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]
Eh I don’t think 10:37 was saying that just saying that Greenwood Heights is not all that and it isn’t. Most of the posters are right you can do a lot no matter where you live to reduce your chances of being a victim of a crime. At the same time stuff happens everywhere. The only place I’ve been mugged is upstate.
Yes, we don’t want to blame the victim, but…
Actually, I thought 11:02 comment was pretty funny….
the best response i have seen so far is on the blogger’s actual site. a comment by jake was reasonable, intelligent and balanced. sadly, that sort of commentary seems to be beside the point based on the posts listed above. i like this blog, i think it’s a valuable resource for anyone considering or living in brooklyn. a lot of the comments, however, with exceptions of course, are juvenile, dumb and just plain mean spirited.
This totally s#cks. I’m very sorry to hear that there is this much mugging going on in Bed-Stuy — 3x in three years is a lot to endure. If I were this guy, I would be thinking very hard about selling, unless that meant taking a loss. It’s one thing to stick something out because your choices are limited, but it sounds like he may have options. I also fear that Bed-Stuy is poised for rising problems in that not a few homes (perhaps a lot of the new two-families) may go into foreclosure and then turn into non-owner occupied rentals.
Thankfully, I have not been a victim of crime in my marginal neighborhood, where I have lived for over a decade now. Maybe he should sell and move to Sunset Park?
10:37,
If you’re implying that Greenwood Heights is as rough as Bed-Stuy, then you’ve lost all credibility. Bed-Stuy has improved in terms of safety, but it sure ain’t Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights. The precinct crime rates say it all. Meanwhile, be careful and use some common sense to protect yourself.
I agree re: common sense. I’ve lived in NY all my life, including pre-gentrification Bushwick/Williamsburg, and right now in Clinton Hill, and I have never been mugged. All of you guys moving into areas that are still rough around the edges need to take care, be watchful as youre walking home late at night, try to have company as much as possible, avoid certain blocks, etc. I feel that many of the criminals specifically target people who look like outsiders (in some of these neighborhoods that means white) so it’s my opinion that those people need to take special care.
Must be horrible to be mugged, though. I definitely don’t want to blame the victim, but there are certainly things we can do to mitigate the likelihood of being mugged, attacked, etc.
I remember when I moved to the upper east side in the ’94. Every single person I knew had been mugged within 6 months. It was just part of living in nyc. I never have been but I think brooklyn is the way the rest of the city used to be. I don’t think it should be that shocking. I think you can do alot to avoid it too, but sometimes its just timing.
Maybe buy a dog, maybe get a car or use a car service for nighttime travel. Get an alarm for your house.
It’s hard to be a prisoner in your own neighborhood, but you do have to make changes to ensure your safety.
Make friends with your neighbors. Join your block association. Working to change the neighborhood is also important, but if you don’t have the time or energy, moving might be the best thing.