Police Up The Ante At The Lefferts Hotel

as a fellow brooklynite following this debate from the sidelines, i have to say, i am relieved that there are still some people out there who are a bit sad/dismayed to see the outright suburbanization of the city come about at such an astonishingly rapid pace.

its not that i particularly care for or love hookers and junkies, its just that i abhor the banality of safe “child-friendly” suburban life. i read wallpaper*, appreciate a steaming demitasse of espresso and occasionally shop at moss like the next man, believe me, but all of you 30 and 40-something yuppies with your tacky bourgeois morality horrify me far more than the any clinton hill prostitute or pusher ever could. at least they’re authentic inhabitants of the neighborhood. all of you belong in in the exurbs. maybe the next big toll brothers pre-fab mcmansion offering will be a late 19th century italianate brooklyn brownstone. that will look really cool right next to the pre-fab industrial lofts people like you should be occupying instead of your newly renovated homes in clinton hill.

face it, you think you’re hip and urbane, but you’re just not ready to actually live in new york. so why not get that “new york style” living in the comfort and sanctuary of a suburban gated community? you really would be happier there.

FYI, the community group that is behind the closing of the Lefferts Hotel is 100% black! This has nothing to do with gentrification but everything to do with persistent community activism! The effort should be applauded and not overly scrutinzed into an academic exercise. People lives are at stake! Yes, social programs should be developed to address the problem of drugs and prostitution in the area but that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate a flop house in your community either!

There seem to be two debates going on. One is whether or not drug dealing and prostitution are scourges or whether they provide a quaint backdrop against which some people can play out their “Rent”-esque fantasies of living in New York. As someone who has been a public defender for 13 years I have not met any street prostitute or street level dealer whose life has been made better by the “opportunities” given them by conducting illegal activities on the street. It simply is not okay for someone to be selling drugs in front of my house or being picked up by an john at the corner. I don’t think that is a particularly “yuppie” value. This may be differentiated from people doing whatever they want in their own home.

The more interesting question is whether or not the “crack down” will work. By closing off Grand the cops are trying to disrupt a pattern of sales. But without continued search warrants and evictions from the “safe” apartments, this will have only a temporary effect. Anyway the drug sales have moved over to Irving Place.

The point has also been made that NO ONE in any other community wants to take these people. The Clinton Hill people are solving their problem, but creating a problem someone else.