Despite City Sweeps, Homeless Return to UWS Block

Most people on the block know him as “Freckles.” His real name is Ethan. He’s the young man living on Broadway just north of Citarella, amidst a collection of bags, bikes, umbrellas, and a cat simply named “Kitty.” A self-proclaimed outdoorsman and nomad, the Missouri native has made a conscious choice to live off the grid. Problem is, he’s chosen to do it on the bustling block of Broadway and 75th Street. While some residents are supportive, stopping to chat with him and even buying him food, his presence does not sit well with others.

No one knows that better than City Council member Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side. “This is not the first time Freckles has been under this threat. He used to be on 76th Street, people complained. Then he was on 77th Street, people complained. All day long I get complaints. This has to stop.”

You may recall that before his inauguration, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was critical of the Adams-era policy of NYPD-helmed “homeless sweeps,” arguing they didn’t do enough to get people into housing. But just days after he took office, he changed his tune. The city is still conducting sweeps, only now they’re led by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), and the focus is on building relationships, he says. The ultimate goal: get the unhoused housed.

The Spirit first met Ethan on April 1, one day before DHS was planning a sweep of his block. (There’s another encampment on the other end of the block, at Broadway at 76th Street, with a reported four adult inhabitants.) Ethan knew the sweep was coming. The 34-year-old iconoclasts was annoyed, but not the least bit worried.

“Their protocol requires them to take a photograph of an empty sidewalk,” he said. “So I move all my things out of the way, they take a picture, and then I can move back almost immediately.”

At 8:00 the next morning, a small army of city employees descended upon the block. There were half a dozen DHS staffers, including Erin Dalton, the new Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, which oversees DHS. In addition, there were three NYPD officers, one Sanitation worker, and one garbage truck, looming on Broadway to purportedly dispose of the belongings they intended to sweep up.

Ethan chatted amiably for several minutes with Ms. Dalton, but in the end, he refused help. When asked for comment, none of the city workers on the scene would talk to The Spirit.

“They're all cowardly,” Ethan commented within earshot of the DHS employees. “They know what they're doing is wrong and they can't defend it in court, so they don't want to say anything that would incriminate them. They're afraid to lose their jobs. They've been paid to be silent. They've been paid to be complicit. They've been paid to do things that are malevolent.”

Reached by The Spirit later that day, a DSS spokesperson told us, in part: “We want to build trust and lasting relationships so people will choose to come inside voluntarily. It can take multiple interactions before we reach that point, though, which is why the Mamdani administration’s new approach to encampments prioritizes consistent, ongoing outreach.”

For many residents the encampments are at best an eyesore or a health hazard even if some nearby residents are not particularly alarmed about Ethan aka “Freckles.” A maintenance man from one of the local buildings told The Spirit that Ethan “...don’t bother nobody. He’s kind of famous around here. He wears his crown, everybody knows him.”

He has less sympathy for the residents of the larger encampment. “They leave all their trash out here, they’re urinating all over the place, and they’re right here on Broadway. Sanitation comes probably once a week with the police, they take all their stuff, they throw all their stuff out, before the day is out, they’re back. So I feel bad for them, but enough is enough.”

The morning after the sweep, “Ethan Freckles”—who says he is neither a drug user nor mentally ill—was right back in the same spot. He says DSS is doing nothing more than wasting taxpayers’ money. He stated, with obvious sarcasm: “They do this productive sweep and then I can move back to wherever I would like to. It's so absurd. It is absurd.”

Soon, though, he may be in for a surprise. Council member Brewer said the next step is for the city to come–without warning – and really remove everyone’s belongings this time. As for Freckles, who she concedes is an intelligent young man, “He just can’t be at that location,” said Brewer. “He’ll have to go somewhere else. I’d love for it to not to be on the Upper West Side.”