For residents of the South Bronx, open drug use and illegal dumping are daily sights near The Hub on Third Avenue.

On Tuesday, city officials took a walk through of the area to see for themselves—and ended up as witnesses of an almost-overdose in an exclusive story with News 12 The Bronx.

City Councilman Rafael Salamanca has long worked on issues in the area and invited Deputy Mayor For Health And Human Services Anne Williams-Isom to the neighborhood. Leaders with the Third Avenue Business Improvement District and the Southern Boulevard Improvement District say these challenges impact local business too, which Pedro Suarez with the Third Avenue BID says has led many to shut their stores down earlier and earlier.

The problem is multifaceted and complicated: a number of social services that target drug use and prevention as well as harm reduction are near Third Avenue because that is where the need exists, but officials believe this can also lead to a concentration of the same problems in the same area. Contrarily, they acknowledge that these programs themselves serve an important role and did not create the challenges the neighborhood faces.

Salamanca said what the area needs is long-term, consistent enforcement and substance abuse programming.