A Queens community coalition demanded Sunday that a brothel operating inside the notorious “Market of Sweethearts” be permanently closed after reopening mere hours following an NYPD raid.
The Restore Roosevelt Avenue Coalition rallied outside the 75th Street sex shop in Jackson Heights, where protesters chanted “shut it down” and “taking our streets back” while accusing city and state leaders of letting the strip deteriorate for years. The building, a former pediatric dentist office, now peddles sex in the heart of a neighborhood district leaders say has been traumatized by open-air prostitution, drug trafficking and shoplifting.
Hiram Monseratte, a city district leader, spoke directly to the crowd about the broader systemic failure. “We’re demanding that they shut it down permanently,” he said outside the brothel. “We’re upset that our criminal justice system is failing New Yorkers. We refuse to allow mockery of a criminal system to be made.”
The weekend raid that preceded the protest came Saturday, but protesters said illegal operators resumed business within hours — a pattern community leaders called emblematic of chronic lawlessness. District leader Rosa Sanchez voiced sharp frustration over the cycle. “This is an embarrassment,” she said. “This is our community.”
The Roosevelt Avenue corridor and neighboring streets have drawn sustained law enforcement attention without lasting results. The NYPD has conducted repeated raids in recent years, and Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed state troopers to the area for 90 days in 2024 in an effort to suppress illegal activity. Last year, the city launched Operation Restore Roosevelt, a multi-agency cleanup initiative that officials said cut area crime by 28% — but the illicit trade returned once the operation concluded.
Community leaders now direct their anger at both Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying neither has done enough despite years of complaints. The coalition’s protest Sunday marked an escalation in their public pressure campaign.
Sociologist Mercedes Blanco, a longtime neighborhood resident, described the daily toll on ordinary people. “The community wants to walk peacefully down Roosevelt Avenue,” she said. “But they can’t because the night workers have taken ownership of our streets.”
The area’s troubles have also attracted political figures from outside the immediate community. Earlier this month, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, held a press conference on Roosevelt Avenue and blamed soft-on-crime state statutes for the persistent disorder. His appearance underscored how the corridor’s condition has become a flashpoint in broader debates over criminal justice policy.
The coalition’s demand for permanent closure faces uncertain prospects given the history of temporary enforcement gains followed by rapid backsliding. Saturday’s raid and same-day reopening fit a familiar pattern that has left residents skeptical of episodic police action without sustained presence.
The “Market of Sweethearts” itself has long operated as a visible hub of the area’s sex trade, drawing repeated protests and law enforcement operations that have failed to keep it closed. Community leaders said state and city officials have consistently failed to clean up what they described as one of the most troubled neighborhoods in the five boroughs.