Two Men Shot Dead on 40th Street

Update: Comments have been turned off for this post due to too much back and forth that has become personal towards me and other commenters. If anyone has constructive suggestions about how to improve the site, feel free to use the email address on the upper-right hand side, or start your own weblog for the neighborhood. If you just want attention, move along.

I heard about this yesterday morning, but didn't want to post anything until I knew something for sure. Two men were shot and killed at about 4 AM on Sunday morning. Apparently, they had just left a bar on 39th Street and 5th (Hmmmm, I wonder which one?), and an argument with other bar-goers turned fatal. One of the men killed was only 18; the other was 21. According to one police officer in the park, there is speculation that this was also gang related. Not a huge leap there.

That cool, comfortable sleeping weather means open windows, so many Sunset residents heard helicopters around the area from 5 AM to almost 6 AM on Sunday. Usually it's due to traffic or accidents on the BQE, but early Sunday is a strange time for that.

In both this shooting and the other shooting (just three weeks ago?), the men died from bullet wounds to the head and neck. Shoot to kill - not warn seems to be the trend here.

As of this morning, the shooters are yet to be apprehended. Hopefully the detectives and officers can make quick work of the shooters as they did with the park murders.

Insider's View of Sunset's Pool and Lifeguards

The Daily News has a piece by a freelance journalist who is day-lighting as a lifeguard at our pool. His rendition of time at the pool is a lot more pleasant than last year's responses (pool review here).

Sunset Park is Just One Community Disgruntled with Charter Takeover

From the New York Daily News.

The SP High School situation is different because the building will not be full for the two years the Brooklyn Prospect Charter School is scheduled to be there. However, what happens if two years go by and there is no where else to house the Prospect Charter School? The section referencing Sunset Park is close to the bottom of the article.

Are You Fuming About Street Cleaning Regs?

I'm a little behind on the Sunset Park headlines right now, but here's something from The Daily News from last Wednesday. The article states that drivers in our fair corner of Brooklyn are "furious the city has refused to slash their street cleaning regulations - even though two other Brooklyn neighborhoods have won reduced service, which makes it easier to find parking." This frequency makes it difficult to find longer-term parking for residents who own cars. It's true that many streets have street cleaning four times a week. My block does, but the next block up only has twice a week.

So is anyone truly fuming about this? Is it really that difficult to find parking? My block becomes difficult to park on when the aforementioned "next block up" has its street-cleaning. What about other blocks around the neighborhood?

Does the street cleaning make a big difference (particularly for the blocks hugging 5th Avenue) in street cleanliness? Should the City cut street cleaning to save some money? Or would that bring out fuming residents about the dirty street conditions? How many more questions can I put into this post?

I time my errands so that I'll return soon after street-cleaning ends. It means I'll get a spot just about in front of my apartment. But maybe other blocks have a much tougher time with parking spot searches. Do tell.

Various Tidbits: Schools, Gardens, Stop Signs

* Mayor Bloomberg showed up to Sunset Park to talk up the 42 new schools created by his administration. He didn't mention the schools he has shut down, and they are many. While smaller schools make sense in many ways, the closing of the large high schools (some for good reason, others because they've been allowed to/encouraged to fail) has also caused confusion and irritation for staff, students, and parents. Not the least of which is issues about traveling to schools farther away from home. But I digress. Here's the link to the NY Daily News article about Bloomberg's visit. Here is the section dedicated to SP's new high school:

Julie Stein-Brockway, who leads a task force that pressed for the new Sunset Park High SchoolBrooklyn, praised the "perserverance of a community and a community board." in

"This struggle for a public high school began more than 38 years ago and no one has given up," she said. "It is truly a thrill, and more important has been not only getting the physical building that we wanted so desperately, but getting a quality institution inside this building."

* The Culver Community Garden weblog has excellent renditions of what they hope will happen very soon. The rally is this Saturday at Noon.

* CB 7 has sent in its supportive missive for a stop sign on 6th Ave and 23rd Street. (from Gowanus Lounge) Let's hope it's more successful than when the same process was used to try to install stop signs on 6th Avenue at 41st and 44th Streets. You can still sign the petition for the 41st/44th signs here. It's almost a year old, and we've been working on it for two years now!

Daily News Article, Commenters, and 3rd Avenue

Yesterday's Daily News has an article that continues the titillating debate concerning the porn shops and peep shows (and Peyton's Playpen?) down on 3rd and 2nd Avenues. Brownstoner had its own blurb about the article yesterday, and of course that brought out the commenters club attempting to be clever.

Most of the comments were just having some goofy Friday fun with the topic. Others sympathized with Sunset Park's residents. And then there were several people who reacted as though the concerned citizens in SP were prudes or just idiots. The comments show ignorance of the area and its residents.

Among the misinformed statements were these:

exposing kids to things they shouldnt see? from the storefront, it just says 'midland video', as generic as any store. i doubt they have xxx material facing the sidewalk.

The photo Brownstoner happened to have in its archives is just one example of the score or so of shops. Besides, the shops are not all that the kids shouldn't see. The shops influence the sex trade on the streets, and some of the prostitutes are still out and about when children are going to school. Even more disturbing and sad is when you see a pimp abusing a woman right on the Avenue. There are several schools located between 4th and 3rd Avenue, and there are several playgrounds that look out onto 3rd Avenue. The remains of the night can also be found on the sidewalks.

another commenter:

Nobody walks on Third Avenue unless they work in those industrial buildings. They've been there for years and years with no complaints. I imagine they used to 'service' sailors off the piers there. As the piers are gone, there's still a large constituency of factory workers and what not near by.

Did you even read the article, or were you in such a hurry to get in on the frenzy of giggles that you skipped that step? Your romantic notions of who was "serviced" needs a little tweaking.

here is a taste of what you missed in the article:

A lawsuit over the city's sex industry dragged on for eight years before finally going to trial - allowing a glut of porn shops and peep shows to open in Sunset Park.

Residents charged in the suit the shops contribute to prostitution and keep the neighborhood from improving.

But the shops aren't breaking any laws because a city effort to regulate them has been tied up in court since 2001. The case went to trial in Manhattan Supreme Court this month.

In that time, the number of sex shops in Sunset Park has grown from a handful to about 25.

Apparently there WERE complaints years ago. Apparently more shops have been opening. Apparently Sunset Park gets to receive the fun times that more touristy and chic areas don't want. And guess what? People DO live on 3rd Avenue. And the numbered streets between 3rd and 4th DO have houses...not factories. That's close enough to be bothered by the activities these shops encourage. Also, your picture of a factory worker these days is probably far off the reality.

and another:

Generally speaking when I think about moving to a neighborhood, I go visit it first, so that I know if it's full of porn stores or not before deciding to move in.

Thanks for the advice, but most of the people who want the porn stores out have lived in Sunset Park longer than the influx of the high volume of stores. You also assume a certain monetary ability of choice in domicile. But I'm sure your comments will be helpful to many of the new-ish Park Slopers who complain about children and their parents, the Coop, and dog poop. They should have taken a look around the neighborhood too, I suppose.

Ugh. Sorry about the mini-rant. I have nothing against porn, but it irks me when people need to blab about something they obviously have no connection to and know very little about. Personally, I have nothing against pornography - if it involves consenting adults. But acting like it's not connected to less "innocent" pursuits that negatively affect quality of life and a place that many, many people call home is ridiculous.