Union Sq Park, Job Center Are Social-Distance Complaint Hotspots

DOWNTOWN, MANHATTAN — Complaints of social distancing violations amid the coronavirus pandemic have started hitting New York City's 311 hotline, and it seems Union Square Park and its nearby job center are hotspots for the calls.

New Yorkers lodged 4,270 social distancing complaints since March 28, the day 311 operators started giving the novel calls their own descriptor, according to city data.

Union Square's 10003 zip code had the second most complaints in the borough, with 51 calls in the last week.

Many of the calls — 17 of the 51 — seemed to center around Union Square Park, an unsurprising cluster given that officials have grappled with crowds in parks since social-distancing rules were announced.

One interesting cluster included 109 East 16th St., an employment support office, which was the focus of nine Union Square calls. Unemployment has spiked 360 percent in New York City as businesses lay off or furlough employees amid the pandemic.

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Other Downtown Manhattan zip codes also saw some of the most calls in the city about social distancing.

The East Village's 10009 zip code logged the borough's most complaints, with 58 in the last week. It was the only in Manhattan to make it into the top 10 zip codes with the most complaints across the city.

Nearby 10011, which covers parts of the Greenwich Village and Chelsea, rang in with 45.

Social distancing effectively became the law of the land after Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a "stay-at-home" order. Cuomo on Monday announced he would extend the order until April 29 and raise the fine for social distancing violations to $1,000.

The neighborhood with the most social-distancing complaints was Long Island City in Queens, which had 76 calls. As a borough, though, Brooklyn had the most complaints.

Brooklyn had 1,480 social distancing calls between March 28 and April 5, city 311 data shows. Manhattan had 1,046 total, Queens had 969, the Bronx had 604 and Staten Island had 171.

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