Bizarre and Disturbing Tales from Sunset Park

Domestic disputes are among the least favorite for police officers (and neighbors) because after the firestorm of adrenalin and aggression, they sometimes end up with denials from all concerned that anything serious was happening. Here's a story from this Friday morning that could have ended very badly. Let's hope that the end result is peace and a lesson learned for those involved.

At approximately 5:45 AM on Friday morning, a woman's screaming was heard coming from Sunset Park by residents who live on the 44th Street side of the park. A second woman's voice soon joined in screaming, "Leave her alone! Leave her alone! Somebody help!" 911 was called by several residents, and about a half a dozen people left their homes armed with bats (and one cane) to confront whoever the attacker was.

Thanks to the vandalized lamps along the walkways, very little could be seen by the responsible neighbors who arrived to the park at about the same time. From what they could gather, the dispute was between a woman and her ex-boyfriend (both seemed to be middle-aged); both were dressed professionally, and the other woman screamed at the approaching good Samaritans that he wasn't hurting the other woman, they were just arguing. It turns out that the screaming was about getting keys back from an ex-boyfriend.

The group of residents told the threesome off, and they pointed out that the man could have been seriously hurt (or worse!) because people thought that someone was being attacked and/or raped. That could have been one very bad ending to the situation. Another could have occured if the police had shown up (which they did, soon after) and seen a group of bat-wielding men surrounding a professional-looking group of three.

Thankfully, no-one was hurt, and hopefully the screaming women learned not to cry wolf. It would be especially depressing if a serious situation were not addressed due to cynicism from residents who have heard too many "play fights" from teens or screams from middle-aged women about keys.

Next time, change your locks and let him keep the keys.

Run-Down of Last Week's Community Council Meeting

Many grateful thanks to John for visiting the 72nd Precinct's Community Council meeting last Tuesday and then sending along the main issues and discussion items.

He reports that there was standing room only, which means that well over 100 people attended. There were also representatives from the 72nd Precinct and Community Affairs, Sanitation, the Parks Department, and the DA's Office. State Senator Eric Adams spoke briefly before making a getaway (probably to another community meeting).

The meeting was chaired by the new Precinct Captain, Captain Pintos. According to John, Captain Pintos listened to all the questions and complaints, addressed them professionally, and he even took notes!

From John's email:

Most complaints were quality of life issues and how the police intended to address them, such as:
- prostitution on 3rd avenue
- loud noise from clubs on 4th/5th ave
- traffic issues - parking/tickets on 5th between 18th & 36th St
- crime/vandalism (car break-ins)

Issues focused on Sunset Park itself:
- gambling by the checker/chess board tables
- public urination
- drugs
- someone proposed a curfew for the kiddie park, from 10pm - 8am, as they have found used condoms and little plastic bags in the morning.

(As an aside, City playgrounds are supposed to be closed from dusk onward. The question that hasn't been resolved in Sunset Park is who is responsible for locking the gates?)

Capt Pinto cited a statistic that over 390 arrests have been made to date in the 72nd Precinct. Apparently, this is the highest number in the entire City. (No statistics or charts were cited, however.) He promised to continue having police presence in the park.

Another concern brought up during the meeting was insufficient response when residents called the precinct about quality of life issues like passed out drunks, prostitutes, or urination in or around buildings. Residents complained that common responses were that the Precinct had no available cars or that the situation was not an emergency. In most cases, residents said, no officers would show up. If they did, they sometimes gave the original caller "attitude" and ask why the police were called for a non-emergency issue. Naturally, this response goes directly against what the Mayor and the Captain himself have told residents to do about Quality of Life issues.

Captain Pintos promised to address the issue of perceived police unprofessionalism in particular. He asked that when anyone calls the precinct, request the name of the person with whom they are speaking. Therefore, if an incident happens, there is a reference
point. He pointed out that he would not tolerate unprofessional behavior from his officers.

It sounds like the meeting at least allowed residents to vent a bit, and it introduced the new Precinct Captain to the community. Hopefully, Captain Pintos' assertions of wanting to work with the community are more than just words for a first impression. I'm looking forward to seeing if the new Captain will bring new energy to the Precinct.

