What will it take for the city to rescue the Bronx 'Hub' from the junkies?
Share and Follow

Let 2025 be the year City Hall finally makes good on decades of pledges to clean up The Hub commercial district in the South Bronx.

The Post has validated that the “Broadway of The Bronx” is still plagued by drug addicts, vagrants, discarded drug paraphernalia, and dirt — not just post a cleanup attempt earlier this autumn, but also after our report was published.

One major de Blasio-era effort to rescue the area was opening Roberto Clemente Plaza in November 2018; its architects optimistically described the $16 million “Herald Square of The Bronx” as a “green oasis amidst the chaos.”


A woman getting injected with drugs at the Hub in the Bronx on Dec. 29, 2024.
A woman getting injected with drugs at the Hub in the Bronx on Dec. 29, 2024. James Keivom for New York Post

Oops: Locals say the surrounding chaos instead overwhelmed the plaza almost immediately.

The Post encountered addicts shooting up in broad daylight, more suffering apparent overdoses and still others contorted into the “fentanyl fold.”

“These streets are full of zombies,” said Emilio Morales, general manager of the landmark Opera House Hotel, a three-star inn on East 149th Street. “It has never been as bad as it is now.”

How did it come to this: Daily public displays of drug-fueled depravity on city streets teeming with shops, shoppers, commuters and school kids?

Aside from the obvious neglect, The Hub is home to dozens of methadone clinics, addiction-treatment services and needle-exchange and harm-reduction programs.

Morales and other Hub business leaders are still awaiting a lasting City Hall response to their pleas for action.

A 2021 letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio brought promises of regular walkthroughs and $8 million to fight the opioid epidemic in The Bronx; Eric Adams’ City Hall in turn launched a “comprehensive, multi-agency approach” against drug activity and associated problems in The Hub, including a major sweep this October and November — but the squalor comes right back. 

Long-time residents and observers say the junkie haven has defied long-lasting solutions for well over 40 years — yet that’s no reason for surrender.

Plainly, what’s needed is not just a sustained police presence but moving out most of the addict-serving progressive social programs: Spread them far and wide.

The Hub is also an excellent candidate for Mayor Adams’ new “Every Block Counts” multi-agency initiative focusing on ‘hoods with longstanding crime and quality-of-life issues. Instead of surrendering to the depravity and deviancy, City Hall needs to implement an all-hands approach.

Adams often claims that “prosperity and public safety go in hand-in-hand”; he needs to make that a reality in The Hub.

Share and Follow
You May Also Like
Andrew's sickening Royal snub: Snap taken in Royals' inner sanctum

Andrew’s Controversial Absence: Surprising Photo Emerges from Royal Inner Circle

A recent photograph featuring Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reclining across the laps of…
FILE - An attendee asks Pearl Harbor survivor Ira

WWII Navy Veteran and Pearl Harbor Survivor, Ira ‘Ike’ Schab, Passes Away at 105

Ira “Ike” Schab, a distinguished World War II Navy veteran and one…
Charlie Kirk fans pose for selfies at recreation of murder location

Controversy Erupts as Charlie Kirk Fans Turn Crime Scene into Selfie Spot

Supporters of Charlie Kirk have been capturing selfies at what seems to…
$775 million Powerball: Winning numbers for Wednesday, Dec. 3

Find Out If Saturday’s $1.5 Billion Powerball Jackpot Has a Winner

WASHINGTON — The Powerball jackpot has skyrocketed to an impressive $1.5 billion,…
Minnesota Vikings team plane makes emergency landing en route to New York Giants game

Vikings’ Journey to Giants Game Interrupted: Emergency Landing Ensures Team’s Safety

On Saturday afternoon, a flight carrying the Minnesota Vikings had to make…
University of Illinois lesson materials push leftist race, class struggles on future teachers: leaked lectures

Exposed: University of Illinois’ Controversial Curriculum on Race and Class for Aspiring Educators

EXCLUSIVE: Newly surfaced PowerPoint presentations from a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign freshman…
Trump flees growing backlash over Epstein redactions for holiday break

Trump Takes Holiday Break Amid Rising Controversy Over Epstein Case Redactions

President Donald Trump has remained noticeably quiet following allegations of a ‘cover-up’…
Pages from a totally redacted New York grand jury file into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, released by the U.S. Justice Department, is photographed Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

New Epstein Documents Reveal Limited Details on How He Escaped Major Legal Consequences

NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department has unveiled a highly anticipated…