City Continues to Restrict Bad Behavior Spots Through Cleanup (VIDEO)

POUGHKEEPSIE – When illegal drug use escalated into a murder on a vacant lot on Main Street, Poughkeepsie Mayor Yvonne Flowers brought together several city departments and other stakeholders to clean up the property and evict residents from the area. At least they tried.

The parking lot next to Kennedy Fried Chicken at 473 Main Street had become dangerous. When residents were evicted, they moved to the sidewalk across the street and to a vacant lot just two lots east on Main Street. The new properties near 480 Main Street offered secluded locations that turned into a campsite for prostitution and drug use. Mayor Flowers worked with police to clear the homeless people from the area, and DPW cut down all overgrowth that had provided privacy for the illegal behavior.

The sidewalk across from Kennedy Fried Chicken was still a problem, seeing rampant drug dealing, drug use and alcohol consumption. A mature tree provided a shaded meeting place for worshipers and blocked the sidewalk, making it difficult for pedestrians to move through the area.

A recent Dutchess County Drug Task Force raid on the open-air drug market resulted in one arrest and encouraged the others to flee the area. A video of this raid can be viewed here.

The task force is targeting illegal drug sales on Main Street, with a focus on the stretch between Clinton Street and Cherry Street. A task force raid at 455 Main Street earlier this year led to the arrest of a suspect and the seizure of drugs and weapons. Another task force raid on S. Clinton Street behind Kennedy Fried Chicken resulted in the arrest of another suspected dealer and the seizure of illegal drugs. The article with a video of this raid can be found here.

After the sidewalk was cleared, the city’s DPW took the opportunity to cut down the tree that helped shade the illegal activity. Many of the newly hunted residents have moved their illegal activities to the parking lots of businesses near the sidewalk they have taken over. One of those relocated, a drug dealer arrested during the raids, was arrested four days later in a parking lot near his previous arrest. Read more about the dealer and his arrests here.