1. daveb writes in the Daily Heights Forums:
“I was mugged and beaten up pretty badly on Saint Johns Place between Underhill and Washington (I also happen to live on this stretch) Sunday night (19th). The police did not seem too interested in getting a description of the attacker and seemed to me to stop taking notes after ‘tall, black and in his late 20’s,’ cutting me off when I offered descriptions of his clothing, what direction he ran in etc. My overall feeling was that they just didn’t care. I’ve also had my apartment robbed twice in the past year, both times eliciting a very lackluster response from the police. I’m very upset about the crime in this neighborhood and the lack of policing. It’s no fun having to eat through a straw and knowing that the guy who nearly killed you likely lives on your block, if not your street.”
2. BONUS! Arielbl writes in the same thread: “My next door neighbor was mugged and pistol-whipped in the vestibule of our building on st johns between franklin and classon, on a friday evening, between maybe 11pm and midnight. The guy must have been following him and pushed him into the vestibule when he unlocked the door.”
“I like to think that this kind of stuff is an anomaly. This is my first summer in ‘proho,’ and it seems like things are a lot worse with the warm weather.”
Oh, yay. I’m moving to St Johns between Franklin and Classon on Friday. I’ve recently had some dealings with the 77th, and I was extremely unimpressed. They chewed my boyfriend out for getting hit by a car while on his bike.
Is there anything to be done to help make St. Johns a safer street? Does neighborhood watch work, or did that go out in the 80s?
Call Letitia James and complain about the crime going on and lack of police presence and professionalism. She needs to focus on making the neighborhood safe rather then spend time trying to save us from the arena.
There are also monthly meetings with the 77th precinct community council the second monday of every month at 7:30 at the precinct.
The Underhill block association has had the precinct captain attend block association meetings, and he was pretty responsive to concerns people raised.
You should definately call Tish James’ office, and might want to talk to James O’Connell, the commanding officer of the 77th.
Kate Suisman is the Director of Constituent Services in Tish James office and she is usually very responsive. She can be reached at (718)260-9191. I agree that Councilwoman James should spend less time leading protest marches against the arena and more time focusing on “bread and butter” local issues like crime and unemployment.
My paper, the Brooklyn Star, is starting a “Mugging of the Week” feature, in which we publish readers’ tales of muggery and street ruffianism. Hopefully, it will alert people to trouble spots and goad the police into a more satisfactory response. If any y’all got stories to share, send ’em our way at [email protected]
(We have papers in Queens too, hence the embarrassing email address.)
For sure make a noise to Tish James’ office, call 311, call Marty Markowitz and don’t put up with this danger!
Call the mayor’s friday morning show on am radio!
Crime stats are regularly cooked, so you have to use whatever outlet you can get your voice to . . .
links for 2005-06-25
BioMed Central | Members | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories (tags: Medical_Libraries Software Journals SFX Open_URL) dailyheights.com | Prospect Heights Neighborhood, Brooklyn, New York, USA: This Week in PROSPECT HEIGHTS CRIME: DaveB Survives Beating,…
It is interesting to see how quickly cops in their patrol cars would ticket you for moving your car @ 9:33AM BECAUSE YOU WERE NOT WEARING YOUR seatbelt, but would not do anything about violent idiots fighting, or agressing people regularly!!! By the way, aren’t Pitbulls & Rots illegal in NYC? Anyway As “intelligent” as their masters!!!
Call James, Marty, NY1, it is getting too ridiculous!
Poverty can not be used as an excuse by the perpetrators, stupidity and selfishness are the real motives.
I am wondering if I should be worried. I am moving this weekend to Lincoln Pl. by Washington Ave. As it is I stand out because I’m white. Any thoughts??
BIG drug area. Between Classon and washington is nice-looking (note the absolutely SPOTLESS Hummer always parked mid-block) but definitely a fair amount of activity. Activity increases the farther you go over Washington ave. I don’t suppose you were at the open house on lincoln between classon and washington?
As a small-ish, very-pale female with very-red hair and a taste for vintage clothes, I know there’s no way in hell I’m going to blend in. Despite this, I have never actually felt threatened in the hood. I try and be smart (taking cabs home at night (when I can afford it), never taking train to franklin ave stop outside rush hours, etc. The people who hang out on the street (some young men, but also older people) have all been friendly. Occasionally creepy-friendly, but usually just friendly. Actually, the only time I was even verbally harassed (‘hey red’ and ‘hey baby’ I don’t worry about, in my mind its harassment when it involves verbs and body parts) was by (one out of) a bunch of 10-12 year olds. My response was to ask if his mother knew he was out that late.
‘Safe’ said “crime stats are regularly cooked…”
Yes, I’m impressed with the NYPD’s adeptness at concealing homicides. Rumor has it that they dump every other body in a warehouse in Flatlands, meaning that the murder rate is actually twice as high as the department claims it is.
Isn’t it interesting that it’s glaringly obvious to un-drug-addled residents that the area is a huge drug spot, yet where are the police? Could it be that they just look the other way because it’s far more lucrative and safe for the department to give summones to bikers on the sidewalk?
How loud do we have to complain and how hurt/mugged do residents have to get before the police clean it up? All the talk of gentryfying is in my opinion a sort of fabrication. Brooklyn is simply becoming overcrowded really quickly, with normal working people being forced into neighborhoods they should totally avoid. Formerly affordable, working class apts are now listed as luxury rentals. I know that coud be contrued as gentrification, but I think it’s just overcrowding. And the new construction going on everywhere is luxury-focused.
The quality of life we moved here for is rapidly being destroyed.
*note to self – stay away from Classon*
I understand that crime is everywhere but on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being the worst) how bad is the area around the Franklin Ave stop? I feel as though I was mis-led by someone I trusted so while I’m going to be moving irregardless I also need to know what I’m in for.
Classon avenue itself is pretty quiet (except for when church lets out!)
I don’t know how the crime is at Franklin ave stop. I do know that its dimly lit, smelly and dirty, and tends to be VERY crowded, not just with people moving through, but people (mostly teenagers and tweens) who seem to be hanging out there. That just makes me uncomfortable, so I prefer to use Eastern Parkway which is brighter, prettier, cleaner, and not nearly as crowded. I do see some teenagers hanging out at eastern parkway in the morning, but its a smaller and more sedate population than at Franklin ave. MY apartment is equidistant between the two, so its not a big deal which one I pick. Mostly its that I find eastern parkway a more comfortable stop, and if i need to take the 4/5, its a very easy transfer at Nevins.
white people worried about blending in on washington? that is absurd. this neighborhood is more diverse and pleasantly mixed than just about anywhere I have ever lived. maybe if you dropped the paranoia and defensiveness and just used your street smarts, you wouldn’t stick out like such easy prey. get to know your neighbors. smile. and stay off the bad blocks when the addicts and pushers and gang bangers are holding court. this neighborhood is a wonderful place to live. but it is brooklyn, and things are going to happen. you can’t expect it to be perfectly safe when you are new to the neighborhood and everyone knows it. so get to know your neighbors, smile, and stay off the streets at night alone. common sense prevails.
regarding crime–
we recently moved to prospect heights from a nice block on the upper west side, DIRECTLY across the street from where some “sexual predator” broke into a womans house while she was sleeping last week.
my guess–crime is not that much worse here, but its much more pleasant a neighborhood.
Oh, dear resident, how wonderfully harmonious a world you live in. Please tell us how you manage to stay off the streets at night alone? Smiling at people is doubtless the way to avoid being targeted. In what universe?
True. Smiling at strangers is probably a good way to provoke a punch. Sorry to editorialize. I’ll go back to being neutral now.
Once said to me by a wise man: When you are walking down the street assume that whoever you pass is as afraid of you as you are of them.
I’m not naive I understand that there is crime everywhere etc. It’s also not a race thing for me except for the fact there are far more black people then white so w/ that fact alone I will stick out. I’m not “afraid” of black people but I am worried about drug dealers, thugs, and rapists (of ALL colors) therefore I would like to try to avoid them if possible.
I have decided to get out of the lease I signed on Lincoln PL. After walking to my “new” place last night I heard “whoa, we got a white girl in the hood”. Then there was the fact the front door was left open in my building OH, and let’s not forget the mother who threatened to “f-ing” beat her kid in the apartment below. So I’ve decided that my safety and peace of mind is worth more then the money I am going to lose on this deal. I am taking it as a life lesson.
Cost of losing out on this apartment –
700 (my portion).
Sleeping well at night, not being afraid to walk down the street where I live and having peace of mind –
Priceless
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, before anyone ever rents an apartment do yourself a favor and check out the neighborhood at ALL different hours and days of the week. Or maybe I’m the only one who should have taken that advice.
Life goes on….
“maybe if you dropped the paranoia and defensiveness and just used your street smarts, you wouldn’t stick out like such easy prey.”
I totally agree Resident. I moved to Franklin and Eastern Pkway 4 years ago. I’m not white, but everyone knew I was new immediately. I haven’t had a single problem, and neither has my (white) boyfriend. Being street smart (and, in a way, courteous to your new neighbourhood) might mean NOT FLAUNTING your fancy clothes and expensive gadgets. Also, stop starting at us residents so damn fearfully…if I run out to get milk with my hair wrapped in a bandana, stop looking at me like I’m out for a crack fix!
1. I probably have a better education than you do, and
2. your thoughts really ARE that transparent.
crownheightstalkingback….
1. If you don’t want people to think your a crack head then don’t go out looking like one OR don’t be surprised when people think that.
2. You want to put me down for being fearful of a neighborhood but when I called the precinct that covers that area they said on a scale of 1 – 10, (10 being the worst) it was an 11.
3. If I could afford fancy clothes and gadgets then I wouldn’t have looked into that neighborhood in the first place.
Lastly, if you read what I wrote then you would see that I had comments made about me solely due to the fact that I was white.
I can’t change my color but you can change your bandana.
1. If you don’t want people to think your a crack head then don’t go out looking like one OR don’t be surprised when people think that.
2. You want to put me down for being fearful of a neighborhood, but when I called the precinct that covers that area they said on a scale of 1 – 10, (10 being the worst) it was an 11.
3. If I could afford fancy clothes and gadgets then I wouldn’t have looked into that neighborhood in the first place.
Lastly, if you read what I wrote then you would see that I had comments made about me solely due to the fact that I was white.
I can’t change my color but you can change your bandana.
Hey Everyone:
Sometimes I laugh at the white people who move into the nastiest buildings in the hood. Common sense should tell you that the brothas smoking weed in front of your building and the Escalades blasting music in front of your window aren’t going to disappear just because you signed a lease. Like the cockroaches and mice in your apartments, the boyz in the hood are here to stay. Either get used to it, or move to Park Slop….White people think its cool to move to the ghetto, but then get freaked out when they’re confronted with the realities of the hood. Face it—when you move into the ghetto, you become a moving target. When you ride your vintage bicycle with the basket, you’re a target. When you’re listening to your little Ipod, you’re a target. When you go jogging at 6am in your tight little shorts and jogbra, you’re a target. When you turn up your nose and act like you don’t see your black neighbors, you’re a target. I make six figures, drive a BMW (and a vintage bike), own a gorgeous two bedroom apartment, and probably have more education than most of the whiners on this list—but unlike you, I’m not a target. The brothas watch my car instead of vandalize and say hello—why? Because I look like them and because they respect me. And I also respect them. Trust me, people are not poor and unemployed because they wanna be…like you, they’re also victims of circumstance. If you think any of these guys wanna be hustlers, get a clue…the pay isn’t so hot and the benefits suck!
richblackgirl,
You are in total denial. I’m black too. And I grew up in the hood, though now I live in Park Slope. I don’t ever want to go back to the hood. Park Slope is as close as I wanna be. Why? Cause just because I’m black does not exempt me from being a target. Do you seriously think, for one second that you are immune. Now, just for the record, I totally agree with you about white folks and their expectations when they move into ghetto nabes. But, if you think your BMW is any less likely to be busted up cause you’re black or if you think you’re less of a target cause you’re black, then you really are living on a different planet. The perpetrators are gonna see you as just as easy pickens. Get a clue and watch your back girl.
well said, miguel
For the most part, the area is safe, and you do need to watch your back the same you would anywhere else. The real problem, at least in my experience, is less the drug dealers – when they’re around, they seem to suppress other crime so they can conduct business. Not that I liked having them deal outside my door but it never hurt me. What did hurt was the little teenage hoodlums who don’t have jobs, don’t go to school and have nothing better to do than sit around and harass people. They’ve physically assaulted my friends and verbally assaulted me. It got so bad I had to leave. When I first moved there, it was a nice neighborhood with nice working class people and kids who seemed to be working hard to get ahead. Lately though the little baddies started to take over. And no, the cops aren’t helpful at all. When my friend was attacked, the cops told him it would be smarter not to report anything. Better for his safety. Ridiculous.
I used to be one of those punk kids, only somehow managed to stay outta trouble, and certainly never hurt anybody who wasn’t trying to hurt me. I know how these kids see you guys. You’re invaders. You seem weak and wimpy, yet we know you have money and privilege. You are hear by choice (seriously don’t give me the BS about how you’re a poor starving artist). This does not make one bit of sense to us, so it’s just a daily reminder of just how unfair things are. You may not be our direct oppressors, but in our limited view of things, your daddy must be one.
There is jealousy, envy, and anger. Some folks, like myself, learned to channel all that into an intensive effort to get the h*ll out of the hood. Others, really most, get stuck, mired in all the bad stuff, never really seeing the forest for the trees, they couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag. Yeh, it’s sad and all that, but that isn’t my point.
Some of these people want to hurt you for sport (and you too richblackgirl). It’s really not a pretty picture. You should all be going in with your eyes open. Don’t kid yourselves. On the other hand, this is NYC. You could be riding the subway everyday with an axe-murderer, just out on parole. We can’t live in constant fear, but nor should be live in denial either.
on a separate but not so different subject, re these ipod thefts. don’t these kids know that you need a computer, some type of itunes-software, some cables, a recharger, etc to operate these ipods on a regular basis?
if they mug some proho white hipster, they might be doomed to listening to modest mouse, broken social scene, nirvana, danzig, etc for the rest of their lives! no rap, no hip hop, no r&b, no soul, no brazilian samba, no krumping, no socially-conscious hip hop…
It’s been mentioned several times on here, ‘get to know your neighbors.’ It’s true, and a very good idea. Most residents here are good people who just happen to not be in the best financial situation. For all you ignorant suburban people moving in, just learn to pay attention and not close yourself off. You are more desirable as a target if you look like you are scurrying .
…even then – some of the guys that look like thugs are sweethearts, I know because I’ve hung out and had a beer or three. Some have just been caught up in that life, but under other circumstances would be somewhere else if THEY had a choice. And on the other hand I ran into one very very nasty character, who it just so turns out…the rest of the neighbors are scared of too. Use some sense, try not to stigmatize people who don’t look like you, and listen to your neighbors-most of them are good people. This is in a lot of ways the most neighborly place I have ever
lived…inspite of all the trouble…
as for the pack of teens around the end of lincoln and underhill, they do gang up and are nasty and have harrassed people just for the hell of it…
And we should maybe let their moms know…because my guess is Mom would be pissed to find out that their kids were acting like assholes.
see when we were kids and we acted up…that’s what it was seen as…
anyway take care of yourselves, your neighbors and each other!