Harlem Leaders Sound Alarm Over 125th Street Safety Issues

HARLEM, NY — Leaders of a Harlem business group are asking the city to address safety and shoplifting issues along the busy 125th Street corridor, citing weeks of growing concerns punctuated by the recent shooting of a sanitation worker.

"We need public safety from the city," said Barbara Askins, president and CEO of the 125th Street Business Improvement District. She cited shoplifting incidents at businesses like Raymour & Flanigan, Whole Foods, and the restaurants Red Rooster and Corner Social.

Most troubling, on Sunday, one of the BID's private sanitation workers was shot while doing clean-up work on 125th Street between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue. Askins said the worker was an innocent bystander to a fight, and was shot once in the buttocks. (Police confirmed the afternoon shooting, saying the victim had non-life-threatening injuries.)

Just days before the shooting, the BID had penned a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, complaining of rising shoplifting, illegal street vending and mental health crises happening along the corridor — including the same corner where the shooting would later take place.

Indeed, petty crimes like burglary and car theft have all risen this year in the 28th Precinct, which covers the central stretch of 125th Street, according to NYPD statistics. Burglaries, grand larcenies, felony assaults and car thefts are all at higher levels this year than the same period last year; and higher, too, than where they stood 11 years ago.

In their letter, the BID's main demand centered on the "125th Street Task Force" — a group of 32 police officers on foot patrol, which NYPD leaders promised to implement on 125th Street during a meeting with local leaders in August, according to Askins. Those officers would have patrolled 125th Street between St. Nicholas and Madison avenues, Askins said, aiming to deter petty crime in response to neighborhood concerns.

But with just weeks to go before de Blasio leaves office, the patrols have not materialized, according to Askins. The mayor's office did not return a request for comment about the program.

"Your signature on the 125th Street Task Force Initiative is all that is needed to restore vitality to 125th Street and ensure a safe and prosperous holiday season and beyond," the BID wrote to the mayor.

Members of the 125th Street task Force were out on this beautiful day handing out face masks to the East Harlem community. #eastharlem pic.twitter.com/6Inu02GKaN
— NYPD 25th Precinct (@NYPD25Pct) May 19, 2020

Carey King, director of the East Harlem nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, said there is a perception that open drug use and mental health crises that had previously been more prevalent east of Lexington Avenue have now spread west to the central 125th Street corridor.

A similarly-named NYPD task force launched in 2015 has helped improve things on East Harlem's stretch of 125th Street, King said. (It was unclear whether the foot patrols promised in August were an extension of that task force or a new group entirely.)

Recently, however, the squad has been hampered by a loss of officers, leaders told King.

"NYPD doesn’t have enough people to keep pace with retirements," she said.

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