Problem Plagued Block in East Village Making Progress in its Latest Clean up Drive

An effort to restore order to a stretch along E. 14th St. that had emerged as a center of drug dealing homelessness and garbage is experiencing a turnaround, Mayor Eric Adams insisted on Aug. 13 at his weekly press avail.

He had pledged $1 million to build a mobile command station at the corner near E. 14th St. near Avenue A that was the site of triple stabbing June 28 that left one person dead in dispute between homeless people that police said was tied to drugs.

“This has been a real issue,” Adams acknowledge about the mayhem that has plagued 14th St. “I spent a lot of time walking the corridor of 125th Street, 14th Street, and other parts of our city that have historically had real problems with quality-of-life issues. We announced our community improvement coalition to protect public safety, improve the quality of life on 14th Street.”

He had kicked off his multi-agency public safety push on Aug. 8 where he was joined by City Council members Keith Powers and Carlina Rivera as well as Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, NYC Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter, and NYC Commissioner Mental Health and Hygiene Dr. Ashwin Vasan.

He said it was part of his “Community Link” initiative, the “14th Street Community Improvement Coalition” is a result of an ongoing partnership between the Adams administration and community partners to address recent deterioration in the neighborhood.

“Our administration does not and will not tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes,” Adams said at the initial press conference.

”I really want to thank council member Keith Powers and council members Carlina Rivera because they know how important it is to work together.”

In a deadly triple stabbing encounter on June 23, one person was killed and two others were seriously injured in a knife attack by a homeless man. The following day, Alejandro Piedra, 30, was arrested and charged with murder for killing Clemson Coxfield, 38, during a fight between homeless people on East 14th Street near Ave. A.

In January, a short distance from the scene of the fatal attack on June 23, John Mach, a caretaker at Immaculate Conception Church on E.14th St. near First Ave. was stabbed in the neck by a homeless person that the worker tried to prevent from urinating between parked cars just outside the church during Mass. Police arrested a suspect, identified as Robert Ortiz, days later at a homeless shelter in the Bowery.

The entire south side of the block has long rankled locals. Church leaders at Immaculate Conception Church, which was forced to close its elementary school a year ago after 150 years of operation due to declining enrollment, said the permanent presence of homeless certainly did not help its efforts to rebuild enrollment after the pandemic. School enrollment had tumbled to less than 200 students in the pre-k to eighth grade school and had lost close to $1 million in its final two years of operation before the New York Archdiocese decided to close the school as part of its last series of Catholic school closures.

To help with the church finances, the parish has been running weekend flea market in its back lot. But that attracted unlicensed vendors who set up shop up and down the avenue, selling canned goods, electronics, clothes and other products that locals have long dubbed a “thieves market.”

In the June 23 incident, police said that Alexandro Piedra was trying to score drugs by trading goods that he had stolen. But two other homeless people were not pleased with the quality of the stolen goods and refused to swap them for drugs. That is when Piedra reportedly attacked.

”You cannot go and give some a stat about how safe the city is if they feel unsafe,” said Mayor Adams in announcing the clean up effort. “So we want to make sure we create that environment where people are safe,” he said.