Scourge of Gramercy Park: Homeless man terrorizes NYC neighborhood
An unhinged vagrant is making life miserable for merchants and residents in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood with his outrageous behavior — as Mayor Eric Adams was publicly confronted Tuesday by a homeless woman who demanded that he “do something” for people living on the streets.
The Post watched the Gramercy Park homeless man spend about 45 minutes Tuesday morning wandering the neighborhood, muttering to himself and waving his hands over his head in between getting barred from entering three businesses.
They included a Salvation Army thrift store on East 23rd Street, where the manager later explained why even the iconic Christian charity was turning its back on the obviously troubled soul.
“He has pooped outside the store,” manager Angela Kelly said.
“I keep the peace by keeping him out of the store … Something’s clearly wrong with him.”
Megan Warshaw, who manages her family’s nearly 100-year-old Warshaw Hardware store on Third Avenue, said she’s seen the man lying in the middle of the busy roadway and sitting “bare-assed” at a table outside the bar next door.
“That guy is known to be violent and has no decency,” Warshaw said. “He screams a lot, makes a ruckus and pulls his pants down.”
A Gramercy resident named Caleb said, “I always know he’s coming around because he’s screaming loud enough that you know when he’s in the neighborhood.”
“I’ve seen him walk up to an old lady before with two small dogs. This lady was in her 80s, minding her own business. He started barking at the dogs, getting them riled up … She could have fallen over that day and broken her hip.”
Caleb, who moved into the area last year, also said he was carrying a cup of coffee on Sunday when the man “double-tapped my elbow, trying to make me spill it.”
“I said, ‘Please don’t touch me. I know who you are. I live around here. I won’t be so polite about this going forward,'” he said.
The owner of Eleni’s Divine Greek Cuisine restaurant, at the corner of Third Avenue and East 19th Street, said the man has been bothering her outdoor patrons almost daily for months.
“One day, that homeless guy pulled his pants down right next to a customer with a kid,” Eleni Vareli said.
“Another time he pooped right outside our restaurant. He has pushed my servers.”
Vareli said she’s called the NYPD, whose 13th Precinct stationhouse is around the corner on East 21st Street, but the cops never arrived in time to catch him.
Locals said the man — who at one point Tuesday scrounged up money for a meal at a McDonald’s restaurant from diners inside — is the most troublesome of four homeless people who live in the area.
They also expressed sympathy for his plight and frustration that city officials weren’t taking action.
“Homelessness has gotten really bad around here but the police say they can’t do nothing,” Kelly said.
“The issue is they need mental health care but for whatever reason, they’re not getting it. It breaks your heart.”
Warshaw said she’d occasionally seen the vagrants get busted by cops, “but they’re processed and straight back on the street.”
“Unfortunately our city isn’t prepared to take care of people who aren’t well-balanced,” she said.
“It’s horrible that all these people have fallen through the cracks. There’s clearly not enough mental health care available for them.”
Vareli said, “I feel sorry for this man because he’s not OK.”
“Why is nobody helping him? The city knows about the problem but nobody does nothing. There needs to be more psychiatric help for these people,” she added.
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Homeless Services, Julia Savel, said its staffers hadn’t encountered anyone fitting the man’s description and that outreach workers didn’t find him during a canvass of the area on Tuesday.
The Post approached the man as he was leaning across the hood of a parked car, using his arms as a pillow for his head.
He shook his head when asked if he’s been offered any help from homeless outreach workers or cops, then revealed a mouthful of missing teeth as he gave his name as “Howard” before he refused to answer further questions and walked away.
The disturbing situation emerged despite the mayor’s recent crackdowns on homeless people living in the subways and camping out on city streets, and last month’s opening of a new, 80-bed “safe haven” shelter with mental health and substance abuse services in the Bronx.
The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment.
But also Tuesday, Adams was in Manhattan’s Financial District recording a segment for CBS’ “60 Minutes” with correspondent and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper when a middle-aged woman approached during a break as Hizzoner posed for selfies with tourists and other passers-by.
“You gotta do something about homelessness,” the woman said.
Adams started to respond but was interrupted by the woman, who declared, “I am the homeless.”
During the exchange that followed, Adams said, “Every night we talk to people … We have good shelter locations.”
“What I need for you to do is talk to people on the street and look at the housing we have. It’s a new day. Share your information and we’ll reach out,” he said.
The woman, who later identified herself as Sylvia Richardson, said, “I certainly will,” but then brushed off a mayoral aide and walked away.
“This city is hell,” she said.
