A Bedford Avenue Mystery Solved!

Anyone who has lived in Williamsburg for any appreciable period of time knows this place well. Those who don’t (READ:  tourists) love it too. It is located at Bedford Avenue and North 1 Street and is a much-needed breath of levity in the downright affluenzic mecca which Williamsburg has become. I,  as many others,  have often wondered who has taken over this menagerie since Luis Rivera died. Well folks,  I have some very good news:  last night I got the answer!

Her name is Carmen and I stumbled upon her locking the gate after adding wreaths bearing eggs to the current display. She didn’t care to be photographed (which I attribute more to a language gap than secrecy) but she told me that she is the current “custodian” of this ever-unfolding creation and its future is uncertain. Apparently Luis Rivera’s cousin (or nephew— I forget which) wants to operate a flea market in this space.

Nonetheless she is soliciting donations for  “Coco”  the Gorilla to get new clothes. Those of you who care to do so can do this in person on Saturdays (when she has assured me she is on the premises) or next door at 270 Bedford Avenue (AKA:  Monsignor Alexis Jarka Hall Senior Housing) which Carmen calls home!

Miss Heather

 

The Word On The Street: Wake Up

From Bedford Avenue.

Miss Heather

From The North Brooklyn Community Group: Mayhem At The Feast?

July 10, 2011 ·
Filed under: 11211, Culture War, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn 

I have made mention on occasion of the Unofficial Community Board 1 Yahoo Group. Well, in the interest of disambiguation (READ: making it understood once and for all that this forum is quite unofficial) its name has since been changed to the North Brooklyn Community Group. It has been awhile since I have checked out what was cooking in this forum so this morning I gave it a look-see— and found the following pot-boiler of a item. I have taken the liberty of bold-facing my favorite passages.

Spent a few hours at the feast at Our Lady of Mount Carmel this evening. First, observed parents putting their children on the inflatable Batman slide and ignoring the fact that they had to pay the attendant 3 tickets for the privilege. Later, observed a kid, couldn’t be more than 3 or 4, bullying a kid, similar age, sitting behind him in a race car ride. While mom did correct him when he started telling the other child to “stop playing with the steering wheel!” She did nothing when her child turned around and put his arm on the other child’s steering wheel to physically prevent the child from playing with the steering wheel. Third, observed one too many men blowing cigar smoke into crowds of children. Mayor Bloomberg, can you ban smoking at carnivals too?

Icing on the cake, observed a mother say “excuse me” to a guy so she could retrieve her child from a ride. The guy starts to move over, changes his mind, blocks her path and tells her “my child is getting off too!” The woman tells him that the attendant is releasing children from the car her child is sitting in and the guy, now acting like an ignorant jerk, keeps arguing with the woman who is simply trying to get her preschooler safely away from a crowded ride.  What is wrong with everyone?  This is a church function yet we have gotten so selfish that even a night at a carnival has to be marred by such foolishness?  I grew up going to this feast and have fond memories of my childhood there.  It’s a shame it cannot be the same for my children.  Moses should return to throw the tablets at these Pagans!

Needless to say yours truly had to witness this debauchery firsthand. To this end I attended “the feast” this afternoon with a few friends.

Merry-makers were noted.

No sign of disorderly conduct here.

The presence of cigars was noted.

Children were observed. No trouble here.

The Batman slide was eerily vacant. All in all, yours truly found all of the fun I was having kind of dull so my research team decided to grab a beer.*

The person who seemed to be having the most fun was this guy.  He must have stared at this Pepsi can at least five minutes.

Miss Heather

*And were served by the Chairman of Community Board 1’s Parks Committee himself!

The Word On The Street: A North 4 Street PSA

Taken July 4, 2011.

Miss Heather

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Another Anti-GBLT Incident?

Given that much of last night’s Community Council meeting was about both anti-GBLT violence and violence against woman in general you can imagine how disturbed I was to receive the following email this morning from a woman who appears to have experienced just these things as the previously-mentioned proceedings were coming to pass. Anonymous writes:

Hello Miss Heather,

I wanted to share my story with you.

Last night around 8pm, I had just finished having dinner with my girlfriend near N 4th and Kent.  Our scooters were parked outside where visible.  After dinner, we stepped into the Duane Reade only to come out to find a young man dragging mine about 5 feet from where I had parked it.  His car now occupied my previous space, and I was now in an illegal spot.

I confronted him immediately, assuming this was a minor.  He proceeded to become worked up – arms flailing, screaming and getting too close for comfort.  He threatened to hit me, then proceeded to call his mother who lived nearby to come “beat my ass” then turning my accusations into “racial profiling”.

The scooter’s wheel was thrown out of alignment, which I attempted to show him before his excitement got to be too much and a few passersby got involved, asking him to calm down and show respect.

These next events all happened very quickly, so I might not have them in the correct order.  After a few minutes and calls to 911 already rolling, he then pushed one of the men who had stepped in to defend me, and the man immediately restrained him.  When the man released him, the suspect went to his car and removed an aluminum baseball bat and went after the man who had hold of him.  Another bystander, managed to grab the bat from the suspect mid-swing.  Within moments, an SUV full of teenagers rolled up.  4 boys jumped out of the car, 2-3 girls remained in the back seat.  Had 20-30 bystanders not stayed close to my girlfriend and I, I have no doubt that this group would have turned the situation very ugly.

