NEW YORK — On a rainy Tuesday and in the middle of the day, the Beach 20th Street Pedestrian Plaza in Far Rockaway was still full of people.

Nancy Martinez, a longtime resident of the Rockaways who owns the New York Career Training School across the street from the plaza, told NY1 that people can be found in the plaza all day, every day.

“They don’t have anywhere better to be,” Martinez said.

Martinez also told NY1 that some of those who frequent the plaza are troublemakers and at times have scared and intimidated her students.

“I see a lot of things that are not legal. A lot of illegal stuff going on,” Martinez said when she took NY1 on a short walk through the pedestrian plaza, which is located between Beach 20th Street and Beach 21st Street and between Cornega and Mott Avenues.

She added that a number of violent incidents have taken place at the plaza over the last several years, making her think twice about about going through or near the plaza by herself at night.

“I have to get someone to walk me to my car,” Martinez said.

Martinez told NY1 she would avoid the plaza if she could, but she spent the last ten years building her business in the neighborhood.

She said that while things have happened at the plaza for many years, the situation did worsened after the coronavirus pandemic began.

“From the many years that I’ve been here, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve called 911 and I lost count of how many times people got shot across the street,” Martinez said.

Jose Santana, the owner of a nearby barbershop, corroborated Martinez’s story and even showed NY1 a surveillance video of a recent assault that took place in front of his shop. Santana is also worried about his safety and wears a piece of apparel intended to protect vital organs in the event of a stabbing while at work.

“It’s stab-proof. It’s leather, full leather,” Santana said. “It helps for the stabbings. Out here, you got to be careful.”
 

Jose Santana wearing the piece of apparel intended to protect vital organs in the event of a stabbing.

The pedestrian plaza falls within the NYPD’s 101st Precinct. Commanding Officer Capt. Eric Robinson spoke candidly with NY1 about issues at the plaza. Robinson said he’s been working with local leaders and business owners for the last year-and-a-half to develop ways to improve safety.

He’s already dedicated two officers, who would normally perform administrative duties, to patrol the area for several hours each day. Robinson told NY1 he believes they are making progress but are not where he would like them to be at this point.

Robinson said that they can’t simply close the plaza off at a specific time because its not a city park. Instead, it is under the purview of the New York City Department of Transportation.

A transportation department spokesperson told NY1 that their partner, the Rockaway Development and Revitalization Corporation (RDRC), manages the plaza.

“We work closely with RDRC to resolve issues in the plaza as they come up, and that includes communicating with NYPD and other agencies around public safety issues,” said Brian Zumhagen, a spokesperson for the transportation department.

NY1 also reached out to the RDRC about the issues at the plaza.

RDRC President and CEO Kevin Alexander said the quality of life issues that concern people extend beyond the pedestrian plaza.

“It was never about just the plaza. That’s very short-sighted,” Alexander said. “It was about the 20 blocks that make up downtown Far Rockaway.”

Crime statistics for the 101st Precinct, published online by the NYPD, seem to support Alexander’s claim. An analysis of criminal incidents in the area around the plaza so far this year showed that more incidents were recorded within several blocks of the plaza.

What Alexander wants to do in an effort to address this, is connect more people in this community with the resources they need to thrive.

“What can we do to not ostracize them, but see what the issues are? What the needs are so we can help you,” Alexander said.

Martinez believes what Alexander has suggested would be a start.

“We need to have programs for our youth, programs for adults that are out right now with no job, no placement, nowhere to be,” Martinez said.

Local business owners aren’t the only ones who stand to lose if the community concerns about the plaza are not addressed.

Alexander told NY1 there are projects included in a $300 million revitalization of the area adjacent to the plaza. He said these projects could be jeopardized, even by a perception that the area isnt a desirable place to live.

“The reports of violence and unruly behavior in the Beach 20th pedestrian plaza are a serious concern, and the City must address this,” said a spokesperson for Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers, who represents the area where the plaza is located.

Several community members and officials did associate concerns about the plaza with a decision to house homeless residents in two Far Rockaway hotels last year.

“Unfortunately, our clients are all too often associated/conflated with (and even blamed for) broader societal challenges solely on the basis of their housing status. As we look forward to a post-COVID world, we feel it is especially important that we not single out whole groups based on certain perceived characteristics, such as housing status – particularly with accusations that are unfounded and potentially stigmatizing,” said DSS Deputy Press Secretary Neha Sharma.

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