City's Nightlife Raids Target Jackson Heights, Report Finds

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — An NYPD-led program that conducts raids of city nightlife venues targets the Jackson Heights-Elmhurst-Corona area more than any other neighborhood, a new report found.

A census tract covering the three Queens neighborhoods experienced 29 such raids between 2012 and 2017, according to a report by the NYC Artists Coalition and The Black Institute, a progressive think tank.

Roosevelt Avenue was the epicenter, accounting for 28 of those 29 raids, according to the report.

MARCH raids, or Multi-Agency Responses to Community Hotspots, refer to the city's coordinated raids of bars and other nightlife establishments across the city that have been the subject of community complaints, according to City Council Member Stephen Levin's office.

The MARCH Task Force includes the FDNY, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, State Liquor Authority, Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Buildings.

MARCH raids disproportionately affect communities of color, according to The Black Institute's report: Nearly 95 percent of raids over the five-year period happened in neighborhoods where minorities made up more than 30 percent of the population.

And yet nearly half of those raids resulted in no charges, according to the report.

In the case of the Jackson Heights raids, the businesses the city targeted primarily catered to the Latinx community, the report says.

"Local businesses and nightlife owners deserve better, and I applaud the Black Institute for their leadership in addressing this urgent issue," Levin, who represents Brooklyn, said in a statement.

Levin and City Council Member Rafael Espinal are spearheading a bill that would require the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice to provide quarterly reports on MARCH operations, including the complaints or issues that prompted the raids.