The East Village has gone south.
“I’m one of the very many liberals that live in New York City and it feels like we don’t want to say this is happening — and it definitely is happening,” said one 38-year-old dog walker. Several retailers told The Post it’s as if they’ve been left to fend for themselves and their businesses, with 787 Coffee Co. chain CEO Brandon Peña characterizing calls to police over burglaries and aggressive disturbances at his locations in the neighborhood as “a waste of our time.”
In front of chains like CVS and Target, shirtless, glassy-eyed vendors hawk everything from jump ropes to remote control cars — much of which is believed to have been boosted from storefronts along the block. The scene has become so outrageous that East 14th Street resident and disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has badgered lefty Councilwoman Carlina Rivera and the Sanitation Department at least “three or four times” in the past year or so to get the thoroughfare cleared.
Kris Singer, 38, a 15-year resident of the neighborhood, ripped into Mayor Eric Adams for failing to provide more social services to the impoverished and mentally ill.