You Told Us is a regular feature where we highlight comments from users in the communities DNAinfo New York covers.
WOODSIDE — Is today's Roosevelt Avenue the old Times Square?
Readers were divided on politicians' calls to crack down on crime and quality of life issues along the avenue, particularly on how — or if — the city should clean up the busy Queens corridor.
Elected officials held a press conference in Woodside last week pushing for stricter enforcement on the street at night, citing "bad actor" businesses that operate without proper licenses and allow drugs, prostitution and other problems.
"We want to ensure that people, families can walk up and down Roosevelt Avenue and feel safe," State Sen. Jose Peralta said during the event. "Right now, after 8 o'clock they don't feel safe."
But several DNAinfo readers weighed in to say they think issues on a thoroughfare are being exaggerated.
► "Okay seriously it's not THAT bad. Been living off Roosevelt and 82 for the last five years. it's fineeee," one reader wrote on DNAinfo's Facebook page.
► "I think this is bulls**t," another person echoed. "Whenever I'm in that area late at night I never feel unsafe. Just normal people out enjoying the nightlife. It's not at all dangerous."
A number of people, however, said they agree that the avenue needs an overhaul.
► "I live in Woodside. I am tired of seeing drunk men on the streets," user luisa-fernanda-madrid-estremadoyro wrote on Neighborhood Square. "The men have been even seen peeing at the parks, phone booths, and corners of Woodside Ave and Roosevelt. It's really a disgrace."
Another reader commented on Facebook that the street is a "dump."
► "There's trash everywhere, bums, gangs, drug addicts and alcoholics and a lot of crooked businesses too," he writes. "Time to clean up."
But several others wrote that they fear attempts to "clean up" Roosevelt Avenue — which runs through Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona and into Flushing — would really mean gentrification, and making the area less affordable.
► "All this coded language by politicians to essentially say 'we don't value non-white cultures, nor do we value middle- and lower-income residents.' Do they really think we can't see through their words?" one reader writes on DNAinfo's Facebook page.
► "Unfortunately what this will lead to is gentrification," Neighborhood Square user edoconn2 writes. "If money is thrown at this problem, it will lead to losing mom and pop businesses that have been the ones to last through the seedy times on Roosevelt."
Another reader writes on Facebook that the avenue is "One of the last places left that still feels like NYC."
► "No gentrifiers jogging on the sidewalk," he said. "I need the grittiness."
