{"id":345261,"date":"2026-09-12T22:38:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T22:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345261\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T22:38:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T22:38:54","slug":"notorious-market-of-sweethearts-sex-strip-in-queens-worse-under-mamdani-community-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345261\/","title":{"rendered":"Notorious ‘Market of Sweethearts’ sex strip in Queens worse under Mamdani: community leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queens activists are claiming the city\u2019s boldest open-air market for sex <\/a>has gotten even worse since soft-on-crime socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January \u2014 and they\u2019re demanding he address the longtime human trafficking and prostitution problem along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe street activity is really off the charts,\u201d ripped former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who was among two dozen community leaders rallying in Jackson Heights on Saturday along the notorious \u201cMarket of Sweethearts\u201d strip that also stretches into Corona and other surrounding neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some solution or some betterment of the quality of life and public safety under our prior administration [of ex-Mayor Eric Adams], where we had Operation Restore Roosevelt <\/a>[a multi-agency law enforcement and quality-of-life initiative], when the governor sent state troopers here, but right now, they have abandoned Roosevelt Avenue, and the crime is all coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens activists are claiming the city\u2019s boldest open-air market for sex has gotten even worse since soft-on-crime socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January \u2014 and demanding he address the longtime human trafficking and prostitution problem along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

Monserrate, now a local Democratic district leader, and other activists rallied outside some of the dozens of known brothels along the seedy stretch. They called on both Mamdani \u2014 who was a passionate supporter of decriminalizing prostitution\u00a0before being elected mayor<\/a> \u2014 and Gov. Kathy Hochul to enforce prostitution and nuisance-abatement laws and crack down on rogue landlords who rent to pimps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are tired of seeing these activities happen,\u201d said Rosa Sanchez of the group Restore Roosevelt Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had enough, and it\u2019s not appropriate. We have families and children. [The prostitutes] are out here, 24 hours around the clock. It has gotten worse, and we are asking that Mayor Mamdani, with Kathy Hochul \u2026 to come down these streets. We don\u2019t want this in our community. And we\u2019re not going to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A community group participates in a rally and march on Saturday to raise concerns about the presence of brothels and street walkers along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

Over the past few years\u00a0The Post has exposed\u00a0<\/a>the\u00a0<\/a>seediness, crime, drug-peddling and illegal vending along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During Saturday\u2019s rally, activists gathered in front of an alleged brothel at 76-09 Roosevelt Avenue, rapidly ringing large bells and chanting \u201cShut it down!\u201d and \u201cStop Prostitution!\u201d before doing the same at similar locations along the corridor.<\/p>\n

Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Other neighborhood residents told The Post the problem has indeed gotten worse this past year, including one woman who claimed she routinely sees female sex workers servicing men between parked cars.<\/p>\n

Reps for Mamdani and Hochul did not return messages, and the NYPD could not immediately provide arrest data for the corridor when asked Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens activists are claiming the city\u2019s boldest open-air market for sex has gotten even worse since soft-on-crime socialist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[81,7591,10400,426,57,9,24,63,103,5408,122,124,123,7485,58,82],"class_list":["post-345261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-eric-adams","tag-hiram-monserrate","tag-jackson-heights","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-prostitution","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sex-trafficking","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}