AOC's 'Red Light District' plagued by crime as Democrat who helped her rise to power says she 'disappeared'
A Democrat official who helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez build support before her historic first election win told Fox News Digital that the lawmaker has abandoned and "betrayed" her constituents in a Queens neighborhood that has been riddled with crime under her leadership, including open-air prostitution, robberies and petty crime.
Some constituents have likened conditions along Roosevelt Avenue to those of a Third World country, while others say the migrant women soliciting sex in front of businesses remind them of a red-light district in Bangkok.
The area has garnered national attention for its unsanitary nature where illegal vendors overtake sidewalks selling unregulated food, secondhand clothing and other counterfeit merchandise.
Ramon Ramirez Baez, an author and former Democrat committee member for the 39th Assembly District, said the quality of life there has rapidly deteriorated since Ocasio-Cortez sprang an historic upset in 2018, unseating longtime Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley to become the nation’s youngest congresswoman.
He said the then-unknown political novice had been a fresh face on the scene who promised to work hard for the people of Corona, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst and to be an on-the-ground presence for them, unlike career politician Crowley, who at that point was a 10-term incumbent and eyeing to be the next House speaker.
Ocasio-Cortez, Ramirez Baez said, reached out to him for help when she had about $39,000 in the bank, compared to Crowley’s nearly $2 million war chest.
Ramirez Baez, who is well-connected in the area, particularly among his fellow Dominican immigrants, introduced Ocasio-Cortez to many business owners, campaigned with her and even forked out the cash to pay for their debate venue, he said. The move proved crucial in swaying the electorate, as Crowley never turned up, and Ramirez Baez said it swung the momentum to Ocasio-Cortez.
"I paid for that debate, I have an invoice for everything I did for Ms. Alexandria," Ramirez Baez said, waving a document to the camera. He said he has all his expenses from her campaign documented in one of the many books he has written about her.
But since Ocasio-Cortez rose to power, Ramirez Baez said she has been missing in action and has acted no differently from Crowley.
"We never saw that lady, never, she disappeared," he told Fox News Digital. "She [didn’t] do anything for the community, nothing, nothing."
"She disappeared from my community. You never saw Alexandria in my community, nobody saw her in her office. All the time, closed," he said of her Queens office, which was located a block from his own apartment.
Ramirez Baez said locals don't know how to get in touch with her office as she doesn't appear to have any in Queens. Ocasio-Cortez's website lists an office in Queens, by appointment only, which is the same address as the office of New York City Councilwoman Tiffany Caban.
"What happened? You have to be [in the] community to do an event," he said. "She never did any event. I never saw Alexandria come to do a town hall meeting, to listen to the community, nothing. She disappeared."
"She goes all over the place, like a movie star, she goes to Texas, all over the place, but what about the community?"
Ramirez Baez said Ocasio-Cortez did hold a town hall in the neighborhood in May 2023, but since then, crime, particularly prostitution, has exploded, and she has not engaged with the community on those matters. He said the rally was extremely limited and residents had to apply to attend, with her office denying entry to those it deemed as hostile to her positions. Even other local Democrats who told Fox News Digital they, too, were denied entry.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a rally in support of illegal vendors a few months later and quickly left before questions could be asked, he said.
Ramirez Baez, who said he did not know about Ocasio-Cortez's socialist leanings at the time, said he has buyer's remorse about pushing the community to support her.
"If she said to me, she is socialist, I would never support it," Ramirez Baez declared. He said that part of her socialist agenda is an open-border policy with regard to immigration, which he opined has contributed to the decline of the neighborhood as many illegal vendors and sex workers on Roosevelt Avenue are migrants who have no jobs or work permits and also clog up resources.
"She only defends the socialist agenda, which is not for the American people. … She doesn’t understand what [socialism] means," said Ramirez Baez, who added that he understands it because he has lived in Cuba and the former Soviet Union. "She was a little confused in her head, confused in that ideology."
"The Democrats opened the border, and a lot of people that nobody knows have come. Alexandria was in Texas [saying] ‘Come on, people from New York have the money,’ and that’s why right now you have that situation in our neighborhood."
He told Fox News Digital he voted for President-elect Trump this year and told residents of his neighborhood to do the same, even though he remains a lifelong Democrat.
"The American country is for the law, it’s for people who are working."
Commenting on how she dethroned Crowley, Ramirez Baez said Ocasio-Cortez embraced social media to connect with young people.
Ramirez Baez said Ocasio-Cortez hugged him and cried when she won, saying she would never forget him because he was like a brother to her. He said he responded by saying, "Ms. Alexandria, don’t worry, all I need from you is to do the best for my community.’"
Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez's office for comment in relation to Ramirez Baez but did not receive a response.
Ramirez Baez has been busy trying to clean up Roosevelt Avenue and founded a group called "Let's Improve Roosevelt Ave," which advocates for more police on the ground. That request eventually materialized last month when the mayor and governor deployed more than 200 police officers and state troopers to patrol the troubled neighborhood.
He said that on several occasions he called on Ocasio-Cortez, as well as other local progressives, to rally behind him and other activists, but she ignored his pleas.
Ramirez Baez even penned a damning open letter to Ocasio-Cortez last month and said he has yet to get a response from her.
"I remember you questioning the integrity of other politicians and their promises. My support and collaboration helped you secure your victory. I believed you would champion the best interests of our community, I was wrong," Ramirez Baez wrote in the Oct. 23 letter.
"Watching your career unfold, I saw you more focused on staying in the spotlight and getting media attention than on real issues facing your constituents. While you travel across the country, and engage in various performances, our community continues to struggle. Your appearance in high-fashion attire stands in stark contrast to the hardships our hard-working people endure."
In the letter, Ramirez Baez said he feels compelled to apologize to the community for endorsing her in 2018.
Read Ramon Ramirez Baez's letter to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. App users CLICK HERE
"Roosevelt Avenue … has become a hub for brothels outnumbering bodegas. It is an urban crime zone. Yet, you advocate for the legalization of prostitution and anti-police policies. You ignore the fact that over 70 brothels operate near local schools and houses of worship. You have failed to even speak about the crime that affects our neighborhood and you failed to protect the vulnerable women exploited by these criminal networks."
On one block along Roosevelt Avenue, Fox News Digital cameras recorded a line of no fewer than 19 suspected sex workers on a sidewalk in September. Around the corner, there were at least seven more, and a woman on the next block was witnessed soliciting sex for $60. Some brothels have been known to reopen even after being raided by police.
"Your version of socialism has been a farce. You have never delivered for your community. While you campaign for others throughout the country you don’t see the severe damage your misguided positions have done to our community and your political party," Ramirez Baez continued.
"Have you reviewed the polls of how many Latinos are defecting from the Democratic Party because of the radical policies you espouse?" Ramirez Baez asked. "Take a look at Roosevelt Avenue, breathe our air and see your failures."