The recent incidents of deadly violence on Roosevelt Ave. — two murders committed in broad daylight within days of each other last month — underscore the fact that we need a lot more than trash bins and video cameras to make Roosevelt Ave. safe.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m in favor of the proposed expansion of the 82nd St. Business Improvement District, which would cover more than 800 businesses on Roosevelt Ave. from 81st St. to 104th St. Fresh paint, additional trash cans and video cameras are certainly welcome. And banding together under the banner of the BID would be good for the small merchants and vendors along the avenue.
But Roosevelt Ave. is referred to as the old Times Square, and for good reason. When police successfully cracked down on prostitution in Times Square and midtown in the 1980s, much of the business simply moved to Roosevelt Ave., where it is fueled, in part, by the sale of foreign-born women into sexual slavery.
These women, kidnapped from their homelands or lured here with false promises of a better life, often land at Kennedy Airport and, within hours, are prostituted on and around Roosevelt Ave. As prostitution has flourished, so have street sales of drugs, fake IDs and forged official documents, such as passports and driver licenses.
For all of the illicit, dangerous activities that have plagued Roosevelt Ave. for decades, legitimate businesses have managed to survive and, in many instances, thrive there.
In no small way, that is thanks to the police’s presence and vigilance, which have served to help shoppers feel safe and make the stretch of Roosevelt Ave. from 74th to 104th Sts. as bustling a commercial strip as any in Queens.
What perhaps has contributed most to the success of both the legitimate and illicit businesses, however, is the area’s extensive transportation infrastructure and proximity to some of the city’s most popular destinations.
At the eastern end of the avenue are Citi Field, the National Tennis Center and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The 7 train runs from these locations westward, all along Roosevelt Ave., to Grand Central Terminal. Roosevelt Ave. is also accessible via multiple bus lines and the Long Island Railroad, and it’s just minutes from La Guardia and Kennedy Airports.
That accessibility and proximity to high-volume destinations is where Roosevelt Ave.’s great commercial potential lies.
But for the avenue to be safer for local families, more profitable for businesses and a more potent engine of economic activity and employment opportunities, what is needed most is a level of commitment from city and state government as strong and as determined as the investment we noted in the transformation of Times Square.
That level of commitment has been sorely lacking. With a new mayor, though, there is new hope. Whoever it is must reassemble the Roosevelt Ave. Task Force.
Originally convened in 1991, it drew from the Police, Fire and Buildings Departments, along with other agencies. The task force was so successful , it was allowed to lapse after just four years in action.
Whether by bringing back the task force as previously constituted, or through a newly devised boots-on-the-ground assault, our next mayor must act to rescue Roosevelt Ave. from the pimps, counterfeiters and other dangerous characters, and help it realize its vast untapped potential.
Sen. Jose Peralta represents Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst and part of Astoria.
