and Nomad for the last 15 years. The homeless / vagrant situation has definitely gotten increasingly worse over the last few years. After spending 40 years living in this great city, today was the first day that I really thought seriously about leaving. First, at around 11 AM after dropping my young son at a birthday party, I was in Madison Square Park trying to enjoy a coffee while doing some reading for work. It was impossible because of the shirtless homeless man doing his own form of martial arts while yelling very loudly every 30 seconds or so. Then after picking my son up from the party around 1 PM, we continued to have our run-ins with the homeless, vagrants and run of the mill degenerates of lower Manhattan. It started with a stop at Starbucks to grab a bottle of water and snack for my son and to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use the bathroom because one of our “neighbors” had been holed up in the restroom for over 20 minutes. Not to be deterred, we found another restroom in a bar down the street. Yes, I resorted to the bar with my son because it was the only option. No where else for several blocks had a public restroom. And who could blame them. It would just become a place for someone to bath in the sink or shoot up or who knows what. After using the restroom, we headed to a playground on 2nd Avenue and 29th street, Vincent F. Albano Playground. When we walked in, there was one other family and about 10-12 adults unaccompanied by minors sitting around on the benches in the playground. Several of them were drinking and one of them was smoking a cigarette. I called 311 to register a complaint and there was no way to complain about adults unaccompanied by minors hanging out in a playground. If you don’t know, that’s not at all kosher. In fact, it is against the law and with good reason since it is down right creepy. It it is eve

Vote the bums out

Politics can’t justify inaction. Safety is at stake.

Living in Chelsea for decades - not in 70’s, 80’s, 90’s did you ever see this madness. Don’t feel safe walking the neighborhood. Help!

The homeless, mentally ill and addict problem is worse now than I have ever see it in 22 years of living in Greenwich Village. Almost daily there is an issue on our block and every street has someone passed out, panhandling or ranting. It is dystopian.

The situation with the homeless in downtown Manhattan (Chelsea, West Village, East Village, Flatiron, etc) has become downright heartbreaking. While walking around, I'm continually finding myself treading carefully around or through some poor soul's improvised sidewalk bedroom. The overabundance of shuttered businesses (22nd & 7th ave corner store shut for 18 years!) and gloomy scaffoldings have only been making the situation worse. These homeless need to get off the streets and into proper housing and shelters so they can build a life. It's a hazardous situation for the homeless as well as for the residents.

I have lived at London Terrace at 24th Street & Ninth Avenue for over 20 years. I am disgusted and fed up with the Mayor and the City Council not addressing the homeless individuals who have encamped around our buildings. The deterioration and quality of life for the residents paying exorbitant rents and taxes is unacceptable. I voted for DeBlasio and Corey Johnson twice - NEVER AGAIN!! And, DeBlasio, take that ding-a-ling wife of yours back to Brooklyn with you while you're at it. Who elected her?

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I live on west 26 street and am born and raised in New York City I have never seen it this bad, also the brc in chelsea has made the problem worse! Let’s change this!