Update on the Lefferts Hotel?
We spent a lot of time talking about the problem-ridden Lefferts Hotel last summer and we haven’t heard much talk in the neighborhood since. According to one commenter In last week’s discussion of the near-by Broken Angel, things have not improved: The stipulation agreement entered into by the City and the Prince Hotel Group is…
We spent a lot of time talking about the problem-ridden Lefferts Hotel last summer and we haven’t heard much talk in the neighborhood since. According to one commenter In last week’s discussion of the near-by Broken Angel, things have not improved:
The stipulation agreement entered into by the City and the Prince Hotel Group is killing the Lefferts Hotel; he can’t make any money as a legitimate business concern. The place is dead and appears on the brink of shutting down. At the same time, property values are soaring all around the hotel and this section of Clinton Hill. If there was every a good time to get Mr. Fried to sell this beautiful building it is now.
What can other residents of Lefferts Place tell us about recent problems with the hotel? Why wouldn’t the owner, Moses Fried, be dying to sell? He could make a lot of dough and free himself of numerous headaches.
More Details on the Broken Angel Project [Brownstoner] GMAP
More on Hotel Deal, Shooting on Downing [Brownstoner]
Lefferts Hotel Cuts Deal with Tish James [Brownstoner]
Ralph, why even waste your breath. These creeps sound like a bunch of rednecks from Alabama.
“I have to disagree with the idea that the problem just moves. Think of NYC in 1993 and all the neighborhoods that were bad. Thats a lot of crime to move. Where are they going.”
Gee, I don’t know. I’d better check behind the couch cushions. I can’t imagine where else all of that crime might have gotten to. I mean, the world surely doesn’t extend very far beyond my couch cushions.
“Are you going to tell me that East New York has gotten that much worse?”
It ain’t exactly the UES, you know.
“It really dosent work that way and even if it did I would prefer not to have crack whores on my block even if they are only 3 blocks away. Luckily for them there is another HO-tel just down Classon.”
LOL…yes, I think we’ve finally discovered what this is really about. You don’t give a damn about social justice so long as you don’t have to SEE the ugliness that’s out there. But you know what, we’re going to make progress anyway, even if it’s despite you. Sorry to disappoint you.
“That leaves ordinary people like you and me to defend our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sure, but this has nothing to do with the topic of the thread.
“The most successful form of social activism occurs on the local level. Sometimes when you start so big you dilute the strength of your efforts and lose focus of the primary objective. It’s far better to start small, set small goals and then build on small successes.”
I couldn’t agree more, but notice: Even if you’re operating at the local level, you really do have to START. And you really have to make sure that what you’re calling activism really is that. Rosa Parks, you will recall, refused to give up her seat. In doing so, she actually addressed an unjust requirement. She didn’t simply pass that unjust requirement along to the black woman sitting to her left, insisting that SHE surrender HER seat. She actually did something. She addressed a problem. She didn’t simply move a problem to a new location. She didn’t simply redescribe a problem in the belief that semantics had some magical ability to alter the facts of injustice.
Bottom line: I’m all for progressive social action on whatever level it occurs. If it’s local, that’s great. But my calling it “local” isn’t accompanied by a wink and a nod. If you’re going to address the problem locally, fine. Just don’t forget to address the problem, and don’t think for a second that the Lefferts Hotel is even relevant.
“Ralph, perhaps you can help? You seem in favor of attacking the problem from the top down rather than from the ground up”
I’m in favor of attacking the problem from whatever angle works. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s top down, bottom up, side to side or diagonal. If it works, go for it! I do ask that it work, though.
“There has to be a first step and in more cases than not the first step is to remove the problem.”
Sounds great, only you’re not talking about removing anything. You’re talking about moving the problem, not REmoving the problem. Get the distinction?
BTW remember that the name of the poster is at the bottom, not the top of the post. (I think I got put in the “don’t do anything because all it sdoes is move to another block ” crowd when in fact I am in the “I am not sure how I feel about the drug war in general but specifically I think it is right to discourage drug dealing in front of my front door” crowd).
Okay, 5:47PM. Please school the rest of us who you think are merely selfish in attempting to eradicate crime from our community and in the process improve our quality of life. You seem to do a lot of condemning but I’ve yet to hear of your solution to this very real and serious problem. You appear to have the perfect plan. Am I correct? If so, let’s hear it.
But let’s make this interesting and hear of your plan given these facts:
“You are a resident of Lefferts Place. You grew up in this community and you love the neighborhood (moving is not an option). You own a home that you bought years ago and have spent your entire life savings restoring and making it into a place that you are truly proud of. You are married. You have three kids under the age of 7 and plan to make Clinton Hill and Lefferts Place your home for the next twenty years. Your wife is a homemaker and you drive a bus for a living. The rent roll from the two apartments in your brownstone helps with the mortgage but still you feel like you’re living paycheck to paycheck. On the corner is the Lefferts Hotel, a notorious drug and prostitution flophouse. You and your family must walk by this corner to and from work and school, often stepping over the addicts blacked out on the sidewalk. At times you personally witness open-market drug dealings, sometimes you’re even approached. On other occasions, after a long hard day at work, you have been solicited by prostitutes on your way home to your family. There’s also have been a few instances when gathered with family in the living room that everyone had to dive for cover as the startling sound of gunfire could be heard just feet away from your windows. You, your family and your neighbors live in constant fear of having your life taken or the life of a loved one.”
Now please tell me 5:47PM since you are obviously so unselfish and a sage beyond measure what you would do in the above circumstance under these facts. I’m waiting…..
I agree that we must do more than simply move the problem somewhere else. The first and most critical step in addressing the issue of crime is for local residents to take a staunch and firm stance against the criminal element and let the “bad guys” know that as a community we will not tolerate illegal and illicit activities among us. Crime can only fester and grow where there is a complacent environment conducive to its existence.
The second step is to get local authorities to enforce the law. When residents bring illegal activities to the attention of the authorities, they must make every effort to make arrests, stamp out the criminal footprint and prevent its reoccurrence. The community must hold local elected officials and police strictly accountable. There can be no compromise here.
The third step is to assist grassroots organizations and/or community service groups in attacking the problem on the back end by: (a) providing drug intervention, counseling and prevention programs; (b) creating prostitution prevention initiatives such as the “Brooklyn STAR Project†and “Project Respectâ€; and (c) developing school and youth programs for at-risk and troubled teens.
The solution to the problem of crime is not simply limited to the aforementioned three. Certainly, on a societal level we must address issues of poverty, racism, discrimination, and inequality in employment and educational opportunities, etc. However, one can’t simply wait for these macro issues to be resolved before taking the more real and immediate action of personal involvement on the local community level and dealing with specific micro issues as it relates to impacted community.
Moreover, just because the problem of crime is vast and complex doesn’t mean that we should shrink from the task at hand and simply do nothing. The war on crime can only be won one battle at a time, over many years and after many setbacks and failures. Yes, it surely will be difficult but the quest for a solution must have a beginning before it can have an end. The community of Lefferts Place should be commended for taking that first brave initial step.
Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes is doing a lot to address the problem of crime in communities like Clinton Hill, not just in terms of law enforcement and punishment but also in developing community outreach programs to attack the problem at its source. See the link below.
http://www.brooklynda.org/toc/toc.htm