Notorious Crackhouse at 474 Greene Avenue Up In Flames
Sad and disturbing news this morning from Bedford Stuyvesant. The beautiful brownstone at 474 Greene Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand was gutted by a fire in the early morning hours today, the result of a raucous all-night party gone terribly wrong. According to an email we received from a block resident, who fell asleep finally…
Sad and disturbing news this morning from Bedford Stuyvesant. The beautiful brownstone at 474 Greene Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand was gutted by a fire in the early morning hours today, the result of a raucous all-night party gone terribly wrong. According to an email we received from a block resident, who fell asleep finally at 4:30 a.m. only to be awakened by the sound of shattering glass at 6:15 am., the building “is a well known crack house that has been in operation for at least 3 years.” A group of neighbors has been trying to work with community leaders, the NYPD and DA Charles Hynes for much of that time to no avail. There have been daily calls to the NYPD but concerned residents “have been told repeatedly that it is near impossible to shut down.” The photo, at right, from Property Shark, shows the house pre-fire with windows and doors covered in sheets to keep out unwanted eyes. “Clearly we are all in immediate danger when people are living without electricity, using candles and making crack and NO ONE in the NYC system can close down the house,” writes the tipster. “That fire was big and we were all in danger this morning.” We’ve seen the same thing on the corner of Grand and Putnam where law enforcement officials know what’s going on but are hamstrung by laws that make it close to impossible to arrest and successfully convict members of the drug trade. GMAP P*Shark
Update: Here are a couple of photos from a few minutes ago. Send more photos or comments to brownstoner@brownstoner.com.
Estate ready, hip area, lots of edgy cafes and boutiques nearby.
995,000
no more crack house
There’s a few different factors at work here. One is that the police blotter shows numerous arrests at that location. Once an arrest is made and the courts get it, it’s out of the cops hands. As GreneAveGuy points out, arrests have been made.
Another big part of the reason why it wouldn’t happen in Park Slope is that there is no “stop snitching”,”If you see a cop, Warna Brother”, “snitches get stitches” etc. For better or worse, some people seem on the fence about who they hate more, drug dealers or cops, so things like this go on.
The people in the neighborhood who want to see things like this stop in many cases are outnumbered by haters, apathetic individuals, or people who are afraid, so the status quo keeps on keeping on.
There’s a lot of truth to that tout de suite comparison. It’s been more than a bit ironic living on this block and watching all the unfortunate fireworks over the years while police cars race to the 79th (for this reason, the block association was told, we could not have traffic calming measures on Greene Avenue) one block away.
There’s a lot of truth to that tout de suite comparison. It’s been more than a bit ironic living on this block and watching all the unfortunaate fireworks over the years while police cars race to the 79th (for this reason, the block association was told, we could not have traffic calming measures on Greene Avenue) one block away.
“near impossible to shut down” my ass. I guarantee you that if it was going on in Sutton Place or even the tonier blocks of Park Slope (i.e. rich-white-people neighborhoods) there’d be something done about it tout de suite. It’s just another example of the cops’ “couldn’t give a damn” attitude as exemplified by the seemingly endless anecdotes from crime victims in minority neighborhoods being told by the police, “what do you expect, living around here?”
Dammit, where am i supposed to buy my crack now, this is a horrible loss to the neighborhood.
Greene Av is such a nice block. It’s about time this property will get an owner who care about the hood. The corner of Greene & Bedford is finally nicer with new retail. Change is on the way…….YES WE CAN!
Three alarm fire makes way for glorious new condo development.