New Retail Tenant at The Smith

It is truly amusing to read the reviews on this ‘bail bondsman’ topic on 75 Smith Street here in Boerum Brooklyn. It seems that all the fears people may have are based on biasness, conjecture and or lack of knowledge of the facts. Here is some food for thought.

As we are all aware the city and our country is struggling through horrific economic times. My family and I, include four school age children, live near State Street. We are glad the new building went up on the corner of Smith and State Street. We moved here, live here and work here knowing full well that an active jail facility, which is forever re expanding, an extremely active Brooklyn Criminal Court and Brooklyn Central Booking is directly down around the corner. No one person living here should be complaining knowing the exact same facts taken into consideration prior to domiciling here.

All the residents here know full well that the corner has been dark and depressing for several years. We also know that because the way the building was financed behind the new bail office is an empty space slatted for a community center which can very possibly be a Legal Aide office, drug clinic, AIDS clinic or anything else that is required for public use.

The downtown Brooklyn area has finally started to take a turn for the better. This is because of several key reasons which include the facts that instead of fly by night businesses/operations, constant changes of cluttered/dirty storefronts esthetics and quick money making schemes by landlords and transient tenants, finally quality tenants with credentials and impressive credit history are being considered for all types of lawful business opportunities. What is encouraging is that leases at fair market rates are finally starting to attract daring entrepreneurs willing to invest time, fortunes, reputation and willing to risk it all for new ventures amidst the economic turmoil.

As an attorney in the private sector and former prosecutor I bore witness to the worst of the worst in human nature. I know that if crimes are horrific and the defendant is dangerous no bail is set by a judge. I’ve seen what a bail bondsman does for a living and how they contribute to society and to the taxpayer of this State. Simply, a defendant when bailed by a bondsman is released in the sole custody of that bondsman called the surety. In addition to court requirements, the bondsman has strict set of rules which governs the release, conduct and conditions of a defendant while out on bail. At the bondsman’s sole discretion, based on any violation of his terms and conditions, he can seek, apprehend, arrest and jail a defendant out on bail bond. As a former prosecutor I’ve seen this happen often as it is the bondsman who is financially responsible to make certain a defendant is 100% compliant and makes his appearances. The people ‘defendants’ out on bail know this and are extremely cooperative and careful whenever they are near the bondsman and his location. People ‘defendants’ bailed out jail with utilizing cash alone not utilizing a bondsman have no fear of reprisals. It is these that we should worry about for our neighborhood and not the ones going to the bondmsans office.

We are glad to see some stability finally populate the corner of Smith and State Streets here in beautiful downtown Brooklyn. We are not worried about the bonds office being here. We met the bondsman and his family last week and find them to be pleasant and polite. We have been assured that they will spend no less than 200k to build a state of the art professional and clean location at a tremendous financial risk. We wish them nothing but the best of luck and welcome them to our community.

Thomas Moore, Esq.

brenda- great story! I bet they loved it.

I seem to recall that, for years, there was a bail bond office on Atlantic Ave. right opposite the HOD, with the delightfully evocative name “Bad Apple” (and, if memory serves, some sort of cartoon nasty apple fellow on the sign). It gave a delightfully “Motherless Brooklyn” air to the strip. Of course, my other enchanted memory of the area was the time we stopped for the red light at the corner of Atlantic and Adams, just as Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” came onto the radio. We rolled down the windows and blasted it for the inmates! Personally, I think any hipster worth his fedora should love to brag that his moderne hotel has a bail bondsman in the lobby…

rob, if you bothered to read the article you would see that there are multiple other options to this “service,” many of which do not require 10% of a possibly collusively set bail amount to be forfeited for the privilege of not remaining in custody while the state figures out how to prosecute someone who has not been proven guilty.

I do know- bails bondsmen, and the jail itself were not a problem. I lived a block and a half away for years- so yes. I do know.