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From the EVG inbox… the reader shared the following on Tuesday evening…
I learned tonight that the building I live in on East 9th Street has been burglarized several times in the past two weeks. The first time an apartment on the ground floor was robbed, the second time it was an apartment on a higher-up floor. There was also an incident where a guy was caught trying to jimmy a door open. The police are investigating at least one of these burglaries because financial data was taken. The burglar popped into the apartment while the tenant was home and took what he saw in plain sight. Pretty brazen!
In recent weeks workers from Starion Energy were in the building trying to convert us from Con Ed. One of them made a specific comment to me that indicated he had been studying my apartment. I'm not saying it was them, but these are crimes of opportunity and they should NOT have been let in the building. His comment creeped me out.
Please, DO NOT buzz people into your building if you are not expecting anybody and DO NOT leave the front doors to the building propped open. This should be common sense but people still do it. It may look safe but this is still a city.
18 comments:
Oh yeah, one those energy motherfuckers come into my building and start knocking on everyone's door I let 'em have it. I tell them they can't come in the building, that they are trespassing and that they need to leave. It's a fucking scam because they try to trick you into believing they are in charge of your bill or something. They confuse the younger residents, too.
I agree that it is trespassing, they can't just go up to random apartments and knock on the door without any indication they would be in the building. If this was any other state they would be shot by and over-zealous tenant.
"this use to be a safe neighborhood". Could it be the all the food deliveries so common today that makes people buzz in anyone at the door? Maybe this is my first apartment syndrome and I always kept my dorm room open? Or thieves believe there are more valuables in apartments that rent for $5,000 compared to $600 per month?
Good for you! Hopefully everyone in your building's on high alert. Someone has targeted it as an easy mark. Maybe now that NYPD is around, that someone will look elsewhere. Call the cops on these Starion sales creeps the next time you see them in your building. They're trespassing and, as you suggest, may have been directly or indirectly responsible for the recent burglaries.
Also. Starion is a total scam with a crappy record. Con Ed can't raise electric rates without justification to regulators and customers. Retail companies like Starion have no such requirement.
They told me I was locked into a cheaper rate than what Con Ed was offering but when I called in to Starion, I wasn't locked into anything.
I've also heard it suggested that the guys who stick menus under apartment doors might opportunistically jiggle the door handles as they go and burgle any unlocked places. My place got cleaned out a couple years back, and that was the cops' suspicion (I'd probably mistakenly left it unlocked when I went to work).
just as likely someone's pill addicted junkie white neighbor, or his drug buddy.
I was on 9th Street earlier in the week and heard a woman describing to three other people how someone had used a crowbar to force open the door they were standing in front of. I didn't take note of the building number.
Part of the EV real-estate scam where new tenants pays three time what the previous tenants paid yet what do they really get for that much money? A cheaply renovated apartment with a micro-kitchen, one to two square feet of granite counter space and low end "stainless steel" appliances. For the same or less money these new tenants could be living in a doorman building on the upper east side.
It's not just Starion--I have encountered pairs of salespeople from different con ed competitors multiple times in my building. I refuse to buzz them in but someone always does--I chase them out and they act all innocent and as though I'm making a big mistake because they are only there as a public service to save consumers money. I really wish there were some way to keep them out.
Well, with most apartments/building being now dorms, there is constant streaming of strangers in and out of the dorms, since the transients think that people buzzing in are their friends stopping by to play beer pong and corn hole. Also, there's the flow of tourists renting the apts. via Air BnB. AirBnB is great for New York City robbers.
@Giovanni I submitted the email and want to clarify a few things.
I'm not surprised there is crime in the city. What does continually surprise me is that people, particularity younger folks who move into the building, leave the front door wide open so anyone can walk in. I myself don't need a gang shooting in front of my building or a corpse draped on my stoop to be reminded the city isn't safe. Apparently, they do.
Most of us lock our doors when we get in. But there are times when my hands might be full with bags or I hear the phone ringing and rush in to answer it, and don't immediately remember to lock the door. But in general, I lock my apartment door 99% of the time when I get home.
With regards to the other two crimes, the doors were locked and nobody was home. One burglar was caught in the act using a crowbar on the door.
Asking Grieve to share these incidents is meant as a reminder to the everyone to stop leaving the front doors wide open because it creates these crimes of opportunity.
Last weekend, being back-to-school time and also the first of the month, was prime time for departing/new tenants and thus a whole lot of leaving the building door wide open.
I take one look around and if I don't see anyone moving shit up and down the stairs, or people waiting outside a moving truck directly outside on the sidewalk, I shut the door. I probably did this 4 times this past weekend and I didn't even leave the apartment much. I'm tired of these irresponsible fuckers and I don't care how many times they have to re-prop the door open.
@3:29PM Thanks for posting and bringing up a basic safety issue which so many people these days seem to ignore. Whether people just prop open the front door or leave an apartment door open, there are lots of people jiggling doorknbs looking for an easy score.
I have a few neigbors with 4 or 5 locks, deadbolts, chains, and the old Fox locks with the steel bar that leans up against the door to prevent anyone from entering. The reason people have so many locks is they generally work, and usually having many locks is a sign they have been robed in the past.
While a good burglar can pick most locks, the more you have the less likely they are to try robbing your apartment. Thanks for reminding people to actually use them.
Not locking doors is just a lack of common sense, like the young ladies who always hang their purses over the back of the chair in every restaurant, and then they wonder why all their belongings disapperared in the middle of their bottomless brunches. That also drives me crazy.
I guess it depends on your location because i have lived on first avenue for 30 years and have seen very little crime in recent years. Even years ago the main problem was drug dealers who were always arguing and sometimes fighting but no shooting to speak of.
Why does he have to be a worker? Class war anyone? You leave the fuckin door open, how the fuck would you know?
So are you saying it may have been a white color burglar?
I once spoke with an older lady who was so sick of getting robbed regularly, even with six locks on her door, that what she did was leave half of them, irregularly arranged, unlocked and the rest of them locked. So that when the burglar came round to lockpick them, he would be locking half of them unknowingly! I thought that was brilliant.
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