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]
Tish has done a stand up job. The folks at Prospect Heights deeply appreciates her efforts.
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. Are you going to tell me that East New York has gotten that much worse? that every junkie and prostitute just gets pushed further out? 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. Also theres a methadone clinic on Waverly and there used to be a good place on Putnam to buy crack or get stabbed. The combination of these spots make the corner of Classon and Fulton a great place to be a degenerate. Once this place is closed for good we can focus on the Plesant Stay and the Clinic and eventually it wont be as desirable for those types.
Can I put my step mother-in-law up there?
Putnam-Denizen, for those of us who live on Lefferts it is truly night and day. The block is quiet and calm and has been this way for the past seven months. The “bad guys” are deathly afraid of the hotel because it’s a “hot spot†under heavy police surveillance and essentially a one-way ticket to jail. IMHO, getting rid of the old Lefferts Hotel was a very good thing in that it was a drug and prostitution emporium, a public and open market of sin, indecency and immorality, who’s very existence slapped law enforcement, elected officials, community leaders and the entire neighborhood in the face. For years it stood defiantly as a haven for criminals, dealers and addicts. Everyday that it was allowed to exist in our midst and run afoul of our laws offended our moral dignity and was a constant reminder to every decent person in this community that the problem was not them but indeed us: despite our indignation and moral outrage we were yet too afraid, feeble, weak and/or selfish to take a stand for righteousness and civility.
But in 2006, that all changed. In the end, the community took action because we couldn’t live under the weight of our own shame, sense of self-abandonment and indirect complicity. We knew that if we were to live true to own values and ideals, and in the process save our homes, families and neighborhood, that the hotel, prostitutes, dealers and addicts had to go. A community which once lived in constant fear of reprisal and retribution rose to become one of strength and togetherness united in the common purpose of improving our quality of life and bringing the reign of the Lefferts Hotel to an immediate and bitter end. Over the years, the hotel ruined many people lives, young and old, and destroyed families from the inside out: our sons became dealers and pimps; our daughters became whores and addicts; and our husbands bought diseases home to their wives. Ask me and I will tell you that I could not be happier than to witness the hotel’s demise. Hopefully and God willing I will live long enough to witness it’s reincarnation into something beautiful and beneficial to the community.
Hey troll. We are attempting to have a very serious discussion here about our community. Please go back to the PLG thread. You’re being brutally attacked by the masses and perhaps should go and defend your honor.
Get! Get! That’a boy!
You know, I don’t really know what you naysayers want from the rest of us. Unless I read some other suggestion here, all we can do is address the issue one block at a time. Closing down drug-related businesses is a good first step [absent a complete rethinking of the “war on drugs” and why we criminalize certain drugs but not others]. Of course prostitution and drugs have disappeared, but they have been reduced in that immediate area. A small victory. Maybe not a permanent one. But hey, the only permanence is the grave, right? So maybe the Lefferts Place civic poster was a bit over-enthusiastic – I am still waiting for alternative suggestions from others. (Besides Trish-bashing – who our council member is is pretty irrelevant, altho at least Trish talks the talk – the Bed-stuy councilmember, Van whatever his name is, my council member, doesn’t even seem to notice this side of his district). To me the only real improvement will come with the filling in the vacant lots and rehabbing the vacant houses in the area. More people with legitimate jobs and a stake in the neighborhood makes life uncomfortable for street drug dealers and prostitutes.
“I what is even better it simply didn’t move down the block either. It’s gone! You can’t find it anywhere!”
LOL…that’s right, all those drug dealers, drug users, prositutes and johns…why, they’re now wheeling and dealing on Wall Street, performing brain surgery and making the world a better place!
I’m impressed with your ability to type and post to blogs, 3:20PM, since you were apparently born just YESTERDAY.
Oppsss…sorry for the typos! 🙂
The hotel is bleeding money left and right because the City, politicians, local authorities and residents are nothing but steadfast in their commitment to shutting it down and ending its illegal practices – precisely drugs and prostitution. As an illegal operation, the hotel was making money hands over fist, but it can’t make a dime as a legitimate business and is thus suffering greatly. Unbeknownst to the owners, the neighborhood has vastly changed and a local flophouse of this sort will not be tolerated in any way shape or form. Perhaps if this was a swank and hip boutique hotel catering to a more upscale clientele the hotel may succeed but definitely not this filthy and disgusting flophouse.
In short, the Stipulation Agreement entered into by the City and the Lefferts Hotel has handcuffed the operators to the point that it has totally eliminated the prostitution and drug activities. The Stipulation Agreement requires that the hotel must provide: (1) 24 hour on-site security; (2) 24 hour camera surveillance (tapes must be saved and are reviewable by police); (3) that all guests must show a valid state ID; (4) that all guests must sign the hotel guest registry; (5) only daily room rates shall be available to patrons; and (6) police with unwarranted access to the hotel at any time. As a result of these restrictions, and many more, the drug and prositution problem that once use to hold this entire community hostage has virtually disappeared. The 88th Precinct sent a very strong message to the dealers, prostitutes and pimps that should anyone even “spit on the corner of Classon and Lefferts they are getting arrested.” Since July 2006, that corner is essentially the cleanest spot in the neighborhood. I what is even better it simply didn’t move down the block either. It’s gone! You can’t find it anywhere!
How long will this last, hopefully forever. Lefferts Place has a very strong block association in the LPCA and residents are extremely active with civic/community activities in Clinton Hill, e.g., Clinton Hill Society and Cripus Attucks Park. Given all of the strong grassroots activism in the community, not to mention all of those $1MM plus home sales on Lefferts in 2006, I seriously doubt that the nabe will return to the days of the Wild Wild West. There’s simply too much at stake and I hope that Moses Fried gets the clear message that the party is over. He should sell, make his handsome profit and allow the neighborhood to continue its organic growth.
No community should allow criminals to run rampant with an utter disregard for the rule of law. We must put our families first and do everything in our power to ensure that we raise our children in a quiet, healthy and safe environment. I love the three blocks of Lefferts Place, in my book it’s one of the most architecturally diverse and significant areas in Clinton Hill. I’m happy to see that the neighborhood is rapidly improving and I have no doubt that the City, local elected officials and community organizations will due more than their part to keep the positive momentum going. I’m ecstatic that 70 Lefferts Place was recently landmarked and I hope the planned expansion of the Clinton Hill Historic District will occur soon and further solidify the many gains made in the community.