The drama of Boerum Hill continues. (For those of you joining the story in progress, you can check in window smashings & tire slashings, chalk marks on trees and, our favorite, the Mad Crapper.) In any case, here’s a bit of the latest, from emails:
On Monday night I was getting a drink of water in my kitchen at about 12:30 when I heard, what I think, were gun shots. I’m hoping that I was wrong, and maybe they were fireworks, since we’re so close to the holiday. The sound came from the vicinity of Bergen and Bond or Dean. Did anyone else hear this as well? My first thought was “what is going on here?” Between all the recent car vandalism, and poopy people roaming in the neighborhood it made me rather uneasy.
There is also concern about good old fashioned noise:
I totally agree that addressing criminal activity in the neighborhood is a priority and many of us take action on this issue on an ongoing basis. However, crime is an entirely separate issue from noise control and addressing one does not preclude addressing the other. And these days noise has progressed to more than a mere annoyance – hence the new legislation. No one is out to get any good neighbors and no one is questioning whether they are good neighbors, I am sure they are and that’s not the issue at hand.
We just need to seek ways to reduce the increasing noise whether that is addressing excessive honking, illegal bike parts, trucks, boom cars, etc. These days on many streets in the neighborhood it is difficult to carry on a conversation on one’s stoop because there is a constant din of noise. There must be ways to address this and improve the neighborhood. I am just interested in figuring out what are those ways to make our environment a bit more pleasant.
And, of course, more breaking car windows:
Last week I heard a widow pop. I went outside to see a man crawling into the car through the broken window. I shouted “what are you doing?” He came out of the car saying that he did not break the window. He was either white or latino, stocky, light colored hair with a gold earing in his right ear. He was carrying a cardboard box about 12″x12″x3″. That’s the best I can do on description. I’m not good at that. I went inside to call the police. They put the description over the air (I heard the operator do that). A car came quickly. They had spotted someone who fit the description. We drove to where he was, but it was not him. Curiously enough the car owner later told my wife that nothing was missing from his car, except the window of course. I unfortunately, or fortunately do not have a cell phone, or I would have followed him while I called the police.
More, no doubt, very soon.
Related Post:
Boerum Hill #2: Slashed Tires and Smashed Windows
5 responses so far ↓
1 Miss Heather // Jul 5, 2007 at 5:28 am
Holy shit, this place is turning into Compton! Makes me happy toxic waste, dog shit and having drunk people hit my buzzer repeatedly at 2 a.m. in the morning (which happened today) are the only real problems I have to deal with.
The beauty of drunk people is they eventually pass out. Of course, I haven’t checked my stoop yet to see if he/she left me a “present”…
2 Anonymous // Jul 5, 2007 at 6:46 am
Someone had later posted that the “gunshot” sounds were fireworks.
Are these the people who chose to live in brooklyn, rather than migrating to Montclair, NJ? Welcome to NY, people.
3 who walk in brooklyn // Jul 5, 2007 at 8:21 am
hey 9:46, haven’t had the Montclair joke for a while, props. remember when Park Slope was only a “transition” ‘hood for the yuppie families who would hightail it away from the ethnics as soon as they realized they couldn’t afford private school for their SUV-stroller brats? Montclair was like Brooklyn West, hah.
there might be a few bigger candyasses than those in “Boerum Hill” but not TOO many of ’em don’t live in new ‘luxury’ waterfront condos (& i don’t mean the ones in Brighton Beach)… oh my gosh! smashed windows! slashed tires! that’s never happened before in MY city!
i suppose we should be thankful this did not happen in Borough Park, again, or it would make the papers as a “hate crime,” which is bullshit, just as expecting the streets of BROOKLYN (or any culturally & economically heterogenous neighborhood) to be totally quiet. wouldn’t it be nice if we all had fancy brownstones with the cool hum of a frosty air-conditioner to keep up company all night? aaaahhhhhhh.
hey, Boerum Hill people, once you catch your breath having walked up that really really steep hill, why don’t you tell us EXACTLY who’s being loud? what kinds of music do they play? gosh, can’t everyone be ** just like us ** ?!
thanks,
The Music Director
WWIB Community Action Radio
p/s: i talk it ya’ll have never been to Harlem, the Bronx, Bushwick or Latino Williamsburg, have you? hell, maybe you forgot– or WANT TO (key)– what South Brooklyn was like no more than five or six years ago. hint: it was STILL very nice, this are the things you deal with, or get the fuck out.
4 Anonymous // Jul 5, 2007 at 10:57 am
yes, let’s advocate crime and live as victims
5 who walk in brooklyn // Jul 5, 2007 at 12:06 pm
the only “victim” is the Gowanus Lounge proofreader– apologies for typos, hoss. nobody is ADVOCATING crime but exactly what price are you willing to pay for Total Social Control which can NOT be achieved? crime happens everywhere, all the time & esp. if it’s silly vandalism, hey– why not find ways to engage kids? believe it or not, the SUV-stroller brat of today is going to be the raucous teen of tomorrow REGARDLESS of how much $$$ their parents have. a little empathy for the vast # hardly so fortunate is at least a little bit in order… or is it?
(what DO those EBT & WIC Accepted Here signs mean anyway?)
while we’re on a great Mission to reduce “quality of life crimes,” how about all Boerum Hill $well$ who get their drugs & sex DELIVERED? a little more convenient than cruising ____, _____, or ______ Streets, i admit, but how else exactly is it different?
wwib
p/s: i’d still like to see someone address the “noise” question, noting also the time when MANY MANY more people sat outside in the summer, & why on some blocks of South Brooklyn, they hardly do anymore.