When a 34-year-old man was found dead from an apparent overdose at The Times Square on September 8, the news came as a blow to his neighbors in the supportive housing residence — but not a shock.
NYPD officers outside The Times Square on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Phil O’Brien
It was the second apparent overdose death in less than three months at the 652-unit building at 8th Avenue and W43rd Street, which was converted from the former Times Square Hotel into supportive housing in the early 1990s. Tenants told W42ST that open drug dealing and increasingly severe addiction have become an inescapable part of life inside.
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Brennan LaBrie is a Manhattan-based multimedia journalist who originally hails from Washington State. He began reporting in elementary school, when he published a handwritten weekly paper covering local news for three years, and reported on events like the 2010 Winter Olympics for TIME For Kids. He returned to journalism in college, reporting for the school paper and his hometown newspaper during summer breaks. He also co-directed three feature documentaries, one of which received a 2021 College Emmy. He moved to New York City in 2022, and, following a stint as a server in fine dining restaurants, began freelancing for publications around the city. His favorite topics to cover are urban development, housing, education and environmental issues, and his work can be found in The Rockaway Wave and the BK Reader.