Enough With the Marauding Teenagers!
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our…
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our head mocking us provocatively to the clear delight of his jeering friends. Ever risk-averse, we quickly walked out into the middle of the street and starting dialing on our cell phone. With a few shouts, the pack continued down the block. We jogged back to a police car we had noticed parked back on Vanderbilt, told the cops what had happened and went home. The next day we heard that a woman had been mugged half an hour later a few blocks from there by a bunch of teenagers. We’ve heard of several similar instances in the area in recent weeks. And it’s not just Clinton Hill. A post on Brooklynian describes how a trio of teenage girls (19, 17 and 12) mugged five different people in Prospect Heights on Saturday night (and how only one of them decided to press charges) and an email we received yesterday told of a violent mugging of a twenty-something male by a group of boys at around 8:15 Monday night at Dekalb and South Oxford Street in Fort Greene (above). What can the community do to combat this activity? Obviously greater police presence would help, but given the paltry resources the NYPD devotes to this part of town, it’s going to take a lot of vigilance on the part of residents in terms of reporting even small incidents of harassment and pressing charges. And everyone should be aware that a lot of these muggings are happening during daylight hours, often between the end of school and dinner time, so it’s a good idea to minimize iPod and cell phone usage during those times. Please use this comment thread to document other similar incidents that you know about in recent months as well as to suggest ways to address the problem.
what the hell r u talking about 11:53?this goes on everywhere in BK.Dont u read?
Arrest the t’What and end the crime wave.
But first you have to get him out of his diaper and take the armor off.
Enjoy the Tang, t’What
Short of a dog or a limo to pick you up at your door, nothing much helps. it is a cycle.
As for after school programs, the only one that will help is called prison. If one is this sociopathic as a youngster (the years when idealism usually reigns) imagine what will happen as one gets older and more hardened. If you are bad at this age, you are more or less lost. Sad but true.
And since there isn’t a significant safety issue now, maybe we should just all calm down a bit.
“You can’t bring your dog with you everywhere.”
Then don’t go to those places! Hey, I’m trying to help YOU out. I don’t need the dog (although I do own one). Nobody messes with me.
“If there is one thing most poor black kids are afraid of it is dogs.”
What an idiotic statement. First of all, you don’t have to be “poor” to rob someone. Secondly, many black kids obviously own dogs. Hopefully you were being sarcastic. I didn’t recommend getting a dog as a cure-all, just a strategy. Nothing is 100%.
“12.28 – that would be the spanish speakers who have those dogs.”
Another ignorant comment. I recommended these breeds because 1) they are relatively easy to train 2) they don’t need as much attention as some other working breeds 3) despite what anyone tells you, including “The What,” a well-bred Shepherd or Rotweiler can more than handle any pit bull. 4) These breeds form close attachments with their owners and make great companions and watchdogs besides protectors.
“12.28 – those are mean dogs, but they are as ghetto as flashy sneakers and ostentatious jewellery, no brownstone owner would be seen dead with them. Plus, the attacking kids don’t have dogs.”
PIT BULLS are the choice breed of the “ghetto” mainly because they LOOK tough and they’re easy to train for basement dog-fighting. As I said earlier, I’m just trying to help YOU out. If you don’t want one of these dogs in your brownstone, don’t get one, and get punked like Mr. Brownstoner. Finally, the point is not to fight your dog against another dog, moron. It’s to have the dog at hand to protect you from “marauding teens.” Shepheds and Rotweiliers won’t necessarily START a fight, but if a WELL BRED one sees someone attack its master, there’s going to be trouble.
“Safe and happy in Bay Ridge.”
Bay Ridge is full of racist, white high-school drop-outs and wannabe mobsters. Not safe for non-whites.
residents pool money to get a private security patrol service. that’s what we did in the 80s when there actually was a significant safety issue.
I grew up in a gentrified neighborhood and it was actually much more dangerous than the ungentrified bad neighborhoods surrounding it. As a kid, our house was burglarized about once a year and pretty much every adult I knew had been mugged.
That experience is one reason I used to be pro-Williamsburg over brownstone Brooklyn, back when Williamsburg was blue-collar too. Now, of course, this is happening there too.
I’m still not understanding why the police can’t crack down on this. In Williamsburg they have.
I realize the geography of Fort Greene — long blocks, houses offset from the street, very few people on the street during the day in the residential sections — works against it, but it would be great if the community could work on uniting itself against this sort of thing. Unfortunately, one side effect of gentrification is you lose a lot of the people who had the time and inclination to sit outside and be a part of the community.
It’s also ironic that so many readers of this site consider those same people to be the bad element.
12:28: I bought 21 years ago and already look like a genius. But I never thought of myself as “pioneering,” and didn’t treat my neighbors with that kind of attitude. They’re just my neighbors, and we all belong to the block association, help each other with home renovation projects, exchange keys to take care of each other’s houses when someone’s on vacation or needs a petsitter, and look out for each other. And no, I would never walk around with an iPod or any other goodie that would attract idiot kids or make me less aware of my surroundings. Not in Clinton Hill, and not in Manhattan. Reward: cheap brownstone, no mortgage, good public transportation, and good neighbors.
I agree that many people make themselves targets. So many times I’ve seen women strolling down the street, yakking on their cell phones as their purses dangle from the other hand. I’ve seen people wearing iPods at night, carrying expensive lap tops. Many drunk people stumble home down deserted streets late at night. Keep your awareness and follow the simple preventive rules offered on this thread and you’ll reduce your chances of being a victim.