Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Spotted On North 5 Street: A Question
When I spied this solicitation I felt it was passing along here as it is a reminder that storing one’s bicycle in his/her apartment building will not prevent it form being stolen. Not only is this practice common, but the 94th Precinct is registering bicycles so in the event they are stolen (and recovered) they can be returned to their rightful owners. This service is totally free. You can make an appointment with Officer Moulterie (who is spearheading this project) by calling (718) 383 – 3879. Do it!
Miss Heather
The Calyer Street Bike Bandit Strikes Again!
Filed under: 11222, Criminal Activity, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
Remember the reader email I posted on January 25 about a fellow Greenpointer having not one, BUT TWO, bicycles stolen last weekend? Well, it would appear they have struck again. Per my Calyer Street tipster:
i don’t know who’s letting them in, so it has to be delivery something, or someone who works for the landlady.
i am having my brother in law put the new lock in TOMORROW.
First off, I want to tender my sincerest sympathies to my Calyer Street compadre. Knowing that a thief has been in your apartment building is disturbing enough. The fact he (or she, I suppose) had the chutzpah to come back— or worse—- someone else has taken to pillaging on your private property is even worse! While I realize this may be cold comfort to this individual, I want to reiterate that the 94th Precinct is registering bicycles. This service is totally free and will make tracking down your ride much easier in the event (god forbid) it is stolen. You can get the contact information for the woman spearheading this effort by clicking here (look at the second to last paragraph).
Miss Heather
TODAY: 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting
If my inbox is any indication now the 94th has a bank robbery (of the HSBC Bank on Manhattan Avenue) and an armed robbery at Milton Street and Franklin Street on Saturday, May 16, 2009 in addition to a vehicular homicide and someone under the assumption the Abundant Life Assembly Church (as depicted above) was a drive thru confessional for stolen motor vehicles to account for. Bring your lawn chairs, popcorn and camcorders fellow Greenpointers. This will undoubtedly be a good one.
94th Precinct Community Council Meeting
May 18, 2009 (that’s next Monday folks!) starting at 7:30 p.m.
Capital One Bank (AKA: The Greenpoint Savings Bank)
Calyer Street Entrance
807 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Miss Heather
P.S.: Special thanks to Jay for the tip!
Notes From The Community Council Meeting
Although not as well attended as February’s meeting last night’s 94th Precinct Community Council Q & A session once again proved to be full house. As was the case last month the Production Lounge (and the numerous quality of life issues it has posed for its neighbors) was the primary— but not necessarily exclusive— topic of the evening. Follows are a few other points/factoids I found of interest:
- Burglaries and grand larceny are up from last year.
- There is one burglar at large whose activity has increased in the last two weeks. His M.O. is to strike during business hours. He is particularly interested in lap top computers.
- Robbery and felony assaults are down.
- There are 68 bars in the 94th Precinct.
Something I observed at this meeting which I found interesting was the very visible presence of local business owners. Establishments such as the Shayz Lounge( whose owner, an incredibly cute man named Seamus— who some might remember had the front window of his bar punched in last month— brought up the subject of local bar owners putting their heads together regarding some of the problems eating and drinking establishments have recently posed for the community of late), the Black Rabbit, Dalaga and Papasitos, were among those presence. Conversely, it should be noted that no one from the Production Lounge was present at this meeting.
On that note and without further ado follow are some selections from the evening’s meeting. For the sake of brevity (there was much redundancy with both the questions posed by the attendees and answers tendered by Deputy Inspector Fulton) and my own sanity I have done a great deal of editing so please consider these movies as highlights or “Cliff Notes” of what came to pass. On with the show!
SEGMENT 1: This primarily deals with minutes from the previous meeting and Deputy Inspector Fulton giving us a rundown of current crime trends.
SEGMENT 2: In this segment D.I. Fulton gives us more information regarding the two recent homicides in Greenpoint as well as a drunk driving fatality. He begins to take questions. Not surprisingly it kicks off with neighbors of the Production Lounge airing their frustration.
SEGMENT 3: The owner of Shayz Lounge speaks & much ado about the Production Lounge.
SEGMENT 4: Mixed bag: more ado about the Production Lounge, car break-ins and a bartendress raises her concern about a uptick in muggings at the Bedford Avenue stop of the L.
In conclusion I suppose what I found most compelling was that a woman present finally mustered the nerve to say what was undoubtedly on the minds of a great many people in the room.
Miss Heather
Notes From The 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
It was packed at last night’s Community Council meeting. If I had to guesstimate I’d say there were at least 100 people present. Many of whom were residents and/or business owners from Franklin Street, along with a camera woman from Channel 12, a community liaison from Joseph Lentol’s office and a “representative” from the Production Lounge.
Although a cake congratulating Officer Fulton for his promotion to Deputy Inspector was in the offering, all eyes, ears, minds and most importantly mouths were intent on discussing last weekend’s incident at the Production Lounge And I’ll tell you: all the people present (save perhaps two) be they old timers, newbies, 30-somethings with children or simply concerned citizens were very, very angry. What I found most interesting was that although the gun play at the Production Lounge (and how the police handled it) was the subject of the entire meeting, it was in reality a proxy for a number of quality of life issues which have been festering in Greenpoint for some time. These included but were not limited to:
- The proliferation of bars on Franklin Street.
- The increase in noise and disorderly activity which has come as a result of the previous.
- Dissatisfaction with the 94th Precinct’s response to complaints.
- Club Exit.
- Allegations that 311 is fudging the number of complaints being called in.
Disturbing allegations that the ownership of The Production Lounge did not care about the nuisance it was posing to its neighbors (and in fact encouraged it) also arose. As did some incidences which would be best described as harassment or outright intimidation. But enough preliminaries. Follows is my footage from the meeting. Draw your own conclusions.
Part I
Part II
Part III
I’ll be adding more footage from this meeting as YouTube (and my sheer will power) sees fit.* In the meantime those of you who have been affected negatively by The Production Lounge (or any other watering hole in Greenpoint or north Brooklyn in general) can and should contact the following:
State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol
619 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 383 – 7474
lentolj (at) assembly (dot) state (dot) ny (dot) ny (dot) us
Councilman David Yassky (When this was suggested at the meeting a number of people shouted in unison “He’s useless!” But who knows?)
114 Court Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
(718) 875 – 5200
yassky (at) council (dot) nyc (dot) ny (dot) us
My good friend over at Neighborhood Threat has already pointed that out all noise complaints should be tendered to 311. Take down the complaint number(s) and hand them over to our local Community Board via email…
Community Board 1
435 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn , New York, 11211
(718) 389 – 0009
Fax: (718) 389 – 0098
Email: bk01 (at) cb (dot) nyc (dot) gov
And last, but hardly least, you can also file a complaint to the New York State Liquor Authority. Here’s a snippet of their online complaint form.
Given what I heard from last night’s meeting I suspect complaint boxes two and six will be very useful. It might also strike some as interesting that The Production Lounge has neither a Place of Assembly permit nor Certificate of Occupancy. In other words, they have no right to have people (much less those brandishing firearms) in 113 Franklin Street in the first place. Don’t believe me? Go to the Department of Buildings web site and see for yourself.**
Miss Heather
*You can watch the final two installments by clicking here.
**Oh yeah: it should come as no surprise to my fellow Greenpointers that the Production Lounges has no cabaret license either. Sound familiar, anyone?
P.S.: There’s much more piquant commentary about last night’s proceedings to be found on Yelp.
NYS Flickr Pool
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