New York City’s latest figures show a steep decline in prostitution-related arrests along Queens’ notorious Roosevelt Avenue, raising fresh questions about the direction of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public-safety policies.
New York City spent months trying to restore order to one of Queens’ most troubled commercial corridors. Now, a dramatic decline in prostitution-related arrests is raising concerns that the progress made under former Mayor Eric Adams is slipping away.
A recent New York Post investigation found that prostitution-related arrests along Roosevelt Avenue fell from 468 during the first nine months of 2025 to just 193 through September 13, 2026. That’s a decline of approximately 59 percent since Zohran Mamdani took office in January.
The figures come as the newspaper reports renewed street-level prostitution and continued activity at establishments suspected of operating as illegal brothels along the Jackson Heights and Corona corridor.
