{"id":4499,"date":"2026-07-14T22:39:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:39:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:39:36","slug":"nycs-vagrant-camp-near-intrepid-growing-into-skid-row-as-mamdanis-more-humane-policy-forces-cops-to-stay-put","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4499","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s vagrant camp near Intrepid growing into skid row as Mamdani’s ‘more humane’ policy forces cops to stay put"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Do something already!<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s hands-off homeless policy is handcuffing New York\u2019s Finest, who are being forced to sit back while a putrid shantytown continues to grow and grow on Manhattan\u2019s West Side.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Family of teen tourist killed in NYC horse carriage horror calls on City Council to \u2018do the right thing\u2019 ahead of landmark hearing<\/a><\/p>\n

And despite weeks of complaints, a seven-day clock to clear the lawless encampment just started ticking Tuesday \u2014 with Mamdani\u2019s new policy blocking the NYPD from cleaning out the lawless encampment until one week after city social workers and homeless advocates are sent in to sweet-talk vagrants who are shacking up along a 12-block stretch near the Intrepid Museum.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t clear why the week window wasn\u2019t triggered earlier, according to sources, but locals said no city workers showed up at the site Tuesday until 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile experts warned that the site reminds them of the Big Apple\u2019s \u201cBad Ol\u2019 Days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor is too young to remember the eighties and early nineties and what a mess New York was,\u201d former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton told The Post. \u201cThose who don\u2019t know their history are doomed to repeat it. It all began with non-enforcement of quality-of-life offenses. <\/p>\n

\u201cRemember the squeegee men at every entrance to the city?\u201d Bratton said. \u201cRemember the rampant street prostitution and graffiti? Remember the 8,000 open air drug selling locations? Remember the rampant subway fare evasion? I remember, and it\u2019s happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post blew the whistle on the gritty encampment on Friday, but locals said the ratty tents and makeshift shelters have dotted the area for weeks, with panhandlers nagging tourists while sex workers, drug dealers and thieves ply their trades in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

The brazen squatters even tapped into public utility poles for electricity on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn just half-a-year, Mayor Mamdani\u2019s policies have managed to turn the West Side into Skid Row,\u201d city Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told The Post Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0administration is repeating the same ridiculous hands-off approach to the homeless that destroyed LA and San Francisco, and now we have a 12-block homeless campsite in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay to go DSA,\u201d she added, referring to the Democratic Socialists of America, the lefty group that counts Mamdani as a member.<\/p>\n

Mamdani wasted no time repealing former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 policy that called for cops to take an aggressive stance to clear encampments and at-risk homeless folks off the streets.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Explosive diarrhea\u2019 parasite spreads to 50 in Suffolk County as Long Island deals with dual outbreaks<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, Mamdani\u2019s larger and \u201cmore humane\u201d plan for dealing with the Big Apple\u2019s homeless crisis shifted to a \u201chousing-first approach\u201d through the\u00a0Department of Community Safety to rely on outreach teams of civilian social workers rather than cops to connect the homeless.<\/p>\n

Under the policy, police can\u2019t tear down encampments until the outreach teams get seven days to counsel the homeless occupants and try to connect them to services. <\/p>\n

The NYPD, which began to lose the role of addressing homeless services under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, had to cede enforcement to the city Department of Homeless Services under Mamdani, and are only authorized to step in when there is a crime or emergency, or to protect city personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mamdani Administration has stopped the failed encampment sweep policies of the past and moving forward will connect New Yorkers to the resources they need to thrive and to build a New York where everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home,\u201d the city sanitation department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a City Hall rep assured The Post, \u201cThis site will be cleaned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Stettin, a senior advisor on severe mental illness under Adams, said that\u2019s all well and good \u2014 but now the city actually has to follow through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s perfectly reasonable to spend a week attempting a voluntary resolution before dismantling an encampment,\u201d Stettin said. \u201cBut people will quickly lose faith in that policy if they see the city dragging its feet. The 7-day clock should start as soon as DHS confirms the presence of an encampment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It just hasn\u2019t happened on Mamdani\u2019s watch. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is embarrassing and a big black eye on the city, especially with FIFA tourists,\u201d one veteran cop griped. \u201cThe Intrepid is a big tourist attraction, and what are people from all over the world thinking when they walk by this encampment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, cops on patrol ordered two encampments to unplug from city utility poles they were using to steal electricity \u2014 but the reprimand only lasts as long as police are in sight.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mamdani only spoke on the mess on Monday \u2014 and largely shrugged it off. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and on establishing a pipeline to stable housing, not just moving New Yorkers from one place to another place,\u201d he said. \u201cTo this specific encampment that you brought up, we\u2019re going to look into the details of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more US launches more strikes on Iran in lead-up to 4 p.m. blockade<\/a><\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Larry Celona<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite weeks of complaints, Mayor Zohran Mamdani remains mum on a shabby homeless encampment growing on the West Side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nNYC's vagrant camp near Intrepid growing into skid row as Mamdani's 'more humane' policy forces cops to stay put - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4499\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NYC's vagrant camp near Intrepid growing into skid row as Mamdani's 'more humane' policy forces cops to stay put - 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