By: Mario Mancini

Lower East Side residents aren’t the only ones fed up with the surge of drug addicts and vagrants overrunning Sara D. Roosevelt Park — local business owners say the situation has spiraled into daily thefts that are bleeding them dry.

Merchants surrounding the long, narrow park say waves of addicts displaced from Washington Square Park have effectively turned the area into an open-air black market, according to reporting by the New York Post.

“They come in like clockwork,” one business owner told the Post. “They grab whatever they want and walk straight back to the park to sell it. Almost every day.”

As the Post previously reported, city efforts to crack down on drug use and encampments at Washington Square Park last year pushed dozens of addicts out — but instead of solving the problem, the city merely shifted it several miles south. The junkies regrouped at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, which sits in the heart of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, an area packed with small businesses and young families.

Shopkeepers say the thefts are brazen and relentless.

“Sometimes I find needles right outside my store,” a bakery owner told the Post. “It scares customers away. But we can’t do anything. If we touch them, we’re the ones who get in trouble.”

Photos obtained by the Post show addicts shooting up in broad daylight, used syringes scattered near park benches, and shopping carts overflowing with stolen goods — all just steps from playgrounds where children pass with parents and strollers.

Neighborhood leaders say City Hall has once again abandoned a working-class community.

“City agencies only act quickly when wealthy neighborhoods complain,” Democratic District Leader Jacky Wong told the Post. “They cleaned up Washington Square Park and dumped the problem on Chinatown.”

Wong said the city’s decision to surround Sara D. Roosevelt Park with five homeless shelters — including one housing parolees — created the conditions for what he described as a “built-in market” for drug dealers and addicts.

“That concentration didn’t happen by accident,” he said. “It created a pipeline for drugs and chaos.”

According to the Post, residents say conditions at the park deteriorated rapidly after the NYPD cleared Washington Square Park, with addicts simply migrating en masse. Locals report seeing drug deals, public intoxication, and aggressive behavior at all hours.

“You can’t even walk through the park after six o’clock,” one merchant said. “It’s completely taken over.”

Community Board 3 member Karlin Chan told the Post that enforcement has become nearly nonexistent.

“NYPD arrests someone who’s completely drugged out, and the courts throw the case out,” Chan said. “It’s a vicious cycle. Nothing changes until someone gets hurt.”

Former City Councilwoman and retired state Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Freed, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1969, said the park has been dangerous for years — but the current situation is the worst she’s seen, according to the Post.