The suspect panicked as more people were calling 911 and reporting his license plate number.  My girlfriend standing in front of the driver side of the car was nearly run over when he sped away from the scene.

He stopped 3 blocks away and stayed there wandering with his group of friends. My girlfriend was near the suspect keeping an eye that he remained there so we could send the police to apprehend them.

After 45 minutes and likely dozens of of calls to 911, the police from the 94th Precinct FINALLY arrived – one cruiser, two officers.  Our suspect situated just up the street.  When asked what had taken so long, that this was a call to a violent act, they claimed that they were reporting to a “car accident” and that they were the only officers patrolling the ENTIRE Greenpoint/Williamsburg area.

When I asked them to go to N 6th Street (the low-income housing area of the water-front condos) to find the suspect, they were excessively unmotivated.

I had 5 witnesses – people I didn’t even know – stay at the scene for an hour with me.  This call wasn’t urgent?  The known suspect 3 blocks away did not elicit a quick response to detain him?

Meanwhile, my girlfriend was being circled and verbally assaulted by these teens.  Some of the comments were hate comments directed to our being gay.

The police finally made their way up the street (after other passersby continued to stop and say, the boys who did it are over there).  The police missed the group and my girlfriend was able to flag them down.  Myself and the witnesses ran to N 6th to ID the suspect, who’s mother had joined him outside.

She seemed reasonable and provided me with information to have any repairs taken.  At that time, the police said…

“Well, if that’s all, then we are the only guys out tonight and need to get out of here.”  No police report, no opportunity to press charges?  It still was not clear whether or not he was a minor (a bit of information that would greatly impact my decision whether or not to take things further). I was flustered and they left with us standing in the middle of the courtyard entrance of this low income section.

I called the precinct once we left and will go there this evening to ensure a proper report is filed with the names that were taken at the scene.

I am afraid to pass through this neighborhood, as I am pretty easily recognizable.  It goes without saying that my girlfriend is too.  She’ll be creating a separate report of her own.  We’ll likely be filing a complaint against the officers for their negligence.

After a night of running this situation through my head, there are so many things wrong with this picture.

Where are the police?  Why don’t they find property damage, attempted assault and fleeing the scene of a crime reason enough to take action?

Many reports of violence and disruption in this neighborhood describe the same suspects as were standing in front of me.  They made gay-hating comments – were they the same kids who beat Barie Shortell?  Are they the same kids I have seen smashing windows and property in the blocks surrounding this incident with baseball bats?

Thankfully no one was hurt this time.  My deepest appreciation to the many, many good samaritans in this community for getting involved – especially the ones who interrupted their nights to stay and provide a statement.

What do you think Miss Heather?  How can we make our streets safer and work to address the class and racial tensions (on both sides) that are escalating here?

This is an excellent question. One, I will add, that was more or less raised at last night’s 94th Precinct Community Council meeting by both Community Board 1 Public Safety member Tom Burrows and Lincoln Restler. I have referred this young woman to these individuals in the hope they can get some answers about what happened and some redress. As these men— along with an officer present at last night’s meeting— stated over and over:

If you see something, say something.

Miss Heather

Williamsburg Photo du Jour: A North 5 Street PSA

June 19, 2011 ·
Filed under: 11211, Culture War, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn 

Taken June 18, 2011.

Miss Heather

The Word On The Street: A Greenpoint Avenue Query

Taken June 13, 2011.

Miss Heather

East Williamsburg Photos du Jour: Yelling To The Sky

This item (which yours truly loves) hails from McKibben Street.

Miss Heather

Spotted On Powers Street…

a mattress with a message!

Exactly what the message is anyone’s guess. However, cases such as this are the reason why I have categories such as “culture war”, “feral furniture” and “advanced life forms” on this site. I have no doubt at least one of the previous is applicable.

Miss Heather

Spotted At 205 Java Street: A Happy Ending

June 7, 2011 ·
Filed under: 11222, Culture War, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Some of you might recall the above bit of real estate insanity. I wrote about it on January 25th of this year. At the end of this tome I opined:

…My prognostication is as follows: if they fuck with their diminutive neighbor’s satellite television it will be war. Provided of course it hasn’t escalated to that level already.

Well, today I did a walk by and have some very good news to relay!

The satellite dish has been spared! After I took the above photographs the lady of the house inquired as to my interest in her property. I told her I was happy to see that her satellite dish has not been engulfed. To wit she replied:

I’m too good for them.

I then noted that her new neighbor is rather hideous. She agreed— but prefers to see the glass half full; since 285 – 303 McGuinness Boulevard has become her neighbor she no longer has issues with the wind (I am presuming the “perfume” from our local waste water treatment plant) and she no longer hears the traffic from McGuinness Boulevard. Now throw in that our diminutive protagonist’s satellite television is intact and I’d say we have a triple win— Greenpoint style!

Miss Heather

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