{"id":98069,"date":"2025-07-28T00:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98069\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T00:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:48:13","slug":"aoc-ripped-as-her-nyc-district-is-overrun-by-market-of-sweethearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98069\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC ripped as her NYC district is overrun by ‘Market of Sweethearts’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queens residents, merchants and civic leaders blasted US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for being missing in action in the fight to clean up the infamous \u201cMarket of Sweethearts<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Locals along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor have begged for help as the area has been plagued by rampant prostitution and illegal street vendors \u2014 fueled in part by gangs who got a foothold in the area due to the city\u2019s migrant crisis. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have not personally seen Ocasio-Cortez since she\u2019s been elected. I have not seen her in the community,\u201d said Rosa Sanchez, president of the Restore Roosevelt Avenue Coalition. \u201cI have seen her in a parade \u2014 that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens residents and local leaders blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for not working to clean up the infamous \u201cMarket of Sweethearts\u201d and other issues in her district. REUTERS\/Ken Cedeno<\/p>\n

Part of the avenue is in the heart of the district that the high-profile Democrat represents in the US House of Representatives, while part of the neighborhood crosses into Rep. Grace Meng\u2019s district.<\/p>\n

Despite efforts of the NYPD and the city to clean up the troubled corridor, illegal vendors and merchants still have a foothold \u2014 sometimes peddling items stolen from local stores, locals said. Sanchez said the unlicensed vendors are putting legitimate merchants out of business while young women forced into sex work who are getting no help from politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have young women held against their will. They\u2019re being sex trafficked. This is not normal,\u201d said Sanchez. \u201cOur community is suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauricio Zamora, head of the Neighbors of the American Triangle, said AOC has \u201cnever\u201d been helpful on the area\u2019s biggest problems as residents and businesses try to take Roosevelt back.<\/p>\n

Zamora met with Ocasio-Cortez last Friday about the illegal vending in Corona Plaza but he claimed the congresswoman said larger crime issues should be addressed by the mayor\u2019s office, the NYPD and city elected officials rather than her office.<\/p>\n

By comparison, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres<\/a> has led the charge and personally called on Mayor Eric Adams to clean up a notorious open-air drug market full of junkies and prostitutes in his district in the Bronx, called The Hub.<\/p>\n

Alleged sex workers seen on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens in the \u201cMarket of Sweethearts\u201d on July 27, 2025. New York Post<\/p>\n

The Post visited the Roosevelt Avenue neighborhoods again on Sunday \u2014 and immediately spotted prostitutes under the elevated No. 7 subway line.<\/p>\n

Twenty three residents and local merchants told a reporter they have never seen AOC in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I have never seen AOC here. I\u2019ve seen the local city councilman [Francisco Moya]. I\u2019ve seen the police. I\u2019ve never seen AOC,\u201d said Jenny Leo, 54, a pharmacist at Mi. Farmacia at 90-15 Roosevelt Ave.<\/p>\n

Illegal vendors on the sidewalk on 91st St. near Roosevelt Ave. in Queens on July 27, 2025. New York Post<\/p>\n

Leo said the situation along Roosevelt is \u201cnot getting worse but it\u2019s not getting better either\u201d after the police launched a targeted crackdown in the area for 90 days, part of Operation Restore Roosevelt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a familiar story, with illegal vendors flooding the streets again about two weeks ago after the surge of law enforcement tapers off.<\/p>\n

David Ortega, 50, manager of nearby Bravo Supermarket, said little has changed. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are stealing meat and beer and laundry detergent. The police come and they take them outside,\u201d Ortega said.<\/p>\n

The street vendors often sell items shoplifted from local stores, according to residents. New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo times recently the thieves tell me that they\u2019re going to wait for me when I leave. They\u2019re not afraid. It is not changing. It is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through it all, he said AOC \u201cdoesn\u2019t come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local leaders sent letters to the Trump administration asking the FBI and Homeland Security to intervene and break up the migrant gangs and lawlessness on Roosevelt Avenue.<\/p>\n

Last month, the feds charged a gang of illegal migrants with extorting brothels<\/a>, beating up rivals and selling drugs and phony IDs along Roosevelt Avenue to finance an illicit network based in El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Much more needs to be done and residents in the corridor could use AOC\u2019s help, said former Councilman Hiram Monserrate \u2014 a neighborhood activist who used to rep the area and resides in East Elmhurst.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to use her platform to bring in more police officers to stabilize the area. We want our community back,\u201d Monserrate said.<\/p>\n

Monserrate said the NYPD put a dent in the lawlessness during its 90-day Operation Restore Roosevelt operation. But the department scaled back its presence after the surge, he said.<\/p>\n

Crime dropped 28% amid beefed up police enforcement, the mayor said last month.<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul last fall also dispatched 100 state troopers to assist the NYPD along Roosevelt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need them back,\u201d Monserrate said, referring to a larger police presence.<\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s rep on Sunday defended her advocacy to improve the quality of life along Roosevelt Avenue in Corona-East Elmhurst, particularly citing a meeting the congresswoman attended with constituents last Friday about the proliferation of vendors in and around Corona Plaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe congresswoman is focused on solutions not credit. She has done multiple cleanups of the plaza on the other side, and on the official side has worked with DOT to fix street lights and improve sanitation,\u201d said Ocasio-Cortez congressional spokeswoman Karla Santillan.<\/p>\n

She referred The Post to AOC\u2019s statement on <\/a>X about the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy to be back in Corona Plaza to continue our team\u2019s conversations with vendors and local business owners about our coordinated efforts to make Roosevelt Avenue a safer and cleaner place,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens residents, merchants and civic leaders blasted US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for being missing in action in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[11338,5229,5289,16090,5248,17834,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,64167,9627,4413,38451,18114,10883,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-98069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-eric-adams","11":"tag-illegal-immigrants","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-migrants","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-nycs-sex-trafficking-epidemic","21":"tag-prostitution","22":"tag-queens","23":"tag-ritchie-torres","24":"tag-sex-trafficking","25":"tag-shoplifting","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-united-states-of-america","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-us-news","32":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114928111141860621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}