{"id":367681,"date":"2026-10-08T08:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367681\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:28:19","slug":"bruce-blakeman-vows-to-clean-up-lefty-dem-mess-at-nycs-notorious-market-of-sweethearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367681\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Blakeman vows to clean up lefty Dem mess at NYC’s notorious ‘Market of Sweethearts’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruce Blakeman vowed Wednesday to clean up the drug and sex infested \u201cMarket of Sweethearts<\/a>\u201d in Queens, blaming Gov. Kathy Hochul and lefty pols for the soft-on-crime laws that let it happen.<\/p>\n

Blakeman, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, said cashless bail and \u201cRaise the Age\u201d statutes have allowed immigrant gangs to thrive along Roosevelt Avenue for years, forcing neighborhood residents to live in fear while Albany does nothing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time in this community where you didn\u2019t have to worry about walking around at 10 or 11 o\u2019clock at night,\u201d Blakeman said at a press conference on the seedy stretch. \u201cThis was a fun, vibrant, energetic community and it still is, but it\u2019s being destroyed by politicians who have ignored the people.<\/p>\n

Possible sex workers are seen on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York on Sept. 16, 2026. No Credit for this sex worker set, J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman vowed to clean up the notoriously seedy stretch of Queens. James Messerschmidt for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come here for elections and after the elections you never see them,\u201d said Blakeman, the Nassau County executive. \u201cWe have seen the growth of gangs like Tren de Aragua, MS13 and Triads. These people are preying on our communities, and Kathy Hochul is responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roosevelt Avenue has been plagued by open air prostitution, drug peddling and rampant shoplifting for years, particularly after an influx of illegal immigrants were allowed to flood the Big Apple. <\/p>\n

Despite a series of raids, calls from elected officials and constant complaints<\/a> from the neighborhood, gangs continue to thrive along the busy strip.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the state\u2019s bail reform statute, which bars judges from setting bail on most crimes, means criminals continually get cut loose and return to the streets to strike again. The \u201cRaise the Age\u201d statute means defendants as old as 19 get treated with kid gloves as juvenile offenders.<\/p>\n

Blakeman railed that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul was \u201cresponsible\u201d for the dire conditions on Roosevelt Avenue. Susan Watts\/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n

Blakeman \u2014 who\u2019ll face Democratic incumbent Hochul on the November 3 ballot as she seeks a second, four-year term \u2014 claimed socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani <\/a>has made it harder to clean up Roosevelt Avenue by holding cops back and not filling vital posts that could take a bite out of crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Hochul and Zohran Mamdani will not protect you,\u201d he said. \u201cAs governor, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joining him at Wednesday\u2019s press conference were frustrated local residents. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am afraid to walk by myself,\u201d said 65-year-old retired teacher Toni Diaz, a neighborhood activist who has lived in the area for over 50 years. \u201cSo many people in our communities feel like prisoners in our own neighborhood. There are not enough police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Possible sex workers are seen on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York on September 16, 2026. No Credit for this sex worker set, J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

Another longtime local, Charles Castro, said he\u2019s never seen the area in such dire condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything so bad,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can get whatever documents you want here. You can get a passport, you can get green cards. Women get trafficked here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people walking around like zombies \u2014 they\u2019re all drugged up,\u201d he added. \u201cThe governor sent the state troopers <\/a>here for 90 days and it got better, and then took them out. That\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bruce Blakeman vowed Wednesday to clean up the drug and sex infested \u201cMarket of Sweethearts\u201d in Queens, blaming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1626,6809,3410,57,9,24,55,54,56,5408,122,44701,58],"class_list":["post-367681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-gangs","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-prostitution","tag-queens","tag-tren-de-aragua","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367681","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=367681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}