What You See in Sunset Park: Kids Running

This interesting view of Sunset Park comes from Vanessa Velez of A Fresh Photograph; she's a Sunset Park resident who has supplied photos of events and scenes in the past as well. I think it's wicked cool.

Sunset Park Woman is Missing; Help Sought

Sunset Park Woman Missing

Police are asking for the public’s help in locating a Brooklyn woman who was last seen leaving her Sunset Park home on August 30. Elena Evertsz left her home at 4906 5th Avenue at approximately 6 p.m. and hasn’t been seen since. She is 5’6” tall and weighs 155 pounds. She has brown hair with blonde highlights, green eyes, and a tattoo of the name “Kaitlyn” on her back. When she was last seen, she was wearing an orange shirt wit blue jeans and silver sneakers. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call Crimestoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

Video of Citizens Arresting an Alleged Would-Be Thief

This showed up on both GowanusLounge.com and Gothamist today. I'm pretty sure it's 4th Avenue between 60th and 61st, but none of the signs look clear...however, the construction fencing looks like what's on the 4th Ave and 61st corner. Check it out if you're willing to be harangued with shaky camera work and salty language.

The summary is that a man whom bystanders believe has just robbed and then cut someone with a razor blade is apprehended by those bystanders. He's on the ground, surrounded by men (and one very angry woman) scolding him and protecting him from people who want to beat him up. They are waiting for the police to show up. The police finally get there (after one man gets a kick in at the kidney) and cuff and search him.

A caveat anytime something like this is shown: It is dangerous, albeit commendable, to chase and catch a thief (vandal, mugger, generally naughty person) because you never know what they might have up their sleeve. Also, situations like this can quickly become even more ugly if those involved end up taking not just the capture but also the punishment into their own hands. The men involved here did a good job of keeping physical retribution to an absolute minimum (from what we see on the video), although the epithets dashed at the man on the street (literally) are pretty ugly.

Here's the link from GowanusLounge.

Public Hearing Wednesday Night about Land Use and Cabaret

CB 7 will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, September 10th at 6:30 PM about two Land Use applications on 20th Street. (BSA Application #182-85-BZ and BSA Application #183-85-BZ)

Also, the Public Hearing will include a Cabaret and Catering Application for Art Plaza Corporation at 620 62nd Street.

The Public Hearings will be at 4th Avenue and 43rd Street; the entrance is on 43rd Street.

Sunset Park Festival is Back!

Get ready for our local street fair! From 11 AM through 6 PM on Sunday, September 14th 5th Avenue will be full of food, music, rides, crafts, and lots of stuff to buy. It stretches from 44th Street to 59th Street, so take a pleasant (if crowded and loud) walk some time during the day.

Two stages (44th and 54th Streets) will have music and dancing. Also, the blow-up rides will be on 45th Street to entertain the kiddies. The Children's Museum will bring reptiles, the Library will bring books, and the FDNY will bring the fire and smoke house that was in the Park over the summer. Children can get ID kits, everyone can check out the Transit Authority's vintage bus, and lots of local community services will share information and sign up volunteers/members. If you get there early, you can even score a hula hoop in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the circular toy.

My personal leaning is to support the really local businesses for food and fun rather than the vendors who come to every street fair and sell the same stuff. But hey, it's your cash.

The Sunset Park Business Improvement District sponsors the festival, and you can see photos of last year's Festival here.

Brooklyn's Babywearing Meeting Returns to Sunset Park

Brooklyn's Babywearing Meeting for September will be in Sunset Park on September 10th from 2 PM - 4 PM. They'll be meeting in the grassy area in front of the flagpole, facing the East River.

Sunset Park can be reached by the R train to the 45th Street stop or the N or D trains at the 36th Street stop, and by the B63 bus on 5th Avenue. The meeting is free and open to all interested in babywearing.

Visit www.slingsinthecity.com for more babywearing info.

