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Presenting “Rapey Alley”
Filed under: Williamsburg
After hearing about the armed robbery down at North 11 Street and Union Avenue that went down last weekend I have been jonesing like a lab rat to get down there and behold the scene of the crime personally. More specifically, I wanted to take in the splendor that is what my colleague Bad Advice calls “Rapey Alley”. On February 16, 2009 she writes:
Call me a wuss, but scaffolding is creepy. At least they’ve finally added lights to ours, but so far I have found lurking: a sofa (okay, not creepy, just large), a man’s jacket (obviously torn off his body), and a backpack that someone had helpfully emptied of its contents. Maybe it belonged to the jacket-owner, who knows. But by far, the creepiest thing I’ve found in Rapey Alley lurks after the jump—
Not only did I manage to locate the underwear which accompanied the bra Bad Advice found but I happened upon a lot more neat stuff (like the freshly painted but inoperative call box gracing the beginning of this post). Follow are some highlights.
Somebody’s leftover sandwich.
Scaffolding which appears to have been rammed by a motor vehicle.
Some loose electrical wires.
This. Whatever the hell it is.
Evidence of Williamsburg Nazis.
Of course if you want to see some old school developer blight you should head over the North 9th Street between Roebling and Havemeyer.
I like to call this shot “Progress”.
No parking.
The graffiti on this fence reads:
No more condos. Fight gentrification.
Mission accomplished.
Miss Heather
More Fun From The New York Shitty Inbox
You know what that they say about trouble: it comes in threes. It would appear this holiday weekend (and it ain’t over yet) is proving to be a busy one for our very own 94th precinct.
M writes:
Hey Miss H – I witnessed an armed robbery early Friday morning around 1 AM at the corner of N. 11th & Union across from the Royal Oak bar in Williamsburg. A twenty-something couple that lives in the area got held up at gunpoint for their belongings. The assailants were both wearing hoodies: one grey and one black. The whole thing happened very quickly of course – when I first turned around to see the commotion, it almost looked as though the group knew each other. The robbers didn’t take their cell phones so the couple both called 911. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could offer other than “one in grey and one in black” from my vantage point across the street. One of the robbers held a gun to the male’s head as they grabbed their bags and told them to “give it up. I found out afterward that the woman’s bag contained a laptop full of research for her work. There were several squad cars on the scene within minutes of the robbery and they started scouring the area.
I gave the guy my card in case I could help remember anything more specific, but alas, I didn’t get a view of the two robber’s faces before they took off and rounded the corner onto Roebling. The couple hopped into one of the squad cars to take a look around, but as I got a call from the police about 2 hours later asking if I had seen the robbers’ faces, I doubt they turned up anything in their search of the area. Pretty scary considering how it wasn’t that late and the area there isn’t exactly bereft of foot traffic. It would seem that criminals are getting bolder in the neighborhood, so people should be extra cautious when you’re walking around late at night in less trafficked areas. It could have just as easily been me on that side of the street with my laptop (which I happened to have on me at the time) so this has me thinking twice about the safety of our area.
Here’s a link to the google map of the corner where the robbery took place .
sorry this isn’t a fun tip to pass on your way, but people should know what’s happening out there after hours.
I agree. While not “fun” it is important that my fellow citizens know about this kind of thing, hence why I am posting this item. Be careful out there G & L trainers. Seriously.
Miss Heather
P.S.: Lest anyone reading this wants to voice their concerns about crime in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area, the next Community Council meeting for the 94th Precinct will be on February 17, 2009 starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Greenpoint Savings Bank (AKA: Capital One):
807 Manhattan Avenue (Entrance on Calyer Street)
Brooklyn, New York 11222
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