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Reader Comment Of The Week
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Yes I know it’s only Tuesday but I seriously doubt (hope? pray?) Ihave to moderate a comment of this caliber for the next five days. After all, It’s not every day you:
- ask the police what you can do about drug activity in your apartment building only to be told it is “a tenant landlord matter”
- have a friend of your landlady’s son, an alleged drug dealer, die in the basement of your apartment building…
- and there his body remained for over 12 hours
Then again this is the 94th Precinct we’re talking about. Nothing— no matter how crass— surprises me anymore. Even so, I have to confess this is one very special story. Rebecca11222 writes (in regards to this post):
Hi, Laura – My 2 cents as to who to also contact at this point: The NYC Parks Department. In McCarren and McGolrick Parks there is a Manager on site. I can say that the fellow at McCarren is very helpful.
I guess the question to have answered is: do they have a Manager on site at the new park? Find out the name & what his/her hours are. My bet is that weekend availability is patchwork. Report the incident and ask what they advise if you are in that situation again.
My concern is the threats of violence (albeit alcohol-fueled) with which you & your family were met. I’m sorry that happened and when calling the 94th, I’ve found to place the emphasis on behavior that they can either get arrests out of or at least big $. Like “driving while intoxicated” or ” behaving violently around children” You’d think that a nice steep fine for littering would be incentive; but I guess not.
Personally, I live in a building w/ a junkie/ low-level drug-dealer in the basement. He is the landlady’s son. People who fall asleep standing up around the nabe are his only friends. I see deals going down around my apt building (Calyer at Eckford) frequently. All my neighbors (some of whom have lived in Greenpoint for over 50 years) have seen him make deals around the blocks and in front of the house. Yet she is in denial about his habit and he manipulates her. When we first moved in, we found used syringes an glass vials in the fireplace ashes. The son had been living in our apt before we moved in. When we brought this to her attention, our landlady said “this is a drug-free house.”
My husband & I asked some 94th officers what we could do b/c people who do heroin or crack tend to steal or fall asleep w/ lit cigarettes (or become violent in the case of crack). They said it was a landlord tenant dispute until “something” happened.
Well, early this Friday morning, one of the son’s “friends” died in the basement. The landlady told me, “my son wanted to move the body & dump it somewhere else, but I said he couldn’t.” She attributed his desire to move said body to a desire to protect her rather than, oh, say, hide some evidence. The body stayed there until about 8pm Friday & there was a cop posted outside the building. I wonder if this will be enough of a “something” to warrant further police investigation or action. Or maybe someone else has to die.
Btw: if anyone wants 2 awesome, quiet, responsible tenants, my husband & I are looking for a new place.
So there have you.
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Starter: Low Budget Man
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
The Bounty and Boardwalk Empire are not the only film projects in the Garden Spot nowadays. The above actor (starring in a film being made by some students from the New York Film Academy) was nice enough to ham it up for the camera for me on Oak Street!
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: Greenpoint In Black And White
I am often asked where the junk shop gets their, well, junk. Estate sales and storage auctions account for the assortment of sundries gracing the shelves. Nowadays the previous wares are largely gaudy tchotkes (undoubtedly culled from some daffy old lady’s home) and porn.
So you can imagine my surprise when I came found these.
A pair of lovely black and white photographs of a scrimmage at McCarren Park! I have neither a clue as to when these photographs were taken* nor am I a big fan of football. But the black and white lends them a timeless quality I find very compelling and beautiful.
You can look at larger images of either of the above photographs by clicking on them. If you do you’ll find all sorts of fun details in the background!
Miss Heather
UPDATE, June 16, 2009 3:19 p.m.: it has been brought to my attention the top most image linked to a larger image of latter image. This has since been fixed. Thanks for the heads-up, folks!
*Any and all feedback/guesstimations are welcome! Leave them in the comments.
Greenpoint Street Art Du Jour: The Battle Of West Street
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Lest my previous posts have not made it clear West Street is one of my favorite thoroughfares in Greenpoint. I suspect the reason for this there is very little in the way traffic— or people, for that matter— to distract me from my thoughts. In a city of over 8,000,000 people this is one of a very few places I can be guaranteed “alone time”. Except for yesterday. It was hopping.
I found this battle in progress between Oak and Calyer Street. As some of you might remember I found something remarkably similar to this on Flushing Avenue by the Navy Yard last November. Exactly what does this mean, you ask? I honestly don’t know— but it was a most unexpected and fun discovery to be had on a Sunday afternoon nonetheless!
Miss Heather
An Ugly Incident At Greenpoint’s New Park
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Some of you no doubt recall how long it took this park (which is located at the end of Manhattan Avenue) to happen: just shy of two years. After an inexcusable series of delays it is open now, much to the pleasure of Greenpointers new, old, or simply passing through.
Like these EMT workers taking a much needed break on a Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately where are others who not only are treating this sorely needed bit of open space as their own beer garden, but when confronted they became belligerent.
