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From The New York Shitty Inbox: A Very Special Request
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Dog Shit, Dung of the Day, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
As you can probably imagine I receive a number of very interesting requests in my inbox. Methinks this one (which arrived this morning) may very well take the cake. It comes a graduate student no less. He/she writes:
My name is (excised) and I’m a grad student at the Pratt Institute (Environmental Management Systems) enrolled in a “Solid Waste Management” class. Our coursework involves creating a “zero waste” plan for McCarren Park. As an initial step we’re attempting to inventory and classify sources of waste in the park, and one of those sources is of course doggy poo. I’m working with my colleague (excised), who is copied on this email.
We’d like to come up with an estimate how much volume of dog poo we’re dealing with. Do you have any sense of how many “hits” this dog park gets on an average day? Do know someone who might have any helpful stats on this?
Thanks in advance for any info you might be willing to share.
Yes this site was initially premised on the dog shit problem on my community. But— in this is a big but— over the (almost) four years I have operated New York Shitty, its subject matter has expanded tremendously. I rarely feature dog doo on this site anymore (with the occasional exception of charmers like the one gracing the beginning of this post which I recently found on Berry Street. The hearts are a nice touch.). I am simply too busy. What’s more, I have better things to do than count turds. Especially in sub-freezing weather.
Nonetheless, I want to be helpful. I too was a graduate student once. Granted, I never had to aggregate turds— but I sculpted quite a few. A number of them were quite convincing. To this end I have forwarded this person’s request to a few folks I suspect will be in the know. I would also like input from you, my readers. How much dog shit do you think is in McCarren Park on any given day? You can tender your estimate via comments or email at: missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com. I will forward your responses.
I thank you in advance for your immediate attention to this matter.
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: Grand Street
What is that I hear? Oh wait, I know: it’s Williamsburg’s death rattle! Why would someone inflict this on their child? Really, I’d like to know.
Miss Heather
Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: North 1 Street
This message has been brought to you by the Department of Transportation, who I would also presume, is responsible for this:
A few thoughts:
- It’s probably not a good idea to leave something like this where anyone can grab it. And believe you me: people hereabouts will steal ANYTHING. Just as D.I. Fulton of the 94th Precinct reminded us yesterday: do not leave your property unattended!
- It’s a little disquieting to see an electronic thingamajig affixed to a piece of public property in this manner. In the post 9/11 world we live in sights such as this tend to make people nervous.
Miss Heather
Crime Prevention Tips From The NYPD
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Criminal Activity, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Yesterday I attended a hastily convened meeting at the 94th Precinct regarding crime trends here in Williamspoint. Apparently there was a spike in robberies last week— and this obviously being a source of concern— local neighborhood groups were invited to discuss the matter. Most of the meeting can be summarized by the annotation on the flier to the left: don’t be an idiot. Nonetheless, I will outline the more salient points in this post.
Exercise Vigilance
70% of all crimes in the 94th last year were grand larceny/property crimes. These range anywhere from losing unattended property to smash and grabs; burglary and robbery. All more or less have two thing in common: they’re crimes of opportunity and appear to be perpetrated by a handful of serial offenders. D.I. Fulton cited one such example of this: a group of men who managed to rob three people in a single evening.
Although this is common sense I am going to list a few tips:
1. Watch your property
2. Do NOT leave valuables in your car
3. Refrain from talking on your cell phone and/or texting when walking our streets. Not only does negotiating around such people (who tend to weave around) piss yours truly off in a big, big way, but it makes you an easy target for robbery
4. When going out at night go in groups and refrain from being intoxicated. Public drunkenness makes one a sterling target for robberies and, as D.I. Fulton noted, one should not be impaired when negotiating the marginally secured construction sites hereabouts.
5. LOCK YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS. This too is common sense, but Mr. Fulton recounted to us a robbery where the woman’s apartment was accessed via a window on her fire escape. If you think you’re not an easy target because you reside on a higher floor, think again.
6. If you see suspicious activity, call the police.
Arrests
Although D.I. Fulton pointed out crime was down 6.7% last year (there were a total of 1,651 arrests last year lest you are wondering), he did list a few areas where more arrests and/or citations are being made:
1. Robberies (as I have already mentioned)
2. Graffiti
3. Truck traffic summonses are up for a third year in a row.
It was also noted that they are also cracking down on derelict bicycles. Which brings me to what is probably the most useful piece of information I gleaned from this meeting: the 94th Precinct is registering bicycles. This service is totally free and anyone interested should contact Elizabeth Moulterie at (718) 383-3879. The 94th’s Community Liaison, Carlos Ortiz gave me a compelling, if darkly amusing, example why bicycle owners should register their rides. He was once contacted by a gentleman whose bike was stolen… and turned up locked to a gate a few doors down on his block! How’s that for chutzpah? Despite his protestations that the vehicle in question was in fact his, since he had not seen the thief take it and there was no serial number engraved on it there was nothing they could do about it.
In closing, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t mention a little chicanery I encountered on the way to this meeting. On Manhattan Avenue between Java and Kent streets a 20-something woman hocked up a loogie— and noticing that she got my attention— tried to sell me a can of Folgers coffee for $5.00. Hot coffee. I was also equally impressed (if that is the most appropriate word to use) to learn at this meeting that apparently some of our local drug dealers are cutting their “product” with sheet rock excavated from the walls of their apartment building. The entrepreneurial moxie of the more criminally-inclined people in this neighborhood never ceases to amaze me.
Miss Heather
P.S.: I have recorded most— but not all— of the proceedings. Given the sensitive matter of some of the material discussed, I did not film the people present. I simply pointed my camera at the ceiling (so as to capture the audio and preserve the attendee’s anonymity). The sound quality is less than spectacular, but here it is.
1. General introduction, Crime rundown
2. Crime rundown, tips for crime prevention, Q & A
3. Q & A, continued. NOTE: last week’s “suspicious death” and Violeete Kryzak are touched upon at the very end. I advise you to give this a listen.
4. More Q & A: concerns about narcotics activity are aired (Speaking for myself, I have observed increasing evidence of heroin use along Manhattan Avenue north of Greenpoint Avenue.)
5. Concluding remarks
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