Drug Dealing Hotspot in Crown Heights?
This was recently posted Brooklynian.com: Is it me, or is the drug dealing on St. John’s and Franklin out of hand? Perhaps it is me, because I am around during the day and I see it. But as clear as day I see hand offs, and guys going to their stash in nearby garbages. I…
This was recently posted Brooklynian.com:
Is it me, or is the drug dealing on St. John’s and Franklin out of hand? Perhaps it is me, because I am around during the day and I see it. But as clear as day I see hand offs, and guys going to their stash in nearby garbages. I guess I am just surprised by how obvious it all is. Are the cops on the take or just don’t care?
A number of follow-up comments suggest this is indeed a hot-spot. Anyone have anything to add about the history and current status of this location? This is the 77th Precinct’s turf: What have people’s experiences been with them? Maybe these new streetlights will ameliorate the problem.
Some people don’t seem to mind drug dealers as long as they leave them alone, however, when two drug dealers decide to shoot it out for some stupid reason and a lone bullet finds its way to a child and kills them. Your not as safe as u think.
Just to chime in here. I live a block away from that intersection. There is drug dealing on the corner, no doubt. And that isn’t good. But I can’t say I’ve ever been hasseled while walking by or felt threatened.
However, the photo illustrating this post is misleading. It’s got the creepy fisheye look b/c it’s from Google streetview. That Chinese restaurant is usually open, and is a pretty welcoming spot without even the requisite plexiglas window. Only 10 yards away, you’ve got a karate studio that’s filled with kids every afternoon. And a 24-hour recently renovated “organic” (sort of) market. And around the corner, there’s Franklin Park.
There’s more to this neighborhood than drugs and crime.
You want this drug dealing in brooklyn to stop? Tell Charlie Hynes to start prosecuting these people instead of pleading the cases to nothing. Brooklyn next to the Bronx has the worst proseuction rate in the 5 boro’s (check the internet its true). Im a ret. NYPD Detective, your state legislature wants to get rid of the Rockefeller Drug Laws that put these guys away for a long time. As far as the cops being on the take, that is total BS. Start electing some crime fighters in Brooklyn & Albany instead of bleeding heart lberals and you might see drug dealers actually go to jail. Typical drug dealer is out in 3 days and dealing again on the street. Its a joke…
I started to write what probably would turn into a lengthy diatribe, and decided, “neh.”
Suffice it to say that in a renaissance of any neighborhood, there are alway pockets, blocks or corners that resist the betterment of the rest of the neighborhood. Franklin Ave is undergoing the kind of developement that Washington, Vanderbilt, and earlier, Smith and 5th Ave have gone through. It takes time, it takes community activism along with police presense. But it will happen. This corner, which has been a problem for thirty years, will not be a problem forever. Crown Heights is a huge community, and this corner is hardly indicative of Crown Heights.
It’s people who make jokes about where they can pick up their product, as well as those who come over there to do so, who contribute to the continuation of the activity there. Tonier neighborhoods get discreet deliveries. There should be no moral superiority here, both activities are illegal.
Lots of good points here, though, from many sources. Would have had fun wading in while the temperature was hot. Next time.
PS. If you scroll down that link you’ll find connections to several great photos of both the original building and its latest incarnation.
The Savoy, together with the Kameo on the Parkway at Nostrand Avenue, and another theater on Grant Square, have been turned into churches, reflecting movie chains’ abandonment of “inner city” neighborhoods and the parallel growth of black churches.
And — horribly! — one of the photos shows Eastern Parkway buildings replaced by — of all things! — a gas station!
The City’s contempt for Central Brooklyn post-1960s knew no limits.
Thankfully, Montrose Morris, BxGrl, and other posters on Brownstoner are recapturing the neighborhood for a racially- and economically-mixed future.
NOP
OnEasternParkway:
Your note prompted me to see if I could Google the Savoy — and sure enough I could. Below is what I found.
Turns out it was at Bedford and Lincoln, below Franklin, so my memory’s gotten hazy!
It’s a church now and largely intact! Note the historian locates it in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Poor Crown Heights. Bedford Stuyvesant to many. Prospect Heights to others. When will my old neighborhood receive its due?
Anyway, enjoy! (I sure did. Who knew the old haunt was so important in film-house history?)
“The Savoy Theatre was the largest theatre that William Fox ever built in Brooklyn prior to the downtown Fox Theatre. Opening publicity claimed 3,500 seats, but that has been debated ever since. Some industry year books say 2,750, but I would guess more like 3,000. The Savoy Theatre has a very large balcony with minimal space between the rows.
The Savoy Theatre was built at the same time as Fox’s Academy of Music in Manhattan, with Thomas W. Lamb as architect of both. The Savoy’s auditorium is in the Adam style, with boxed seats adjoining the stage and a shallow dome in the center of the ceiling. It first opened on September 1, 1926, with Fox’s “Fig Leaves” on screen, plus six acts of vaudeville. With program changes twice a week, the Savoy was considered the Fox circuit’s top Brooklyn showcase until the 1928 opening of the downtown Fox. After that, it became just another neighborhood movie house, but playing first-run for the area.
After William Fox’s bankruptcy, the Savoy Theatre landed under the Randforce Circuit, which, to signify the theatre’s importance, moved its executive HQ to office space in the building. The Savoy Theatre carried on into the 1960’s, despite all the social turbulence in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area.
Fortunately, it escaped demolition and is now the Charity Neighborhood Baptist Church. Except for removal of the marquee and alterations to the entrance, the Savoy’s interior is virtually intact, though re-painted in whitewash in most areas. Some of the original stage curtains are still hanging, and I’ve been told that old scenic backdrops are still stored in the lofts.”
From http://cinematreasures.org/theater/6069/
Contributed by Warren G. Harris
NOP–
Do you remember on which intersection of Classon there was a theater? There was a building just north of Lincoln that was recently knocked down that might have been one, otherwise must be long gone….
Anyone who thinks that there is no crack being sold in Park Slope is fooling themselves. And yes, it’s being sold near schools. Not just crack but coke, heroin, and acid. No, I don’t use any drugs but I’m not blind. I’ve lived or worked in PS since 1997 and lived in Brooklyn since 1983. Just because you don’t notice the drug dealers doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
FSRQ: So you are insulting me? I don’t think your analysis of me is reflective either of my work, or of what I have shared here. Sure it bothers me when I actually try to engage on a substantive basis in threads like this and all I get back are inconsistent ad hominem attacks, but that is my own fault. I should lower my expectations. For that you have been very helpful.
Enjoy your pension detective.