Boerum Hill Open House Tonight

by the way, did anyone hear about this shooting in boerum hill earlier this week? i just stumbled across this on ny1.com:

Newborn Born To Mother Killed By Stray Bullet Clings To Life
July 24, 2005

As police search for a killer, the tiny newborn reportedly delivered by emergency C-section after his mother was hit by a stray bullet in Brooklyn Saturday is clinging to life.

Published reports say the 2-pound baby was delivered 10 weeks premature at Long Island College hospital moments after his mother died.

Nicole Sutton, 33, was sitting outside her home on Wyckoff Street in Boerum Hill to escape the heat when she was shot in the neck just before 1 a.m. Saturday.

Police say Sutton was just an innocent bystander and was not the intended target.

Sutton was sitting with a group of people, including the baby's
father, when the shooting occurred.

Police are looking for the shooter.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 1:35 PM

Gosh anonymous, a cynical person might wonder why you chose to link that story to this open house listing

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 1:53 PM

$1.7 is lot of money to spend anywhere.
But Pacific St isnt jopust around the corner - and there
are $2m+ houses in Cobble Hill that are about as close to Gowanus projects as this house is to Wyckoff Gardens.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 2:06 PM

I'm anon who posted the story. No cynicism intended at all. I actually really like Boerum Hill a lot. Don't live around there but love strolling through when I'm in the area. I really just posted it because I was surprised nobody had mentioned it, and that I hadn't heard or read anything else about it.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 2:20 PM

Wycoff Projects aren't really a part of Boerum Hill. Gowanas "Housing" is more part of the neighorbood and are generally a tamer. They don't "accidently" shoot pregnant ladies as much.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 4:19 PM

It's interesting to note how different in tone this conversation is than if the random violence had happened in Bed-Stuy or Crown Heights. Here, some people try to actually say that project is simply not part of the neighborhood! Hey that solves it! Had it happened in the other areas, let me tell you I can already envision the comments about how property values will plummet in those war zones and you need a bullet-proof vest to run out for a gallon of milk.

No matter where it happened, though, the story is a sad one.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 6:16 PM

As a Boerum hill resident for 7 and a half years (and a Park Slope resident well before that) I can comment on this chain to the following extent:

I agree that it is important to note that Boerum Hill will always have these substantial public housing "anchors" to its neighborhood, but at the same time I don't believe the shooting incident near them is typical at all of Boerum Hill or, indeed, Brooklyn.

Also, although it is true Pacific is more than three blocks away from the Gardens, these are short blocks on a well trafficked path from the Fulton Mall/Flatbush/Downtown Brooklyn area and not the long block(s) that separate Cobble Hill spatially from the Gowanus Houses.

As a general rule, both the Wyckoff Gardens and the Gowanus Houses are much safer than they were in the early 1990's, but Wyckoff Gardens has always had a worse reputation for crime. (It was also the scene of the last vignette in the movie Smoke, for those who have seen that movie.)

As for what is the boundary of Boerum Hill, it is a tough call (as is often the case in NY neighborhoods) but generally I have always thought the bonudary between Boerum Hill and Park Slope was 4th Avenue. The problem is that south of Atlantic Avenue the blocks east of Nevins Street are not consistently residential, but include substantial commercial/light industrial properties. I could understand why people might start trying to exclude certain blocks because of these properties from the neighborhood, but I don't think that would be accurate.

Finally, no one has commented on the price. $1.7 sounds a tad high for Pacific. I know that some places have gone for that amount on other blocks in the Boerum Hill area, but I doubt if a townhouse three doors down from Nevins and backing on to that very large building on the corner of Atlantic and Nevins is worth that much.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 6:18 PM

Sloper, where did you find that description of the boundaries? It soudns right to me, except I would have said that State street was the northern most boundary (meaning both sides of the street).

Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2005 6:23 PM