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February 2, 2009

Closing Bell: Why are There Power Lines in East New York?

I Love Franklin Ave. asks exactly that question—Why are there power lines in East New York? ILFA goes on to write that "unlike much of the rest of Brooklyn, East New York actually has a substantial chunk of its grid above ground. You can find lines connecting bits and pieces elsewhere, but it's rare to see utility poles on every corner in a major city." Also, needing an explanation is the shoe-tossing on the power lines. (Is it more than just a gang explanation or just kids playing around?)
So what are the answers to these two questions?

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Huh?? Is this for real??? Has this person ever ventured out of his area??? If so, he would see power lines are above-ground in quite a few Brooklyn areas.

As far as the sneakers, this is just old Brooklyn kids' horse play.

Posted by: benson at February 2, 2009 4:06 PM

I can't say why there are overhead power lines in East New York (except for the obvious- to get electricity to buildings) but as far as the shoes, I would say it's nothing more than kids goofing off. I have never met a gang member, and yes I've met many, who put any credence into territory being marked by shoes, or it being part of an initiation or anything else. I think it's one of those urban myths that just won't die.

Posted by: Bond at February 2, 2009 4:10 PM

shoes on lines were a marker that certain illicit substances could be purchased underneath at certain times of day. I'm not sure that's true anymore, shoes are everywhere it seems.

Posted by: dittoburg at February 2, 2009 4:10 PM

There was a rumor that the shoes indicate drug sales nearby . . .

Posted by: SenatorStreet at February 2, 2009 4:10 PM

There is also a section of lower Windsor Terrace with above ground power lines. Odd.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at February 2, 2009 4:12 PM

Shoes on power lines mean that 750K shit shacks that "need TLC" in "up and coming area" with "edgy cafes and "hip boutiques" are nearby.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at February 2, 2009 4:13 PM

The power lines are necessary so that the shoes can be wrapped around them.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 4:14 PM

My power lines run above ground on poles along the shared property lines in the back yards. I thought that was true of most of Brooklyn.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 2, 2009 4:15 PM

The Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting asked Con Ed to not put all the power lines underground so there are locations for films and commercials that take place in the past.

(Tell your friends this; I love starting false rumors.)

Posted by: altervoce at February 2, 2009 4:16 PM

Power is underground in Bed Stuy...telephone and cable runs through the yards and typically on the back of peoples homes.

If you have a dish, that signal just comes down from outer space. Really.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 4:22 PM

Do any of those corner firebox posts actually work? there's one on the corner of Macon & Stuyvesant. Ours, thankfully, is not pink.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 4:26 PM

So are these electric line or telephone lines in the pic?
And in RedHook you see them on street/sidewalk also.

Posted by: Petebklyn at February 2, 2009 4:27 PM

Wait, wait ... they can put television in outer space now?

Posted by: cwbuecheler at February 2, 2009 4:27 PM

In the past in Little Italy, the lines doubled for hanging lighted decorations, which came in handy during the San Genaro festivities. In Bangkok and a few other Asian cities incl New Delhi, they double for clothes lines even if it's illegal to do so. But so far no one has been known to have been fried, except for one kite flyer.

Posted by: cb6 at February 2, 2009 4:44 PM

Hmmm, maybe those lines in my backyard are all for the phones, not electricity. The cables are pretty thick.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 2, 2009 4:45 PM

Whoa! You know, I always noticed all the telephone poles and power lines growing up in ENY, but for some reason never wondered why they were there. It just seemed normal! I can't believe I learned something about my own boyhood neighborhood from Brownstoner! Amazing. But as Benson says, there are other neighborhoods with poeer lines and telephone poles - St. Albans, Queens (where a few of my relatives lived) comes to mind.

Benson is also right about the sneaker-on-the-wire thing. It's just one of those things kids in neighborhoods like ENY do for no other reason than to screw around, with the added benefit that the activity leaves a visible marker of the kids' having screwed around.

Posted by: East New York at February 2, 2009 4:46 PM

The shoes go back for many, many decades. I thought from friends who grew up in Brooklyn in the '50's and '60's that they were just one of the forms of torture that bullies visited on their victims.

We had a corner firebox that worked, at least it did about 10 years ago. I remember an uproar about the fire department trying to do away with them (the ratio of false alarms to actual fires or emergencies is really high)

Posted by: David Lewis at February 2, 2009 4:49 PM

When I was growing up (not in NYC) shoes on a power line marked the site of a death. The shoes of the deceased (usually a gang member shot down) were slung over the lines as a sign of respect and remembrance. When I first came to NYC I was walking around like, "Damn! Lots of gangsters shot around here!" Then someone told me it was now a prank done by bored neighborhood kids.

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at February 2, 2009 4:56 PM

Where the hell did you grow up, Snappy???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 5:01 PM

South Side of Chicago. In the 70's it was gang warfare all the way.

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at February 2, 2009 5:07 PM

Also, kids used to do this on the last day of school.

