Eighth Avenue corridor in New York City, known for homeless and drug activity, needs attention, improvement, community leaders say

New York City community leaders are looking to reimagine the Eighth Avenue corridor that thousands of Long Island commuters and others navigate between Penn Station and Times Square.

Community members said the main transportation thoroughfare, which sees nearly 150,000 commuters daily and 3.5 million tourists annually, has been neglected; given over to a growing homeless population and drug activity while improvements are made to Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Stakeholders during a forum last week with the Garment District Alliance and the Manhattan think tank Center for an Urban Future discussed ways to improve the area, looking to boost police enforcement, increase homeless outreach, widen sidewalks and streetscapes and better connect its businesses and residents to the rest of midtown.

"This should be one of the city’s most dynamic corridors, but for decades, it has been one of Manhattan’s most uninviting, grappling with unique issues that have only intensified since the pandemic," said Eli Dvorkin, the center’s research and policy director. "While other districts of the city have undergone impressive transformations, this section of Eighth Avenue has really struggled to turn the corner."

Eighth Avenue has the second-highest concentration of social services for homeless people and substance abusers in the city, after East Harlem, Dvorkin said.

It includes five methadone clinics and needle exchange programs, a parole board and 16 shelters for homeless or transitional housing, said Garment District Alliance president Barbara Blair. She said the neighborhood started as part of the Fashion District, which has diminished since the 1950s with commercial zoning.

Blair said the street had fewer residents per acre than any of the city’s five boroughs and was routinely congested by commuters, homeless people and others coming through transportation hubs. The corridor did not see improvements despite surrounding developments like The New York Times building on West 41st Street or Hudson Yards two blocks over.

"It’s almost like there’s a moat around this neighborhood," Blair said. "It’s like a hole in the doughnut, not related to anything else that melds this central business district. There’s an opportunity and a chance with billions about to be spent on bookends, the question is what happens in the middle, to say does it improve the block around it or does it stay the way it is?"

The transitional housing group Breaking Ground, which houses 650 residents at its Times Square location, has focused on outreach to the chronically homeless and finding supportive housing, said Amie Pospisil, the group’s chief operating officer.

City officials have sought to improve conditions on Eighth Avenue, with Mayor Eric Adams and District Attorney Alvin Bragg launching a Midtown Community Improvement Coalition last year. The partnership is modeled after improvements in Harlem and includes 20 city agencies and service providers to address issues including mental health, substance abuse, scaffolding and beautification and retail theft, the mayor’s office announced.

Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, said the mayor’s office and the district attorney are working on solutions. He said social services providers are working on new ways to provide outreach, including drug treatment services outside of the central business district.

The district attorney’s office announced a Midtown Coalition expansion earlier this year, which now runs from 34th Street to 59th Street, between Seventh and 10th avenues.

"This is the gateway and front yard to the city and I think everyone benefits from a good experience and to see a safe and vibrant corridor," Harris said.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.