Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
In a coordinated enforcement effort yesterday afternoon, NYPD officers and Sanitation workers impounded dozens of e-bikes, mopeds, and bicycles from 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
The action, which began around noon and wrapped up by 3 p.m., took place on a day when the heat index hit 100 degrees and came amid mounting tensions over how public space is shared along this corridor.
Bikes locked to poles and scaffolding were cut free with power tools and loaded into NYPD vehicles. Personal items — including food delivery bags, folding chairs, and other belongings — were discarded.
The block was closed to vehicle traffic for the duration of the operation.
Nearby, the longtime food truck stationed at the southeast corner of 11th Street and First Avenue was asked to relocate. It moved across the avenue, and the corner space will now be used as a designated corral for legal bike parking.
A surge in complaints
The sweep followed a stretch of recent signage posted along the block announcing the scheduled "cleanup," part of a joint initiative by the 9th Precinct and the Department of Sanitation.
Officials said the enforcement is a response to a surge in community complaints about noise, congestion, and food waste stemming from the block's unofficial use as a waiting and staging area for e-bike delivery workers (aka, deliveristas). Quality-of-life issues have been regularly mentioned at 9th Precinct Community Council meetings.
The area, particularly the sidewalk in front of the under-renovation Madina Masjid Islamic Council of America on the northeast corner, one of the city's oldest mosques, has become a gathering spot for the workers due to its central location and availability of curb space.
Hector, a building super on the block, said the bikes often block access to trash bins and attract rats due to leftover food containers.
"We can't get through some days," he said.
A mixed reaction
The enforcement action drew sharply mixed reactions. Some neighbors expressed gratitude to the police for "cleaning up the block." Others shouted at officers and tried to stop the bikes from being taken.
A few residents translated information into French for West African delivery workers, many of whom were caught off guard. (The NYPD posted multiple flyers along here on Friday.)
"We don't sell drugs — we deliver food," said one delivery worker, declining to give his name. "We work hard. We buy a $2,000 bike, and they take it from us. How do we work now?"
Said one officer: "We spoke to the community, we spoke to Joco [which provides e-bikes to delivery workers], we spoke directly to the delivery workers. We put up signs in multiple languages. This is community policing. This is not just us being the big, bad police."
Tensions boiled over at times, with some skirmishes occurring among residents, law enforcement, sanitation, and the bike owners.
One woman walking by screamed at the police, "Why?! Why are you harming them? Why are you taking their means for work?"
One sanitation worker looked at me ruefully and said, "This is the worst part of the job."
Police confirmed that no criminal summonses were issued, though some sanitation code violations may be forthcoming.
All bikes were tagged and vouchered and are being held at the 9th Precinct for 30 days. A receipt or other proof of ownership is required to reclaim a bike. Officers stressed that no immigration documents are needed and that immigration status is not being checked.
Delivery workers insist they've taken steps to keep the area clean and orderly, but say they need somewhere to rest between jobs. Police maintain the broader goal is to balance the needs of workers, residents, and businesses in an increasingly crowded corridor.
"This is not a one-time sweep," said one law enforcement source. "We'll continue to assess and enforce as needed. We're looking for a lasting solution."
All sides seemed to agree on one thing: This is a problem without a clear-cut solution.
Previously on EV Grieve:
24 comments:
Great reporting by Stacie. IMO, the true villains here are the delivery apps like Grubhub, DoorDash, etc, who treat their employees like crap. As noted at the earlier linked story which got 40 comments:
"GrubHub and DoorDash are the ones benefitting from this exploited cheap labor pool, let them pay for facilities--or host the drivers at their executive's lobbies and front yards--instead of once again making your everyday taxpaying schlub have to foot the metaphorical bill."
https://evgrieve.com/2025/06/cleanup-planned-for-e-bike-hub-on-11th.html
Granted, the delivery guys need to have a place to eat and rest. Maybe the solution is, they need more than one place to do it. The crowd at this intersection has grown a lot over time. If the guys were spread out over multiple locations, that might alleviate everyone's problems.
That is good news, and it is about time. That block was so congested with those bikes being stored there that I could not even walk down the sidewalk. Not to mention that the drivers of those bikes were so riding them so dangerously that pedestrians like me had to constantly watch out for them speeding down the sidewalk and going right though red lights and ignoring every other NYC traffic law there is. Good job NYPD.
The companies they work for, Gruhub, DoorDash, Uber Eats, should be forced to provide them with a space for them to wait, rest, and use a bathroom. They profit from their labor. This is inhumane exploitation from greedy "tech" firms abusing the system.
👍
The solution for overcrowding is very simple: create more space by removing free car parking spots: one car on this block has been parked in front of East Side School for more than 2 years without moving.
I have seen these mostly african men near the mosque. I have empathy for them, but the main responsibility lies in the companies that pay them.
ridiculous solution!
Despicable. These are delivery people who are struggling to survive. Many are homeless migrants from Africa who sleep on the floor of the mosque on this street. Spoiled bourgeois residents want the convenience of DoorDash but don’t want to lay eyes on the untidy reality of the workers who serve them.
My suggestion is that this business is the new wave of the now and future. This business will not be going away.
The city and these businesses should work together and supply them with a brick and mortar buildings with amenities uptown, midtown and downtown. Get them off the streets. Just as they do with Amazon hubs.