Posted by: denton at February 2, 2009 5:13 PM

'Also, kids used to do this on the last day of school.'

Those kids have big feet!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at February 2, 2009 5:16 PM

I had size 12 feet by the time I was in ninth grade.

However, I never lived in a neighborhood with above-ground power lines, so there was no shoe-throwing in my area.

Posted by: cwbuecheler at February 2, 2009 5:31 PM

My GOD...

Please leave New York City....

The What

Someday this war is gonna end..

Posted by: Return of The What at February 2, 2009 5:44 PM

My GOD...

Please go ahead and start your own blog where people you like say only what you want them to say and agree with all things 'What'....

The Snapster

Someday this bitter posting is gonna end..

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at February 2, 2009 5:51 PM

We have above ground lines in Bushwick. It really makes the area look messy since the cable tv company comes along and hangs dozens of wires from the utility poles.

Posted by: JoeBushwick at February 2, 2009 5:53 PM

Snappy...I lived in Chicago from 1980 to 1994.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 6:07 PM

What part dave? I lived on 71st off of Stoney Island.

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at February 2, 2009 6:14 PM

The whole "shoes indicate drug sales nearby" thing is horseshit. When I was a kid (the 1970s) you saw them everywhere, in neighborhoods of all races (although probably not all economic backgrounds).

Posted by: fordmadoxfraud at February 2, 2009 6:17 PM

Lincoln Park area and Andersonville. Last place was Seminary just north of Belmont.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 6:23 PM

The power lines are for hanging shoes from, and the shoes are so pigeons have somewhere to lay their eggs - at least that's what I told my kids.

Posted by: Sparafucile at February 2, 2009 7:05 PM

Urban myth. I spent a fair amount of my younger days in Bloomington, Indiana, which was a huge university town. Crunchy, liberal, pretty white and sneakers hanging off of wires all over town. Not too much gang activity to speak of.

Posted by: Nokilissa at February 2, 2009 7:33 PM

Gang explanation? Drugs sold here? Sheesh. Brooklyn kids are obsessed with sneaker culture. Always have been. Sneakers say so much about who they are. When its time to retire a pair after a long summer of running around the streets, tying them together and landing them on the lines is a way to keep them "alive" as opposed to tossing them in the trash. Its also fun when all the kids on block cheer on the kid tossing them up onto the lines.

p.s. please don't throw your hipster sneakers up onto the lines. Brooklyn kids know them as "rejects"

Posted by: eastriver at February 2, 2009 8:18 PM

Rejects they make your feet feel fine. Rejects they cost a dollar 99.

Wearing rejects was a social death sentence when I was a kid.

Posted by: CMM at February 2, 2009 10:06 PM

Where did this stupid urban myth come from. I am 44 and grew up here and kids were throwing sneakers up then and still are. It is a kid thing. Atleast that has not died away like so many of the games we played, now taken over by kids sitting inside and playing video games. Skully boards are seen every now and then (one of my favorites) but a game of ringalevio anyone? Maybe some stoop/curb or stickball?

Posted by: danm at February 3, 2009 12:32 AM

Daveinbedstuy,

re Andersonville...u ever hear of a place called the Edinburgh Castle Pub (6400 N Broadway)..i bartended there briefly around 1986? Loyola bar......i lived in Chicagoland from 1981-1994...Hyde Park to Lincoln Park(Sheffield and Altgeld) to Wrigleyville(Clark and Newport) to State and Banks to Montrose and Rockwell to Irving pk and Wolcott to....sure i'm leaving some place out...gotta catch up some time..i left right after the Bullies beat the Lakers for their 1st title ....a lot of Chicago people in Bklyn.......

Posted by: yanks77 at February 3, 2009 12:36 AM

yanks77...Never heard of that place but can picture that stretch of Broadway....moved to Andersonville in 1985...Balmoral St...down the street from the Balmoral-Clark Tap...(5400 North)...then back down to Seminary.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 3, 2009 8:15 AM

How old are you to say "kids have always been obsessed with sneaker culture". I don't remember there even being a choice of sneakers before the late 70s. There was converse (if they even qualify as sneakers).

And which urban myth is debunked - the gang territory one or the drug-selling one or both? We need a referee on this board.

Posted by: dittoburg at February 3, 2009 8:18 AM

ditto...Converse were "THE" sneakers (especially the high tops).. You ought to get a penalty flag for that one.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 3, 2009 8:25 AM

You were in the wrong gang Dave

Posted by: dittoburg at February 3, 2009 8:44 AM

Pro Keds were right up there with Chucks in terms of acceptability. The really fancy kids had blue suede Puma Clydes, that turned your socks blue when they got wet. You felt sorry for the kids who had to wear Beta Bullets (BB, therefore nicknamed bo-bos).

Posted by: Sparafucile at February 3, 2009 11:17 AM

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February 2, 2009

Closing Bell: Why are There Power Lines in East New York?

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