Laura writes:
Mike & I have been going to the new park at Manhattan Ave, practically every day. It’s beautiful. Sunday evening, we were there with some family members. There was a group of young Slavic guys & gals drinking beer and tossing the beer bottles onto the lawn and in the high grass. My son sensed that I was upset and went over to pick up any visible bottles. He said to the group, “There’s a garbage over there, you know.” One of the guys responded with a few sarcastic comments and the group continued to drink and litter there. I was looking at the group, hoping they would feel uncomfortable and leave, but that didn’t happen. I proceeded to call the police. Then the same sarcastic guy hollered over “Are you calling the F%#@@ Police on us, you bitch?”. I replied, “Yes”.
With that, the same guy started to approach us with threatening motions. He was clearly trying to start a physical confrontation with my family. ( My granddaughter was there. ) My son, of course stood up ready to defend us. I didn’t want a fight to break out so I stood between the guy & my son & continued to call 911. The guy started to make threatening motions toward my son. He threatened to hit my son & Mike ( cane & all! ). I pulled out my camera. And he moved away. Mike took the phone to complete the call. The others began to scatter. I started to take photos of their vehicle & license plates. One of the guys tried to block the photo. With that, they scurried out of the park ( still holding the beer bottles)…
while I continued to take pictures. One of the guys and one of the girls, came walking back.
The girl was cursing and coming toward me until she realized that I had two daughter in laws with me. They left. There’s a witness… She gave me her name & phone number…
As previously stated Laura called the police— and guess what? After taking an hour to show up they didn’t seem to care!
The police got there over an hour later. The PO ( Ferguson ) said that we couldn’t make out a report. He did however give me the precinct phone number (after some push from me) so I could call in the license plate number when I enlarged the photo. I enlarged it and did leave that message… I don’t believe that I couldn’t fill out a police report just because the offenders left. I feel that I was denied a police report. Technically, there’s nothing on record at the 94th about this incident. And that’s how the precinct likes it. I called 911, so it’s in their system… I’m really tired of not getting help from the 94th Precinct. These youths know my family’s faces. And they are evidently a nasty group. The last thing we need is a nasty group of drinkers at that park. The lack of police interest makes me feel like we’re in the position to defend ourselves…
Welcome to life in the 94th Precinct.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: Gearing Up For “The Bounty”
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Tomorrow they will commence filming The Bounty, an “action/comedy” featuring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler right here in Greenpoint. Provided the weather holds. When I told one of the men charged with overseeing the last minute preparations that the weather is going to be iffy, he said:
We’ll work with it.
You gotta love an attitude like that. Here’s a slide show of how things were shaping up when I walked by today. Enjoy!
To close on a more local note Champion Coffee, arguably one of the best purveyors of java in north Greenpoint, will be closed until June 19th.
Coffee lovers needing a Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday) morning commute caffeine fix should plan accordingly. My recommendation: Cafecito Bogota. Not only are the co-proprietors of this business incredibly nice chaps, but the cholados are amazing!
Miss Heather
Spotted In Greenpoint: Hipster For Bloomberg
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
During my knockings about north Brooklyn over the years I quickly learned there are certain things that mean nothing but trouble. First and foremost among them is anyone bearing a clip board.
Back in the early 2000’s this was a sure fire indicator of a real estate agent. I clearly recall the summer day I was standing with a few friends on Manhattan Avenue when a gaggle of suit men lead by a woman wearing her best power blazer stopped, pointed at us and— like some hitherto unknown and exotic zoological discovery— identified us to her retinue (bearing clip boards all) as:
the new artistic influx!
The men furiously took notes on their clip boards. I was aghast. Not so much at being identified as such; I probably am just that. What pissed me off was that someone— a self-appointed Jane Goodall or Dian Fosse, if you will— had the temerity to point at another human bring and commenced to give a spiel usually found on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or in National Geographic. Simply put, it was dehumanizing.
Since things got sour, real estate wise, most of the folks I see bearing clipboards nowadays are IDT agents going about their nefarious business. And today, June 14, I can add a new animal of prey stalking our (not so) mean streets: hipsters canvassing for Bloomberg.
When I saw this young woman (bearing an XOXO handbag and a satchel reading “Bloomberg NYC”) making annotations on her clipboard at the intersection of Lorimer Street and Norman Avenue I simply had to hang around and watch her go about her business. As you can clearly see in the above photograph I was not the only one who took interest in her activities.
It amuses me to no end how hard politicians (for example: my good friend David Yassky and his sidekick Rami Metal, among others) are shilling (or as they would put it: “reaching out”) to 20-something voters. Inasmuch as I bust my born in the 1980’s compatriot’s chops (usually because they are sporting 1980’s fashion without all the horrible memories that go with it), the fact of the matter is they’re not stupid. I suspect I speak for many— be they 20-somethings, 30-somethings, 40-somethings and beyond— when I say the manner in which Mr. Bloomberg secured his run for a third term was one of the most deplorable, under-handed and revolting abuses of the democratic process I have ever seen.
And no amount of canvassing or “coolness” is going to change my opinion. Period.
Miss Heather
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