Light Industry: Live Saxophone with a mix of whiskey, crooked grins, and Kinky Sex (kind of)

This Tuesday at 8 PM Light Industry will be home to the kidnapped sounds of the saxophone. The artists' goal is to "make it sing...divert its song from the eternal fonts of dime-store muzak...[get it] stripped down, naked and raw" to take a different look at the saxophone's "ecstatic squeal." Phew! I guess the promised whiskey shots are a good idea.

The saxophone will be played (and stripped) by Briggan Krauss, and Rebecca Cleman, a writer, curated the show. See Light Industry's site for more detail.

Light Industry hosts film, music, art, and more every Tuesday. Tickets are $6 at the door. The door is at 55 33rd Street, on the 3rd floor.

Tomorrow Night is the 72nd Community Council Meeting

On Tuesday, September 9th at 7:30 PM you'll get your chance to meet the new 72nd Precinct Captain and air any concerns you have in the neighborhood. The meeting is at 4520 4th Avenue at the Marien Heim Senior Home.

Sunset Resident Leads Murals With a Message

The Brooklyn Eagle is the latest media outlet to highlight some recent murals that are in the works or recently completed. The Sunset Park connection, besides that the latest mural is just south of what most people feel comfortable calling Sunset Park, is that Katie Yamasaki is a Sunset resident. She is the artist in charge of getting the provocative mural about city
students (focusing on girls), recruitment, and the military up on the walls around the City.

The project is run through Groundswell's Voices Her'd program, and it allows young artists to take an active and positive role in their communities.

The official mural dedication was to take place yesterday at 1 PM on 3rd Avenue at 23rd Street. I'm not sure if the weather interfered with the dedication.

It's a huge, beautiful piece of art. Check it out if you're in the neighborhood.

Then and Now: Looking at St. Michael's from 40th Street

St. Michael's tower is probably the most immediately recognizable part of Sunset Park, at least from afar. However, the story behind these photos is the change in 4th Avenue. The medians look lovely, don't they? Much nicer than the skinny, concrete "waiting areas" we have now. There were also gas lamps along the side of the street, and buildings didn't crowd the street with just the sidewalk to separate them from the street. Much healthier for whatever air gets in your window from our modern day traffic, I'd say.

The BPL photo doesn't have a year listed in the description, but judging from the other photos that do have dates attached to them, and the telephone lines seen on the street, it's probably from the early 1900's - 1910-ish? Anyone want to chime in with a more accurate guess?

St. Jacobi Hosts Concerts on the 2nd Sunday of Each Month

I wish I'd known about this a long time ago. Every second Sunday of the month St. Jacobi hosts free concerts for the community. The concerts are with professional musicians from around New York City. The September 14th concert is with The Sepia Ensemble. I haven't been able to find much information about The Sepia Ensemble, so if anyone knows what type(s) of music they perform or some background, please let me know! Concerts are at 4 PM, and they are free and open to the public.

St. Jacobi is on 4th Avenue at 54th Street. It was the first "Then and Now" that I featured here.

Enjoy!

Half a Block Car Chase and Mash-Up

The New York Post has Sunset featured in its police blotter today. The gist of it is that an officer asked a double-parked driver to move, the driver ignored it, the cop went to write a summons, the driver took off, the cops chased, the driver stopped short, the cops ran into him and eventually took him in. Read the details here.

What's surprising is that a double-parked car on 5th Avenue was actually dealt with. What's frightening is that the mini-chase and crash occurred on 5th and 44th at about 4:30 PM, a very busy corner at a very busy time. Thankfully, no pedestrians or by-standers were hurt, according to the blotter.

Sunset's New Amalgamated Received $10 Million

We have several banks popping up on 5th Avenue, and 8th has been inundated for a while. To me, it is better to have a bank than an empty storefront, but ideally I'd like to see more productive "neighborhood" type of establishments. Either way, it's great that the empty corner on 5th and 45th is no longer desolate.

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and Finance Commissioner Martha Stark this week announced that the city’s Banking Development District (BDD) program has reached $200 million in deposits to support bank branches in underserved neighborhoods, including those in Brooklyn. In fact, Thompson and Stark made the announcement after Amalgamated Bank received a $10 million deposit through the BDD program following the opening of its branch in Sunset Park.

