Another Mugging in Fort Greene
While it pales in comparison to some of the other crime that took place over the holidays, this one may be of local interest: On the day after Christmas a thirty-something couple was mugged on Adelphi Street off Dekalb Avenue. One of the two teens grabbed the man and told him to Give me what…
While it pales in comparison to some of the other crime that took place over the holidays, this one may be of local interest: On the day after Christmas a thirty-something couple was mugged on Adelphi Street off Dekalb Avenue. One of the two teens grabbed the man and told him to Give me what you have, reports The Brooklyn Paper. The couple coughed up $50 in cash and several credit and banking cards.
stoep2conquer – nice try but I live well into Park Slope and have no plans to move – I just prefer that people stick to the facts – and if you try a search you’ll see I have the same ‘agenda’ whether the misinformation is “positive” or “negative”.
There is a big difference between restaurant reviews and crime reports.
You are right, infinitejester, it’s Brownstoner’s blog, and he can post whatever he likes, as I am sure he will do. To say that any criticism is unamerican is ridiculous, and a cop out. It is precisely American to make suggestions, offer opinions, and criticise. Which is all any of us are doing. If Mr. B wants to do a weekly police blotter, and a majority of readers find that useful, I have no problem with that, I will choose to look at it, or not. But I also agree with squaredrive, a fair reporting of crime should have stats from all brownstone and readership neighborhoods – muggings and crime in Bed Stuy, Bushwick and Crown Heights, as well as Fort Greene, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, and all in between, including Victorian Flatbush.
Given the enormity of that, I think it’s a service best done by others, and a link to such might be a better use of time for a blog that has always been about interesting slices of life in the real estate and day to day life in Brooklyn.
While no one specifically mentioned race or class, it is an undercurrent that cannot be ignored or sugarcoated. Let’s not be disengenous to think that anyone thought Fort Greene muggers were blue haired, skinny punks. I certainly didn’t. I think there is a very fine line between educating the readership and falling into sensationalism and profiling. I’m not saying Brownstoner has, in this case. I’m just saying that care must be taken. This site is a valuable resource, a fun place to gather, and an interesting doorway into the way my fellow Brooklynites think about the world around them, especially on a micro level.
Like many of the results of gentrification, too many of my peers and aquaintances see this site as not for them, even though they share brownstone ownership, preservation interests, varied income levels, and the same neighborhood concerns as the majority. One of the reasons why more don’t read this site is because of attitudes expressed in some of the more “racy” (pardon the pun) threads that have appeared here. I see those threads as an opportunity to educate, or at least put my point of view out there, and perhaps show a side not considered. I only ask that Brownstoner consider the overall use of crime stories. Do they really educate, inform, or warn the readership about places and people who can be avoided or we can be protected from? If so, then fine. But if they only serve to scare, or perpetuate attitudes about “them”, who surround and interact with all of us, then they are feeding into the fear and loathing so despised by the What, fsrg, and squaredrive. And that is a worthy topic of discussion, right there.
fsrq:
May I ask, where is your house and what is your asking price?
NOKILISSA – “Am I wrong or is there indeed an increase in brazen crime in the neighborhood?”
depends on how you define “Brazen crime” – Murders are down FORTY PERCENT (and murder is by far the most reliable statistic in measuring violent crime – since you cant hide or ‘reclassify’ a dead body)
Robberies are up 11% thats about 25 robberies since last year – but last year it was a record low – compared to 06 (which at the time NYC considered the crime rate impossibly low) robberies are down 10%.
This location is not new for robberies nor has Ft Greene been relatively free of violence and muggings – Ft Greene (and Clinton Hill) have averaged about 300 robberies and about 10 murders throughout the ’00s – which is low but not “relatively free” and this year is no different – in fact it was on the low side.
Anecdotes are remarkably good about relaying the emotional and physical details of a particular crime but TELL NOTHING about crime rates or trends. Which is why when Brownstoner tries to use one, as evidence of the other – he gets attacked.
Well, maybe oe, but what about this (Gothamist, October):
Is the economic free fall already leading to higher crime and degentrifying neighborhoods, as previously speculated? Brooklyn’s 88th precinct, which includes Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is reporting that so far this year robberies have spiked 7.6 percent and burglaries are up 18.6 percent. And a cardboard box of bloody human remains discovered on fancy Washington Park isn’t exactly putting residents at ease; one of them tells The Brooklyn Paper, “This hasn’t happened since the 1970s. Back then, I came out of my building one morning and found a body hanging from a lightpost.”
Other residents believe crime stats are actually much higher because it takes hours to file a police report, which discourages some from registering an official complaint. So as a counterpoint to the NYPD stats, the Society for Clinton Hill has set up a map on its website for individuals to post details about local crimes. But the group also urges those who post incidents on the map to also fill out a police report.
And Councilwoman Letitia James appeared with Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes and local officers at a community meeting last night to discuss the crime wave. The Councilwoman says she’s concerned about Pratt students in Clinton Hill being targeted by hoodlums, noting that “walking around with their iPods or computers and texting is not a good idea.”
I don’t live in FG, and I don’t think there is any “trends” going on except which incidents suddenly get reported as news.
(except the cut-up body thing, which is actual news)
Just piping in to say that I don’t mind the crime reports. And I don’t think the word “another” is particularly sensationalist.
One can only read so many articles about 2.5 million dollar brownstones that one will never be able to afford, anyway. I like that this blog is about more than just real estate prices — it delivers good info on real estate while also covering some neighborhood news.
The restaurants on this stretch of Dekalb have it bad. First they’ve had to deal with perpetual break-ins by a creative cat burglar. Now they have to deal with the sensationalism of customers getting mugged. Throw in a recession and half these establishments will be out of business by next New Year.
It’s so obvious that the posters who are compaining are the ones who live in ft greene and see crime increasing. In order to protect further declines in their property values they blast brownstoner for commenting on the truth. well well, I bet if this happened in brooklyn heights, Cobble Hill or Ps, these same posters would change their tune. How laughable.