Bureaucratic obstacles stall efforts to improve public health in Midtown

The coalition created to address public safety concerns in Manhattan’s Garment District has been plagued by legislative and administrative hurdles.

---

An interagency coalition dedicated to improving public safety in the Garment District has struggled to make progress due to operational challenges, according to sources involved in the effort.

The Midtown Community Improvement Coalition was formed in July to address narcotics usage in areas of the Midtown West neighborhood surrounding transit hubs Penn Station and the Port Authority. But legislative setbacks and the limited scope of government agencies have complicated its mission.

“Coordinating and utilizing existing tools and resources across a range of social services and enforcement agencies, we endeavor to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of all residing, working, commuting, or visiting this area daily,” Midtown South Community Council President Brian Weber said in a statement.

The area has a high concentration of social services, including needle exchange programs. Some coalition members have questioned whether these harm reduction programs provide the proper support for those struggling with drug abuse and mental health issues, according to a source involved in the coalition who asked for anonymity to speak about the coalition’s issues.

“It’s a good intention, but is support for people who are struggling with addiction just to hand them clean syringes or crack pipes?” the individual said.

Coalition members Barbara Blair and Tom Harris have expressed frustration with New York decriminalizing the sale and possession of syringes and expanding harm reduction programs.

“The city’s and state’s decriminalization of lower-level offenses brought these challenges to our streets, parks and pedestrian plazas,” Blair and Harris wrote in a New York Post opinion piece. “The consequence has been a level of disorder that cannot and should not be ignored.”

Housing Works, which provides a needle exchange program in the area and has advocated to open its own overdose prevention center, didn’t return a request for comment.

In 2023, 21% of all narcotics prosecutions in New York City occurred in the Midtown South Precinct, according to data from the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

The coalition has also faced challenges with the limited power of city agencies and the understaffed NYPD. 

City Council Member Erik Bottcher, a Democrat representing parts of Manhattan’s west side including Times Square and the Garment District, has suggested that more social workers in the area could help alleviate the strain on local police officers.

“Police officers are not equipped to address the underlying problems that are the root causes of much of this behavior, nor is that their role or responsibility,” Bottcher wrote in a social media post.

Bottcher has introduced legislation to the City Council to have the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene place social workers in NYPD precincts and called for expanding the B-HEARD program.

“People need help right now,” Bottcher wrote. “Our neighborhoods need help right now. The status quo cannot be allowed to continue.”