Hundreds of Muslim delivery drivers who congregate outside an East Village mosque have transformed the area into a noisy, violent, trash-strewn junkyard while driving businesses and residents out, fed-up locals said.
At least three businesses near the Islamic Council of America Madina Mosque on First Avenue and East 11th Street have shut down in recent months, as longtime residents say the city has ignored their cries for help.
The Post witnessed no less than 100 deliverymen last week pouring in and out of the mosque, with hundreds of electric bicycles piled along the curb, fouling the tony neighborhood where a three-bedroom townhouse just sold for $14.8 million.
“I lived on that block for 13 years, it was very, very different,” said Francisco, 40, who moved to Stuytown in October with his 2-year-old child and wife because of the chaos. “The block itself changed incredibly since the second those guys came in.”
The city’s second oldest mosque operated for decades without incident, but things began to change about two years ago. Residents described a perfect storm of a surge in migrants, the city’s installation of bike corrals on the block, and the ever-growing popularity of delivery apps.
The drivers, who are mostly migrants from Islamic African nations, flock to the house of worship, which is under renovaiton, five times a day for prayer. But they also mill about near the side entrance, gab on their phones, scarf down food from a halal truck, and toss trash where they please — attracting a veritable army of rats, said locals.
Two men even set up an al fresco barber shop offering fresh cuts and shaves. During the warmer months, as many as six barber chairs are active all day, locals said. Some of the men also bathe outside.
The chaos is especially acute during Ramadan, which this year ended on March 18.
“It’s insanity. . . . Its not fair to the residents who live there,” area landlord Christine Renzi, who estimated she’s lost six residential tenants and one commercial tenant in the last two years because of the mayhem, told The Post.
And it’s getting worse.
“Tenants have been attacked by delivery drivers. They’re washing their clothes outside. During the summertime they actually shower outside,” Renzi said.
In August, a naked, bathing delivery driver allegedly threatened to assault a resident of one of Renzi’s buildings who objected to the shameless display, according to a formal complaint filed by the landlord on March 18 with the Manhattan Borough President’s office.
Former block resident Francisco said a similar encounter in front of the mosque finally prompted him to leave the nabe.
“I was walking by, and this guy in his underwear, pretty much naked, is taking a shower. And I wasn’t going to confront him but I pulled out my phone and started recording him,” the 40-year-old said.
last August, sending one local over the edge.Obtained by NY Post
“He looked over and he said, ‘Do you mind not recording me.’ I said, ‘You’re taking a bath in the middle of the street of a residential neighborhood,'” Francisco said, adding, “After that one I went home to my wife and said, ‘I’ve seen enough.'”
There have been at least 30 complaints to the city’s 311 hotline since July, including three for noise, nearly a dozen for dirty sidewalks and street conditions, and others about the horde of e-bikes, according to city data.
There have been 105 inspections for rat activity on the block in the last five years, according to NYC’s Rat Information Portal — far outpacing neighboring blocks, including the entirety of nearby Tompkins Square Park.
Rats regularly crisscross the sidewalk, even during the day, because of the trash problem, according to Francisco. “Got to the point where we wouldn’t walk on the sidewalk,” he said.
The problem feeds on itself, with the huge corral of e-bikes preventing the Department of Sanitation from properly cleaning the area, Renzi said in her complaint.
The e-bikes also take up parking spaces, forcing motorists to double-park. On Tuesday, an ambulance with sirens blaring was stuck behind a double-parked car for nearly 10 minutes, said Renzi.
Yet Democratic City Councilman Harvey Epstein and Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer have done little to get the bikers off the corner, and instead have pushed for more parking stations for the e-bikers — and even shifted some blame to residents.
“This is a failure of government as there is no infrastructure to accommodate the workers and the bikes,” Stetzer wrote in a Feb. 19 email to Renzi. She said the board “is continuing to advocate for sustainable infrastructure to accommodate the bikes and workers as long as the community continues to order food.”
“This is not an anti-delivery worker issue. It is a public safety, sanitation, and zoning issue,” Renzi said. “Tenants are leaving. Businesses are struggling. Quality of life has declined sharply.”
Department from cleaning the streets.Helayne Seidman for the NY Post
Three storefronts on the corner of First Ave. have shuttered for good — including a Black Seed Bagels, Uz Grill House, and vintage shop Revampd, which closed its doors last month.
“I had really high hopes. I invested a lot,” Revampd co-owner Mary Fadrowski told The Post. “The fact that the bikes are there making us look like ‘Sanford and Son’ is what blocked the money.”
“It was shocking to see so many people just hanging on the street. It was scary,” said a 27-year-old shopper who was only there to patronize Revampd. “If I wasn’t looking for Mary’s store I would avoid the block completely.”
Chris Ng, the owner of Bananas restaurant on First Ave, has repeatedly reached out to 311 over the course of a year.
“I have not heard back,” Ng said.
The mosque meanwhile, is in the midst of a fundraising effort to pay for renovations that include facade work, an expansion of the prayer hall, and the construction of community spaces, according to the group’s website.
They’ve raised $285,000 towards a goal of $500,000. A special permit obtained by the mosque allowed it to stay open during Ramadan and through April 5, according to the Department of Buildings.
The mosque’s imam, Mufti Mahdi Chowdhury, did not respond to a request for comment.
