Matt Harvey's NYPress cover story this week also talks with residents about the increase in gunshots around the neighborhood in recent months. As he notes:
East Village residents of all ages, races and classes worry that bullets are flying with increasing frequency these days.
Many have lived east of First Avenue for 10 years or more, so they know what a gunshot sounds like. Some claim that the crime statistics released from the local Ninth Precinct do not adequately tally all the shootouts. Others express fear that the uptick in violence will serve as an excuse for police to curb the civil rights of the locals.
I've heard from several readers the last six weeks regarding an increase in gunplay. In several cases, the details were rather vague -- "did you hear about a shooting somewhere along Avenue C the last few nights?" -- to do much with.
One reader said there was a shooting outside Tompkins Square Middle School on Avenue B between Fourth Street and Fifth Street early the morning of Aug. 28. The next day, the resident let two police officers into her buidling for an unrelated matter. When asked about the shooting, an officer responded, "Which one?"
The Villager later reported that a 23-year-old man was shot at 3:25 a.m. on Aug. 28 at Fifth Street and Avenue B. The victim was struck once in the leg and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. A .38-caliber revolver was recovered at the scene.
Other incidents include the man who was shot leaving a bodega on 12th Street and Avenue C on Aug. 16.
The invaluable Bob Arihood at Neither More or Less has reported on several shootings in August. On Aug. 29 around 10:30 p.m., shots were fired in the rear yard of 507 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
On Aug. 27, shots were fired on Sixth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.
So what do we take away from a possible upturn in violence? Are things worse than a year ago? Definitely. A return to the cliched "bad old days?" Hardly. Still, I see too many seemingly clueless people bopping around by themselves wearing Bose soundproof headphones and texting at 2 a.m. They're making it a little too easy.
Here's a quote from Bob in the NYPress piece: "NYU students and yuppies don't know what’s going on. They're only here to party."
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Post notes a "90 PERCENT SURGE IN BURGLARIES" in the East Village
Hi--I have a question--I did a piece on Bob Arihood today and I want to link your piece--I say see EV Grieve--I would like to have it light up and when you click on it it goes to your blog...how to do???Thanks.I am not very technical.
ReplyDeleteI am figuring this out...a friend of mine will show me in person--
ReplyDeleteDId you figure it out, Melanie? Sorry — I've been away all morning.
ReplyDeleteUm, I don't think anyone deserves to be *shot* for wearing a pair of headphones, texting on a cell phone or any other possibly annoying behavior.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fierce neighborhood advocate, but I also like music. So I wear headphones -- Bose ones, no less -- at all times of day or night. I'm not a yunnie or a partier or a temporary resident. I wear my headphones through the projects on Avenue D, at 4 a.m. on the subway home from Brooklyn -- wherever. And I'll continue to do so.
If someone shoots me for it, then they're the ones in the wrong, not me.
Of all the things we miss about the "old" neighborhood, *shootings* certainly should not be one.
I see hardly anyone wearing Bose headphones, at 2 AM or otherwise. Rocking those pathetic, tinny earbuds, that's another story.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more of people wearing the Bose headphones who can't hear anyone coming up behind them ... and being an easy mark for a mugging... or people so focused on texting that they walk into traffic -- or other harm's way...
ReplyDelete@Nesta -- those earbuds will make you deaf, they say!
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