Op-Ed | Improving New Yorkers’ quality of life block by block

Recently, I was with community leaders and senior officials in our administration on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, which is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in our city. It is where New Yorkers from all over the world come to live, work, raise their families, and strive for the American Dream. However, Roosevelt Avenue — a major thoroughfare with the 7 train running above it — has become a site of crime, disorder, and exploitation as illegal brothels, illicit vendors, and unlicensed food carts have taken over and quality-of-life offenses have skyrocketed.

It was not my first-time visiting the neighborhood. In January, I was there as we shut down 12 illegal brothels. And year to date, the NYPD has made over 3,000 arrests and issued over 9,500 summonses in the area. But we know arrests and summonses alone won’t get the job done, and that we must bring together partners from across government to address the challenges on Roosevelt Avenue and deliver upstream solutions that tackle the problem at the source. That is why we answered the calls of residents and businesses by launching “Operation Restore Roosevelt,” a massive cross-agency operation led by the NYPD.

Operation Restore Roosevelt draws on the expertise of more than a dozen city agencies, including the NYPD, FDNY, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Homeless Services, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYC Parks, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Small Business Services, the Department of Transportation, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, and the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health. The initiative also involves our partners at the MTA, the New York State Police, and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office.

We know that it takes all of us, working together, to ensure that these illegal brothels are closed, that the victims of sex trafficking are supported, and that residents and businesses can live and work in an area that is not bombarded by theft and illegal vendors.

Operation Restore Roosevelt builds on our public safety and quality-of-life initiatives on 14th Street and in Midtown by expanding our efforts block by block and neighborhood by neighborhood to make sure our city continues to be a clean and safe place where families can thrive.

I am proud to announce that thanks to our efforts, New York City has seen nine straight months of crime reduction, and overall crime continues to trend downward in New York City. Homicides, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto are all down year to date. And transit crime is also down year to date. These are significant achievements. But they are the result of continual hard work and coordinated action — like the work being done on Roosevelt Avenue.

We came into office with a clear mission: to make New York a safer, more affordable city. And we will not rest until we have accomplished that mission, block by block and street by street, with every agency giving their all for the people of New York City.