Bushwick Projects and Environs Safe?
Over on Brooklynian, a concerned mother worries that her attractive daughter is planning to move to a new apartment across the street from the Bushwick projects. The feedback from the peanut gallery is pretty unanimous: She’s got good reason to worry. “Simply put,” responds one board member, “This is a dangerous area and probably a…
Over on Brooklynian, a concerned mother worries that her attractive daughter is planning to move to a new apartment across the street from the Bushwick projects. The feedback from the peanut gallery is pretty unanimous: She’s got good reason to worry. “Simply put,” responds one board member, “This is a dangerous area and probably a bad place to live if your daughter is not extremely street savvy, large, or armed.” The sentiment is confirmed by another commenter: “Lived near there for three years. Nothing ever happened to me but my girlfriend was the victim of an attempted “push in” robbery or perhaps rape.” Yikes. Should mom bail out her daughter?
OK. I’m the concerned mother. A friend from the Brooklynian told me this was picked up by your blog, let me clarify some issues.
My daughter is an independent woman. I don’t tell her what to do or where to live. But I will always be her mother, and with that comes a natural concern for her well being. Just like all of your mothers’ have your well being in mind.
With that said, I posted a question for an area I didn’t know. And the responses I got from hard core Brooklynites raised serious concerns about safety, a legitimate issue for anyone living in a city. These were people who would be the first to say, “If you have to ask this question, you shouldn’t move in.” And their responses were adamantly that it was an unsafe place and not to move in. But the lease was signed and she was determined to go.
My children were raised in a town that was completely diverse and with all races and religions. That has never been an issue in our family. So please know that the only concern was that she would live peacefully and safely in her new neighborhood.
We don’t subsidize our daughter’s rent at all. She pays her own way in life. She took student loans to help pay for college and doesn’t have two nickels to rub together. We have a son in college and are tapped out anyway after two kids worth of tuition and living costs.
I am not a helicopter Mom. But I need to sleep at night knowing the area my daughter is moving into will ensure she gets safely to her apartment each night as long as she is street savvy.
We went there last night to help her move in and the apartment itself has been completely renovated and is very nice. I did see quite a diverse neighborhood right around her building, which is fine and others around her age, which was encouraging that she will meet new friends and bond in her neighborhood. And mostly around the Projects, I saw families and older couples that were living their lives. I didn’t see many kids at all for some reason.
So there it is. Thats the only reason my question came up on the Brooklynian and the answers to the speculation as to who I was and why I posted. Thanks for your input all.
“All NY’s projects should be imploded in the middle of the night, with no notice.
Posted by: Billiamsburg at March 26, 2009 9:58 PM”
Ahhhhh thank you so much knuckle-walker. One thing Assheads-how long?????? I think we have 7 months left before the financial system implodes. I wonder if the Retards are going to hold on…
The What (Life is beautiful)
Someday this war is gonna end…
All NY’s projects should be imploded in the middle of the night, with no notice.
Gemini10
I have found the recent recruitment drives to be successful in attracting people that reflect the diversity of the city. Most of the newer kids from the suburbs and city alike are just inexperienced and they are truly kids – average age about 22. If they could attract slightly older officers like maybe 25-30, it would make a difference but the starting pay is so low. The new cops get a starting pay of about 35K up from 25K last year. Who can live on that except a snotty nosed kid who lives with his or her parents? But they can catch a bullet just like a tenured officer. The rookies just like in any job, do make mistakes. We just hope that their mistakes are not deadly.
Many officers both tenured and rookie complain that their biggest headache is dealing with the brass (bosses.) The NYPD is a paramilitary bureaucracy and everyone is expected to fall into line but at the same time you must also work independently and make life or death decisions in a split second. The two are kind of counter-intuitive.
The community policing of the past is gone. The culture both within the NYPD and the city just doesn’t support it. I remember as a kid the cops riding me and my friends around all day after we spray painted a wall. He later dropped us home with a kick in the butt. If they did that today, whether in Park Slope or Albany projects, the parents would be on the news and looking to sue the Department.
Policing is fast becoming a different ball game with all that technology and science is offering as tools. It requires a more formally educated officer. Sometimes with the formally educated there is a lack of street smarts and common sense. Some people can pick it up as they go along but others are just hopeless. The hopeless usually quick before too long or they get jammed-up ( in some sort of trouble that will eventually get them fired.)
I will be the first to say that there is room for improvement and that one bad shooting is one bad shooting too many. What are the alternatives? Don’t police at all? How about taking jobs within Police Department, moving up through the ranks and affecting change?
bkn4life, I will once again say that we have one of the best if not the best Police force in the country. Besides occassional extremely tragic incidents and some plain old stupid incidents by cops every year, for the most part the NYPD has one of the lowest “shoot” rates in the country. Also despite the sometimes harassment of young men of color, Departments in similar cities receive far more complaints than the NYPD. Can things be improved? Surely.
Yes there is alot of paperwork when making a collar. It all has to be done correctly or it will all be kicked back. It can be confusing especially if you are new or don’t make arrests often. I know it makes you feel better to call the cops dumb but your statement “the problem is, i have dealt with police officers on many occasions. only once or twice did i get in the car.” explains your obvious disrepect for the men and women who take one of the hardest jobs in this city. Although well compensated, the job can be aggravating as hell especially when dealing with assholes. I’d be grateful if I were you that despite dealing with the police on many occasions that you were only put in the car twice.
wow – i killed this thread. thanks for playing everyone!!
I’d much rather work for the MTA – I would still get paid to do nothing and I wouldn’t be put in tough situations like tazering unarmed men on fire escapes.
“OMFG, CHOSEN! NOW I WANNA JOIN THE NYPD!!! LOOK OUT NEW YORK!”
Hey Rob, I don’t think they’re going to pay you to “bean-bag,” drink 40s and post on Brownstoner.
chosen:
the problem is, i have dealt with police officers on many occasions. only once or twice did i get in the car.
in all of those times they were good at keeping things calm(clubs, fights, disturbances) but they clearly were out of their league if they had to think about the problem. the more i encountered this the more i realized that there was asserious regression to the mean. an artifact of the testing procedure i think.
and as such, i accept that they have enough issues filling out the forms and dealing with quotas to be bothered with actual analysis. keep that retirement, they are pretty much damaged goods by then.