If you walked through Times Square, you’d see hordes of tourists shopping, salespeople peddling double-decker bus rides, and street vendors selling candy and halal food. But if you talk to local workers and neighborhood residents, some will tell you that two recent violent incidents have the community on edge.
“The out-of-towners, the international folks are coming, they’re enjoying themselves and having a great time,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, a group that works to promote and improve the area. “We still struggle a little bit with the locals.”
But since the spring of 2022, the city’s tourist district has played host to thousands of migrants who are arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, seeking housing placements at the Roosevelt Hotel and staying in the area’s shelters. Several people were caught on surveillance video grabbing and kicking two police officers last month as they tried to make an arrest on 42nd Street outside a skyscraper that has been converted into a migrant shelter. Police said at least some of the people who assaulted the officers were recent arrivals. Days later, police said a 15-year-old who recently arrived from Venezuela shot and injured a tourist while trying to shoplift from a sporting goods store.
The incidents stoked fears and political debate over immigration and crime across the city and beyond. Police data from the precinct that includes Times Square shows serious crimes like murder, robbery and felony assault have all dropped since this time last year. Harris said domestic or international tourists seem undeterred — hundreds of thousands of them have flocked to the area and local hotels were at over 90% capacity last weekend. But recent events have put the community under stress, according to local residents and workers who were just beginning to see the area rebound from the pandemic’s crippling effects.
Harris said the Times Square Alliance has been surveying visitors to see whether…
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