After Three Strikes, Is Recent Bed-Stuy Arrival Out?
Writer Douglass Rushkoff made headlines last December when he announced in a blog post that he and his family were leaving Brooklyn after he was mugged on Christmas Eve outside his Park Slope apartment. While many people thought the response was an overreaction, getting mugged is a traumatic experience against which the rationality of statistics…
Writer Douglass Rushkoff made headlines last December when he announced in a blog post that he and his family were leaving Brooklyn after he was mugged on Christmas Eve outside his Park Slope apartment. While many people thought the response was an overreaction, getting mugged is a traumatic experience against which the rationality of statistics are of little comfort. Now another blogger is questioning whether he should stay in his neighborhood after having been mugged on Monday night for the third time in as many years. After five years in London and one on the Upper West Side, blogger Eating for Brooklyn scraped together enough dough for a down payment on browntone fixer-upper in Bed Stuy in 2003 only to get a rather jarring reception:
By the time we unloaded the last box from the rental truck, it was 1am. 1am and raining. The asphalt was shiny and slick and the street lights reflected yellow, red and green. Our block had the feeling of a movie set. It was picture perfect. Just as we closed the door to the truck with a thump, a passerby turned around and held us up. He ripped through my pockets frantically searching for cash. And I stupidly had $500.00 in my front pocket. I slipped a few singles off the wad of dough and gave it to him. He started walking away and came back with a vengeance as if the few singles I had given him were like spitting in his face. He ransacked my pockets again. Nothing. He never found the $500.00. Picture perfect and no one around.
We felt nothing but horror and panic later that night as we searched out the safest corner of the house to sleep — the fourth floor front room overlooking the top of the sycamore tree. With our sleeping bags on pine floors, our hearts pounded and kept us up all night. We had spent our life savings only to be held up at gunpoint. We felt we had been had.
All was quiet until February 2006 when the writer was pummelled in the head by a gang of teenagers; then on this past Monday night he was mugged again a block from his house.
I feel paralyzed. The rational voice says “Leave now.” The voice of fantasy says “Stick it out. It’ll be worth it in the long run.” Maybe I was stupid for not having left three and half years ago. With the neighborhood in transition and deep into renovation and debt, what would you do?
Well, what would you do?
3 Muggings in 3 Years, What Would You Do? [Eating for Brooklyn]
Look no one is blaming you (EFB) but…
” though truth be told, we had stones and bottles thrown at us occasionally throughout the year so I was fed up.”
STONES AND BOTTLES!!!!! What the hell are you doing in the street? I don’t care who you are white, black, green you have to be an easy target to have STONES and BOTTLES thrown at you OCCASIONALLY. Me an my friends (Like I said white, black, green) would smack someone for that.
This is EFB here. Couple of comments I would like to make:
First of all I did NOT pay anywhere near a million for my house. Remember we’re talking over 3 years ago when I bought. I would never expect to be safe because I paid such and such amount for my house.
Secondly, I acknowledge the stupid mistakes I made: the 500 bux, calling the cops on kids, though truth be told, we had stones and bottles thrown at us occasionally throughout the year so I was fed up. But for the most part I think these are random acts of violence. And I knew full well moving into Bed Stuy that it was dangerous.
And regarding moving in at 1am. I doubt I need to remind anyone how much time and energy it takes to move. We started moving that morning before noon, but didn’t finish until 1am. We were left with the decision at 1am to keep the rest of our stuff locked (if we even had a lock for the truck I don’t remember) in the truck on the street which also made us nervous or to finish unpacking and be done with it.
Lastly, I live in the “nicer” part of Bed Stuy on the cusp of so-called Stuyvesant Heights.
I know I need to be smarter and more streetwise.
after 3 for 3, the guy’s gotta be thinking he’s cursed. do some people just have ‘beat me up’ tattooed on their foreheads? i kind of got the impression that he walks the streets with a deer-in-the-headlights look. so is it really just luck that some people escape altercations while others get it on a semi-annual basis? if i were him, i wouldn’t be thinking of moving, i’d probably get totally charles bronson at that point.
sounds like he’s near the utica or ralph stations, there’s some beautiful houses there …
If you want a “cheap” brownstone, then you pay for it in other ways like safety.
No area is 100% safe…..but Bed Stuy is not as safe as Bay Ridge, Bushwick is not as safe as Park Slope, etc..
It doesn’t matter if its not fair – its the way it is. I feel bad for the people who are victimized by the violent criminals that are running all over new york. But it doesnt mean you are the same risk everywhere. And if you choose to live in an area with higher crime, you have to know there is some risk involved.
Crime can happen anywhere — a friend of mine lives in Brooklyn Heights and a rapist attacked women in her building on two separate occasions. If Eating for Brooklyn wants to stay, he should first of all be careful and savvy and second of all get involved with the community safety meetings and block association (or start a block assn if there isn’t one). True, it’s a bit of a hassle, but getting involved and getting to know your neighbors is what makes blocks safe. Also, if this guy was really so scared, why didn’t he just hand over the 500 bucks? Safety is more important than money — don’t push your luck with a mugger!
Every investment has a risk. I don’t think the prices of condos/brownstones in Bed-Sty and Bushwick reflect the risk. The prices on new developments and brownstones in areas like these are not a steal considering that you pay in other ways to live there. I’d rather buy a shoebox in a better area and trade up than buy in an area I don’t feel comfortable. p.s. mugged in Ft Greene 2 years ago at 8 PM. All it takes is a dark block and no one around to make for a perfect opportunity.
What do you expect from Bed-Stuy? Sure two or three people respond saying its safe. What do the crime statistics say? Now if you let developers come in and gentrify the place, then maybe, just maybe, it might get better.
Everyone in NY knows the City=Random acts of violence. We have no control over that. Yet, we can learn to be more alert and responsive in order minimize the chance of being mugged, robbed, actacked,etc. The rest is up to chance.
…or yo can move to the burbs in LI, I hear the break-ins are down this year.
2 things:
1. why would you just give someone a few singles off a wad of 500 bucks if someone was holding you up at gunpoint. REALLY stupid. you’re lucky you’re not dead.
and
2. bed stuy statistically has one of the highest (i believe used to be THE highest) rate of crime in the entire COUNTRY!!! what do you expect?? i think it’s obscene that people pay a million dollars to live in such a neighborhood, and think that because of that, that it’s somehow been upgraded.