THAT'S DOWN TOWN
Homeless encampment irks Chelsea biz owners
A homeless encampment has taken hold of a Chelsea street corner, making life a drug-infested hell for locals — despite Mayor de Blasio learning of it nearly three weeks ago and vowing action “right away.”
About 15 to 20 vagrants have dug in at West 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, with some building makeshift shelters out of flower pots, plastic kiddie gates and shopping carts.
The group has grown exponentially since the coronavirus crisis began — from just two people prepandemic — although only one woman among them was observed wearing a mask by a Post reporter.
As the encampment has expanded, it has clogged entrances to businesses already scraping to get by during the economic downturn and deterred would-be customers and neighborhood residents alike from venturing into the intersection, locals said.
“I have a lot of customers that complain. They don’t want to come down this block,” said Richard Charlton, owner of Sixth Avenue’s A+ Access Locksmith.
Charlton, whose store was shuttered between March and June, said it was disheartening to weather one storm only to return to another.
“I was almost at the brink of shutting down,” he said of the coronavirus lockdown. “It’s overwhelming to be shut down for so long — business is slow — and to come back to this?”
The vagrants come and go throughout the day but often return to bed down at night.
Early Tuesday, the owner of The Corner Cafe arrived to find a couple conked out once again on his deli’s doorstep. Fed up with picking up after the homeless, he simply threw up his hands and went home without opening for the day, despite tanking sales.
“Every morning I come here, I have to fight with these guys to get off my steps,” the owner, who declined to be identified by name, told The Post on Wednesday.
“Now I just give up. I don’t have the energy to fight them anymore.
“These people killed my business,” he said. “The customers don’t want to come.”
The cafe owner said his daily cleanups after the group include sweeping aside used syringes. Charlton said he’s seen them openly “smoking crack and shooting up.”
A Post reporter observed one resident of the encampment smoking what appeared to be crack, and another member of the group acknowledged that some among them use drugs.
“They take drugs and they pass out. They overdose,” said a woman who gave her name as Sharon and described herself as the “mother” of the group. “I call the ambulance and they go to the hospital, but they come right back.”
The encampment was one of three highlighted by de Blasio nearly three weeks ago. Hizzoner vowed to do “whatever it takes” to “have it addressed right away.”