Friday Links

I am the poster who originally brought up the Police’s community council meeting. I am so annoyed that they have cancelled this meeting now. I know this block’s long time residents have been burnt out fighting the deplorable situation on this block and in the precinct. We owe it to them and to ourselves to turn out IN FORCE to the next meeting. Bring signs, chant, do whatever it takes to get the attention of the police. And to call the media to attend this meeting. And Tish as well. Normally a rep from her office attends if she cannot. And I would like to invite everybody in brownstone Brooklyn to support this neighborhood as it struggles through this to participate. I know we all like to complain on here about other areas, but really folks we are dealing with one big city and one massive police force. They could have devoted more resources to this block. They knew about the problems on the block for ages. Even if this man who was shot wasn’t a saint, he didn’t deserve to be executed like he was. This was not a case of vigilante justice. This is a case of lawlessness. The cops should be held accountable. We got out hundreds of people to complain at a community council meeting about what appeared to be a rash of muggings nearby years ago. We can do it again. They need to step up.

Clifton Place between Grand and St. James has been fighting the same problem for over 30 years already. The difference is that Park Slope wasn’t dealing with the 88th Precinct, and probably less frequently with owner-occupied problem buildings. Watch: when the precinct finally condescends to schedule another community meeting (after having canceled Tuesday’s), everyone will be told ONE MORE TIME, “we can’t do it without you, you gotta be our eyes and ears, here’s the number for your community liason officer.” And when someone reports in, the information and identity of the informant will be on the street immediately. What’s the point? The improvement we’ve seen so far is thanks to our own efforts and the rise in RE values, not to the 88th.

After 30 years of letter writing campaigns, pressuring politicians, organizing meetings, and seeing more recent homeowners doing their best to pretend the problem doesn’t exist (and the larger local community groups focusing on garden and house tours, avoiding the subject like the plague because they’re afraid it might damage their property values), we’re ready to hand off the baton to the new generation. Forget the 88th. Let’s see the new money in Clinton Hill step up to the plate, purchase the problem buildings, populate them with law abiding citizens, and get rid of the infestation once and for all. Forget about the most recent celebrity sighting, quit looking at us “old timers” as just crotchety seniors who will eventually sell their homes to your friends, and do something for your community. It was our efforts that helped improve the neighborhood to the point where you got interested in the housing stock. Now you can finish the job we started.

the point is that parts of clinton hill are still rough.

rough enough that paying 2 and 3 million dollars to live there is absurd.

people are starting to realize that now. a little too late, but better late than never.

a huge lesson that is being learned from this housing bubble is to make sure you are paying for what a neighborhood is like NOW. not what you think it might be. park slope is expensive. rightfully so. it has turned the tide after many many years of working to create a safe, beautiful community and now other neighborhoods are following suit. Some neighborhoods like Clinton Hill have bigger obstacles to work through. More projects within close proximity to gorgeous tree-lines brownstones, more removed from public transportation and not enough of a tipping point yet to do much of anything towards improvement of the schools.

This things will happen, but when people come in investing such incredible amounts of money, they expect they should have the same level of comfort as they do in a neighborhood like park slope.

park slope was a big project to get it to where it is for many people. those in these new neighborhoods don’t seem to have taken that same kindof initiative, but lots have this sense of entitlement that because they spent a lot of money, that it should just BE.

that isn’t the way it works. these were neighborhoods…all of them…that had been neglected for many many years and were places that nearly none of us would have lived in 30 years ago.

they don’t change without some serious work.

Good luck you guys! Community participation and interaction with the police really does help. Have you a neighborhood association for Clifton Place? If so, assign a resident to be the main liaison to the precinct. So even if meetings get cancelled, at least you have lines of communication open.

POLICE MEETING CANCELLED? Just called the 88th precinct and they are saying the community council meeting might be cancelled for this Tuesday 9/18. You can call the community affairs officer on Monday to find out. 718.636.6511.