Police shut down 114th Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard Wednesday in a crackdown on alleged drug trafficking.
In the afternoon, a group of police officers blocked off the street to pedestrian and vehicle traffic, but let residents on the block pass through.
Officer Stokes, who declined to give his first name, deferring to NYPD spokespeople, said that the street was closed because of “drug trafficking.” Spokespeople from the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information office for the NYPD declined to comment, saying that they could not at this time confirm with the Narcotics Division whether or not any arrests had taken place at this site.
Several police officers on the street told pedestrians to leave the block for safety reasons if they did not live there.
While the details of the street closure still remain unclear, many neighborhood residents expressed concerns and frustrations.
Dennis Mondesire, 37, who said he has lived on the block since he was a baby said, “This is probably the only family-oriented block in Harlem ... They’re basically implying we’re all drug dealers and users. That’s why they are closing us all in here. They’re asking us all to show our IDs to get on our own block.” The street is guarded by cones on the west end of the block.
Other 114th Street residents echoed his anger, saying that the police were targeting the block now, so that the new Savannnah condominium on the corner at Frederick Douglass Boulevard would be attractive to wealthy buyers. Local resident Mike Gee said that the police have been increasing their presence over the last few weeks so that the longtime residents don’t “lower the property value.”
Michelle Jones, another resident on the block, said that she heard that drug busts were happening. “They want to keep people from selling,” she said, adding though that she has known some of the drug dealers personally but that she did not necessarily think they were threats to the neighborhood.
Robertus Coleman, the tenants’ association president for the A. Philip Randolph public housing units on the block, said that she heard there may have been arrests. Though she said it is important to her that the police are respectful, she added, “It’s pretty bad here. It’s always been bad ... They are trying to clean it up.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article said that tenants' association president Coleman had known about the details of two arrests, when in fact she only heard that there may have been arrests. The article also listed the wrong precinct affiliation. Spectator regrets the errors.
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