Read the rest of the article here.

Be An Active Citizen

Thanks to a fellow Sunset Park parent for reminding me of options in addition to 311 when I see disturbing items (she suggests "be it trash, vomit, or a broken swing at the playground") in Sunset Park. I would also include plastic foolishness vendors inside the playground and my epic favorite: broken, mangled fencing around the park.

Here's the useful list:

Community Board 7:
phone: 718.854.0003
email: communityboard7@yahoo.com

Sara Gonzalez, District 38 Council member:
phone: 718.439.9012
email: gonzalez@council.nyc.ny.us

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn B. President:
phone: 718.802.3700
email: askmarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov

Local 72nd Precinct:
phone: 718.965.6311

Julius Speigel, Brooklyn Parks Commissioner:
phone: 718.965.8920

Geoffery Croft, NYC Parks Advocate:
phone: 212.987.0565
email: croft@nycparkadvocates.org

Here's Why it's Called Sunset Park

Sunset Park, Brooklyn, originally uploaded by Barry Yanowitz.

This gorgeous photo is from flickr, and it is attributed to Barry Yanowitz. Check out flickr for more of his photos.

72nd Precinct Community Council Meeting

Summer's over, at least according to the meeting schedules for community groups. The first local group to get back to meetings is the 72nd Precinct Community Council; the first meeting will be September 9th (next Tuesday) at 7:30 PM. Meetings are held at the Marien Heim Senior Citizens Home, located at 4520 4th Avenue. Meetings are held in the cafeteria on the first floor.

One of the major changes at this meeting will be the presence of the new 72nd Precinct leader, Captain Jesus Raul Pintos. He comes to Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace from the Central Park district, and he began in the 72nd Precinct on June 30th of this year. He's been with the NYPD for almost two decades. Another change at the Community Council meeting will be the addition of Officer Janet Zhang; with her fluency in both Mandarin and Cantonese, she will hopefully help the Chinese community to feel more connected to the precinct. Of course, Officer Frank Siclari will continue to attend as Community Affairs liaison.

So, if you have concerns, complaints, compliments, or questions that you want addressed in person, come to the 72nd Precinct Community Affairs meeting on September 9th. Captain Pintos strongly encourages you too, and he expects lots of loud radio complaints - I'm sure we can bring him some more interesting issues.

72nd Precinct Community Council meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:30 PM.

For more information, pick up a copy of the Sunset Park edition of the Spectator - that's the one you find at the front of many businesses on 5th Avenue for free. It has a more detailed article about Captain Jesus Raul Pintos.

Then and Now: PS 94

PS 94 was once called the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow School, but in 2007 its name was changed to the more utilitarian School of Diverse Languages and Cultures. Appropriate enough, since it is the only school in Brooklyn with a dual-language Chinese program (it also has a dual-language Spanish program). Check out more current information about the school here. Somehow, however, it's a bit depressing to think about names changing; I guess history is lost to many cultures when progress attacks.

The above photograph is from January of 1908. It has weathered its centennial well, and despite losing some decorative elements under the fifth floor windows, it looks shockingly similar. The trees in front of the school are new, obviously, and the window gates on the first floor protect the children and equipment from escape.


I'm looking forward to casting my vote for the next United States President in this building.

Light Industry Presents Video and Film by K8 Hardy

This Tuesday's show will be films and videos by K8 Hardy - some are recent and some are from as far back as the Nineties!

Themes include the objectification of female bodies, the plundered aesthetics of 70s lesbian imagery (for a music video), corporate architecture's effect on one person's movements, and a Super-8 piece called Ants in her Pants - an experimental piece about the energy and style of a "young and queer generation."

The video/film pieces will be followed by a post-show discussion between K8 Hardy and Ulrike Müller. For more detail, see Light Industry's description.

As always, tickets are $6 at the door. And the door, which is at 55 33rd Street - on the 3rd floor - opens for the 8 PM show.

Enjoy.