Harlem Facing 'Public Health Crisis' From Drug Use, BP Says

HARLEM, NY — Drug use and street filth have reached untenable levels in Harlem, Manhattan's top elected official said this week, asking city and state authorities to take action against what she called a crisis of public health and public safety.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer made the plea in a news conference on Sunday, saying the government must do more to treat vulnerable people who congregate on the 125th Street/Park Avenue corridor in Harlem — as well as parts of Midtown like Times Square and the Garment District that are seeing similar problems.

"We are defined by the way we treat people on the margins," Brewer said. "They deserve to live, they deserve to get treatment, and our well-being is linked to their well-being."

In a letter sent Friday to city officials, Brewer asked that money from Attorney General Letitia James's recent multimillion-dollar settlement with opioid manufacturers be directed toward public health programs in Harlem.

Drug use and street sanitation have been a major topic in Harlem for years. During the pandemic, things have escalated — in a rally earlier this month, hundreds of residents gathered to call on officials to reduce the density of opioid treatment centers in the neighborhood, which advocates say have been placed disproportionately in Harlem.

Brewer alluded to those concerns in her letter, also noting that residents of the Wards Island homeless shelter often gather in East Harlem after taking the M35 bus.

"Drug dealers are preying on the people who are getting support from methadone," Brewer said, citing conversations with the local police precinct.

Another focus of Brewer's letter was the prevalence of urine and feces covering the neighborhood's sidewalks. Alongside her at Sunday's news conference was Carey King, director of the East Harlem nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, who said her organization deploys cleaners to wash the neighborhood's streets seven days a week.

"But it’s not enough to keep up with what we’re dealing with," King said, noting that "there's no city agency that deals with feces and urine."

Brewer, in her letter, called for the city to set up 24-hour public toilets and increase sanitation services like daily power-washing on 125th Street. Other suggestions included increasing staffing at the NYPD's 25th Precinct, conducting patrols in Randall's Island Park, creating a shuttle-bus service to take Wards Island shelter residents to appointments in lieu of the M35 bus, and improving coordination between social-service providers and the street outreach teams participating in the new B-HEARD program.

Also in attendance Sunday were leaders of the Greater Harlem Coalition, a neighborhood group pushing to reduce the number of opioid treatment centers in the neighborhood.

Shawn Hill, one of the coalition's founders, said the group "wholeheartedly" supports Brewer's proposals. Another leader, Joshua Clennon, told Patch that the group wants the city to expand the use of the addiction drug buprenorphine to lower-income patients and create a redistribution plan for methadone clinics to reduce Harlem's "over-saturation."

A spokesperson for Brewer said that the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reached out to schedule a meeting after receiving her letter. City Hall, the NYPD and the Human Resources Administration, which handles homeless services, have not responded, Brewer's office said.

Have a Harlem news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.

Related coverage:

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• Harlem Group Asks For Action On Drug Use, Homelessness
• Harlem Mental Health Policing Pilot Growing After Promising Start
• Mayor Visits East Harlem Blocks Troubled By Drug Use