This diverse street in Queens has become central to NYC’s debates over quality of life

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks about Islamophobia outside of the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx in New York City. (Timothy A.Clary/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

New York - Roosevelt Avenue in Queens runs through one of New York City’s most densely populated neighborhoods, a cacophonous display of diversity underneath the 7 train.

There are Colombian restaurants and taco stalls next to Indian food and fruit stands. Vendors sell homemade tamales and grilled meat. There are cell phone repair stores that double as money transfer counters and eyebrow threading salons side by side. Walk around some more and you can buy saris or imported shapewear that promise to slim down the figure.

Usually at night and sometimes by day, sex workers can also be seen walking the avenue and throughout the Jackson Heights neighborhood.

The problem has vexed New York City’s two most recent mayoral administrations. Now, it’s become an issue in the mayor’s race.

Zohran Mamdani’s opponents point to his support for decriminalizing sex work as evidence that the Democratic nominee is soft on crime, though Mamdani’s campaign argues he doesn’t support legalizing it either. In focusing on the issue, Andrew Cuomo’s aides argue he can flip South Asians and Muslim voters, making a symbolic argument as much as an electoral one against Mamdani, who is vying to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Cuomo has been ramping up his attacks on Mamdani’s faith, specifically raising the issue before religious communities and arguing that Mamdani’s ideas are “haram,” an Arabic term meaning “forbidden.” His aides think that he can peel off more conservative voters willing to put aside any cultural pride in Mamdani, the Ugandan-born son of parents of Indian origin.

Farhad Soleiman, general secretary of the Jackson Heights Bangladeshi Association, believes Cuomo’s message is getting across.

“I spoke to Cuomo, and our community needs to understand these are the issues and I am saying they are mad because this is against Islam and frankly against any society,” Soleiman told CNN.

He says he was for Mamdani until studying the issue after a sex worker approached him and his 11-year-old son in their car at a traffic light on Roosevelt Avenue.

“That really pissed me off that day,” Soleiman said. “We were supporting him as a Muslim brother, as a South Asian brother, but then I read through his agenda, and I said wow.”

Mamdani’s position on the issue was hazy for weeks, which gave Cuomo an opportunity to ramp up his criticism to suggest Mamdani was flip flopping.

During a recent debate, Mamdani clarified he does not support legalizing sex work. Instead, he says he would support decriminalizing the practice as long as it’s between two consenting adults.

“I do not think that we should be prosecuting women who are struggling, who are currently being thrown in jail,” Mamdani said.

New York City Councilman Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian American elected to the city council, represents Jackson Heights, which is home to large sectors of the city’s South Asian community. Krishnan backs Mamdani.

Krishnan, who represents the Jackson Heights area and is familiar with the sex worker complaints, acknowledged the problems on Roosevelt Avenue but criticized Cuomo for how he’s approaching them.

“To use that as a wedge issue and try to cleave off the South Asian community is deeply misguided because there is something far deeper that is resonating with us,” Krishnan said. “No matter which South Asian community you come from, they’re all in the same struggle, every day I hear from my constituents how hard it is to get by and how unaffordable the city has become.”

A look at Roosevelt Avenue

On an average night in the past month, Mateo Guerrero says he encountered around 15 sex workers nightly on Roosevelt Avenue.

Guerrero, a transgender man who is also a lead organizer at Make the Road New York, an immigrant rights advocacy organization, walks the street at night when gay clubs, bars and 24-hour restaurants light up the avenue.

During his walks, Guerrero tries to connect sex workers to resources, including legal help provided by his organization. He says the best way of finding people who are being victimized is by getting sex workers to believe they can safely seek help and not be subject to arrest or immigration detention.

Make the Road NY and other organizations support a bill in the state legislature known as Cecilia’s Law. The bill, named after Cecilia Gentili, a prominent trans and sex worker rights activist who died last year, would remove penalties for buying to selling sex and keep laws on the books against human trafficking and other crimes involving minors.

“These are people who are trying to survive, trying to get money for the food they eat, they’re surviving as a trans people, women, and they are terrified by police,” Guerrero told CNN.

Last year, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration launched “Operation Restore Roosevelt” in response to community concerns. Adams said the 8-month operation resulted in a drop in crime, with more than 2,500 arrests, including 397 for prostitution-related offenses.

Guerrero, who did not support the operation, says increased police enforcement sent a chill through a broader community largely made up of undocumented immigrants who fear interactions with police even when they are the victims of a crime.

“The impact was not on sex workers, the impact was on all workers, people who are afraid to go out at night now, afraid to go to the supermarket, afraid to come home from work on the train,” Guerrero said.

Some advocates point out Cuomo signed the “Walking While Trans” ban in 2021. The legislation repealed a 1976 law that criminalized loitering for the purpose of prostitution.

In a statement after he signed the repeal, the then-governor referred to the law as “archaic” and argued that people of color and transgender people specifically had been disproportionally policed based on their appearance.

During this year’s mayoral campaign, Cuomo raised Mamdani’s support for decriminalizing the sale of sex between two consenting adults during their first general election debate, saying “the worst thing that could happen” would be to have the practice decriminalized.

“That would be terrible for the quality of life,” Cuomo said.

Mamdani has dismissed Cuomo’s attacks as an attempt to sow confusion among voters, arguing Cuomo has only recently spent time in South Asian communities or around Muslim New Yorkers.

Cuomo, Mamdani argued, has spent his time “lecturing instead of listening.”

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN