At the last Community Council meeting before the summer break, the turnout was great. Despite oppressive heat (and the lack of air conditioning in the Marien Heim cafeteria), many residents showed up to voice their concerns, questions, and thanks.
Announcements:
The next Community Council meeting will be September 9th at 7:30 PM.
National Night Out! will be August 5th, from 5PM to 7PM at Greenwood Playground. Volunteers are needed, so please call 718 965 6311 if you are interested.
Police Appreciation Day is on June 21st from 11AM - 2PM at the 72nd Precinct. Come show the 72nd that we like what they do. Volunteers are also needed! Call 718 965 6326 if you are interested.
The Boricua Festival is moving from Prospect Park to the 58th Street Pier this year. It will be on June 28th from Noon to 7 PM.
The 5th Avenue Festival will be the 2nd week in September. So be ready for elote, lemonade, music, plastic stuff to buy, and trash.
72nd Precinct News:
Captain Simonetti announced that arrests for robberies were up 500% in the last recorded 28 day period. This may have contributed to the lack of any reported robberies last week. He also presented the certificate for Cop of the Month to Muhammad Ahmed (who couldn't be there to accept because he was working!); Officer Ahmed was responsible for at least four of those arrests - all in one night.
Captain Simonetti also shared that out of six stolen cars, five had been left with the keys in the ignition - and running - while the owners quickly ran in to a store or to do a fast errand. Oh dear. Summonses will be issued if officers see unattended, running cars - saving us from ourselves!
Graffiti removal has started up again. Call 311 to report graffiti for removal. If you see graffiti in action, call 911 to report it.
A group of concerned parents and grandparents asked about follow-up to the 17th and 18th Street incident during which two young ladies were slashed. Captain Simonetti reported that there were six arrests made, and six additional young people were brought to the precinct as truants. In response to the incident, there will be a meeting for teenagers to combat gang initiation and related events. It will be at Trinity Lutheran Church at 46th and 4th. Details to follow.
edited to add:
Two residents commented on the May 17th murder of Kyung-Sook Woo in Windsor Terrace. They appreciated the community meetings following the murder. One resident commented that the advice to report suspicious persons/activities was especially relevant because several members of the community had seen the man who was later arrested hanging around the dry cleaners. Captain Simonetti reiterated that 911 can be called in suspicious persons situations, and he thanked the detectives involved for their hard work. An arrest was made less than 72 hours following the murder.
Several residents offered up information/questions about various issues including vagrants on the train tracks, tractor-trailers parking on streets for days at a time, large group of young people using a mother and her children as a buffer while walking down the street, and members of gangs hanging around PS 1 and play areas smoking illegal substances and having fights.
Captain Simonetti answered a question about the gray area between 311 and 911 by explaining that suspicious persons on your block, looking into cars, or behaving in strange ways can warrant a 911 call. A passed out person on the street or in the park warrants a 911 call. The incident where a woman was being used by teens as a shield could be a 911 call.
311 should be used for nuisances and quality of life issues. We can also call the Community Affairs office at 718-965-6326 to report QoL issues. The phone is attended until 10 PM.
The meeting ended with a reminder that fireworks are illegal. Not only are they a personal safety issue, but they are also a fire hazard. Don't burn up my apartment for your fun, right? The officers were immediately surrounded by residents who wanted to offer congratulations or ask more personal questions to the officers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
So what are the numbers behind 500%? This could be a minor or major increase depending on what the hard numbers are.
Very true (but it sounds so sweet). I couldn't find the arrest stats, but the 72nd Crime Stats are as follows:
For 6/02 through 6/08 of LAST year, there were 6 robberies. This year, there were zero. For the last 28 days, there were 22 robberies reported. That doesn't tell us how many arrests, but if we give Officer Ahmed his four, we can kind of guess that there must have been a few more...unless last year had ZERO arrests for robbery in that time period.
You can check out the web site with all the stats here, just go to crime statistics:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/home.shtml
Just moved out of SP last february, after 10+ years there. This post certainly reminded me of some of the reasons why I left. I'm surprised you have mentioned anything about the car stereo noise yet. It's one of the main features of the nabe. That and the latino gangs. You should look into Sarah Gonzales connections to said gangs, her office was just two blocks from where I lived and the building is tagged all to hell with the local hoods marks. The block below her office is an open air drug market in the summer, and numerous complaints to her about this were ignored. If people were dealing outside gracie mansion, do you think the mayor would ignore it?
You'd be surprised how much the nabe has changed, when I moved in it was ( as it is now ) working class latino yet I never saw so much as a yelling match on the street. Around 2000-2001 was when the gangs started appearing ( along with the car clubs ). When I left, there had been two shootings on my block in the space of two years, and bloody fist fights on the streets were pretty much a given any friday or saturday night.
Post a Comment