“People stopped parking here. People are scared to park here.”
A homeless encampment on Manhattan’s West Side has grown to span roughly 12 city blocks, prompting complaints from residents, workers, and tourist officials over alleged crime, including drug activity and prostitution.
According to a report by the New York Post, dozens of tents and makeshift shelters now stretch from 34th Street to 46th Street along 11th Avenue. The sight has caused issues for local workers and residents, as well as tourists visiting the Intrepid museum.
“We can’t get rid of them,” an unidentified city parks enforcement officer told the outlet. “These ones here are stealing everything… They take what they can. And there are escorts in there too. Prostitutes. I see them, they’re right there.”
“Definitely getting worse,” she added. “People stopped parking here. People are scared to park here.”
Nearby workers have said that open drug dealing and prostitution have become commonplace, with one tent reportedly serving as a gathering place for sex work, drug transactions, or both.
“This is crazy,” said one supervisor at the Jacob Javits Center nearby. “The cops and the sanitation guys and the outreach guys, they clean up one spot and after that day, the next day they’re over here. Then they’re over there. They’re kind of just spreading around.”
The supervisor explained that the worst parts are on 36th and 37th, where it is filled with heroin addicts.
Meanwhile, one vagrant there called socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani “awesome” for allowing the encampment to continue and halting police raids. This comes as city records show that 311 calls complaining about the vagrants increased to 48 this year from 40 in 2025.
Cristyne Nicholas, chair of the New York State Tourism Advisory Council, appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul, said the encampment “doesn’t put New York tourism in a positive light” either.
“The Intrepid Museum is one of New York’s greatest tourist attractions, drawing millions of visitors each year,” she said. “Tourists are forced to walk around squalor and stench. I hope the mayor focuses on this, as he’s promoted tourism during the World Cup. He understands tourism.”