I can already picture the annoying people yelling at the police. STFU and go live on your anarchist hippie island, you're so dumb.
100%. Tax these companies and use the proceeds to provide decent places for these hardworking people to take breaks and wait for jobs to come in. Imagine doing manual labor in weather like this week's without even knowing where you can get respite from the heat or even use the damn bathroom.
Maybe you should move to Kips Bay if the idea of people concerned about the welfare of vulnerable people in their community bugs you so much.
This is a complex issue involving people, private companies, government and other entities with competing responsibilities and interests. Only single-issue simpletons would suggest there is a just and equitable answer to this situation that will also be simple.
I live on that corner, and I am happy to see the much-needed clean up and I appreciate the efforts of the NYPD and Sanitation; however, the city needs to pressure Doordash and Grubhub to provide shelter and bathrooms for their workers instead of leaving them to congregate outside. The entire block is going to be inundated at some point if nothing is done to solve this issue and I for one am not looking forward to ICE's arrival in NYC...just more pain and punishment for vulnerable groups. Just like these businesses lobby Congress, there should be city government lobbying for these no-longer-start-up businesses that are public-traded stocks on the NYSE to PAY UP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Kudos to the deliver workers ... most of them are nice, harmless men just trying to make a buck. It's the businesses in the wrong on this one, yet nobody forces corporations to act with any sort of responsibility or morality.
Hi from a guy who showed up late and was trying to ask questions of the on-scene NYPD, DSNY, an elderly neighbor. The tall plainclothes NYPD guy who was there finally answered my questions and I left about as satisfied as I could have hoped to be, but I still have doubts about one thing he told me. I asked him if, in the in-advance outreach they'd done, they had actually gone around and talked to THE ACTUAL WORKERS who park their bikes there. The reason I care about that aspect is because NYPD is notorious for a decades-long practice of just taking large numbers of bikes away without fair warning to anyone. I kept having to remind him that that was my question, because he kept talking instead about how outreach had been done *at the council member's office and at the community board.* (Like these workers are gonna be at those places!) Anyway, he did eventually say yes to my question about whether they had gone walking among these workers and telling them in advance that this was happening. I still have questions about how ethically diligent they were about that (especially after seeing drama in some of your photos), but all I could do was take him at his word. But anyway, I'm still left with the impression that the issue wasn't as big a problem as it was made out to be. (And yes I've walked that block dozens of times in daylight and at night since the bikes appeared, as I live three streets up on the same block.) The biggest problem I saw stopped early on: meal containers were being left as litter, and that was observably drawing rats. But I saw a sudden, lasting, near-total improvement in that particular problem some months ago. Anyway, I write all this not to imply that the neighbors who complained are evil and/or wrong, but because, to whatever degree this is relevant, I'm just getting more and more sensitive these years to how humanity is so, so quick to punish the less powerful before seeking remedy from the more powerful, who are usually the ones that created the conditions that caused the problem (or non-problem).
Finally that eyesore situation has been dealt with .
These unregulated e-bikes messengers or not have pushed the patience of us residents to the limit. They can’t just take over public property like they own it, and make it a dumping ground, nor they should ride dangerously on sidewalks as if it’s their right. Finally the city has shown a bit of an effort in enforcing the law. Cheers
That's a great and novel idea, it's about time you suggested it!
The mess at 11th & 1st was partially due to the mosque. Many of the guys are muslim. But the problem isn't limited to just that corner... it's all over the EV... Asher Levy... Marinara at 2nd Ave. St. Marks church ... The Millstein Building at 11th and A. I go by 11th & 1st a couple of times a day. I've never been threatened, harasses or bothered and never noticed the guys bothering anyone else. So they deserve the respect we have for all working people... and their companies should pony up and take care of them.
Delivery market is obviously over saturated. Yes, the big delivery companies earn majority of $ but NYC is responsible for keeping streets in some sort of order. Not to mention the speeds these delivery bikes travel at.
Man, this sucks. There are a lot of better solutions to this than suddenly seizing these guys’ bikes.
Steiner Bldg....NOT Millstein
so, nothing got accomplished here. these delivery workers work an honest job, unlike our politicians. this fiasco was yet another waste of our tax money. like many other people noted here, the big money companies that these people work for should be responsible for all ends of their businesses. and a situation like this makes it difficult to support our police, which sucks. it would be nice to see the police take a pause and think of a better solution. at least we’re not a red state
1. It should be noted that not everyone orders food delivery. My family cooks at home. There are many people who can't afford food delivery or restaurants.
2. The majority of people who get food delivery via corporate apps DoorDash/UberEats etc are young and affluent. My neighbor in that demographic gets food delivery nearly every evening. The guy at the Subway/Carvel near my office in "FiDi" is still incredulous that people order a milkshakes just across the street - won't even go downstairs to get their milkshake! (Reminder - older people, homebound people could always get food delivered locally).
3. The corporate apps DorDash/UberEats are making a ton of money.
4. There was a confluence of events including Covid and large number of people coming to the US - and food delivery is a relatively "easy" gig to earn money. But in actuality there is now an over-saturation of food delivery workers.
5. The corporate apps should be providing space for delivery workers - rest area, bike storage etc. Lots of vacant storefronts around.
No - not OK for streets/public space to be used for food delivery ebike parking and hangout.
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