Top photo via Pinch
An NYPD floodlight tower now sits outside the Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street at First Avenue... a long-troubled stretch of the East Village. [Updated: There's a second tower outside the L stop closer to Avenue A.]
This arrival comes after a triple stabbing that left a 38-year-old man dead this past Sunday just before 6 p.m. Witnesses said the stabbing took place in the street and sidewalk in the area between Trader Joe's and the Wingstop. (Fox 5 has images of the deadly fight here.) The fight started on 13th Street just east of First Avenue before escalating a block over, witnesses have said.
Police arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Alejandro Piedra, who was later charged with murder with depraved indifference and attempted murder with depraved indifference, according to the NYPD and media accounts. Police said Piedra allegedly killed 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield and injured his wife, 52-year-old Jennifer Cockfield, as well as another man, 32-year-old Jonathan Lopez.
During a police briefing on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said all three victims sell second-hand items along 14th Street.
Per the Daily News:
Lopez left his wife and items to go to the bathroom and when he returned, Piedra was trying to pocket some of the goods, the chief said. When confronted, Piedra pulled a knife and stabbed Lopez in the head and chest. Other vendors, including Cockfield and his wife, spotted the stabbing and came to Lopez's aid.As the brawl intensified, a vendor came up behind Piedra and broke a lamp over his head before running off. Cockfield picked up the remnants of the lamp and started to swing at Piedra, screaming, “You stabbed my friend! You stabbed my friend!” according to Kenny. Jennifer Cockfield then got involved, throwing both punches and her shoes at Piedra.The fight died down and Piedra walked away before allegedly coming back a short time later with a knife in hand.
Piedra, who's due back in court tomorrow, was reportedly charged in 2018 with assaulting two women with umbrellas. The case was sent to mental health court, which Piedra completed in 2021, per the News.
Meanwhile, residents have noted that this block has been cleaner this week than it has been in several years. These photos are from yesterday morning.
City Councilmember Keith Powers, whose district starts across 14th Street at Stuy Town, sent an email to his constituents noting. Multiple EVG readers shared the email, which included:
Thank you for writing to me about 14th Street and the awful attacks that took place on Sunday. I have attached a copy of my statement from Sunday evening, which once again calls for immediate intervention from the NYPD and other agencies on 14th Street. We have been working on this since Sunday, so I wanted to give you an update.One of the challenges in dealing with the situation on 14th Street has been that despite our efforts to make progress, all it takes are a few bad actors to return to the location to undo that progress. That is why I am again calling for consistent and sustained resources on the ground until the conditions on 14th Street are back to normal.I wanted to share a few updates on the situation since Sunday:● Earlier this week, the NYPD announced that they are stationing a foot patrol on the block to address the issues. As you will see in my statement, this was my top request. As I have stated repeatedly, the need for more resources here is apparent for any of us living in the neighborhood.● I am making an updated request of the Archdiocese and Immaculate Church to end the flea market. Myself and other elected officials have made this request in the past but they have not been responsive or cooperative. While I support the church, it’s indisputable that the flea market has created huge problems in the neighborhood.● On Monday, I personally walked the block with small business owners on 14th Street to provide them with my personal information to allow them to contact us on any issue from cleanliness to illicit behavior.● The Sanitation Department confirmed to me directly today that they will begin new joint operations with the NYPD and the Department of Homeless Services. My office will stay in close contact to ensure that the efforts here are maintained and properly targeted.● I am also coordinating with my colleagues in the city and state who represent this area to set up a walkthrough of the site with all relevant agencies.We hope this will help demonstrate and reinforce the need for immediate and sustained action here. On the larger scale, there are a number of proposals in the City Council that would exacerbate the situation on 14th Street by restricting the ability of city agencies to conduct enforcement against illegal vendors. I am not supportive of these measures and I have discussed the way that they would negatively impact our neighborhood with my colleagues.As the City Council finalizes this year's budget, I am advocating for more resources for the 13th Precinct — which covers the Stuyvesant Town portion of the block (the area of 14th Street that’s in my district). I have always been proud of my good working relationship with the 13th Precinct and hope to continue coordinating with them to make our neighborhood safer.
35 comments:
It about time the situation on 14th Street between 1st Ave and Ave A has been addressed. You can barely walk down the street with all the unsavory characters selling goods and blocking the walkway. It a shame it took an act of violence to wake up the powers that be to address the situation.
I find it interesting/sad that Keith Powers is getting more done for this block than Carlina, and it's not even in his district.
There's already been many acts of violence...remember when the worker at Immaculate was brutally slashed for trying to stop a man from urinating in the street? I think it's someone *dying* that did it, and that's truly heinous that it had to mean someone losing their life for something to be done.
Keith Powers is a great guy and a great council member, unlike ours.
we'll see how long this lasts! they clean up the street after the last slashing but then were no where to be found.
This is good, and kudos to Mr Powers for taking action, even though he doesn't represent that part of 14th Street.
The police will also need to undertake similar measures on First Avenue between 14th and 15th Street, as some peddlers and unsavoury types have moved over there.
Seconding the praise for Keith Powers for stepping up (and across district lines) when our own officials fail us. The block looks much better - hopefully this finally marks the end of the "flea market"
Immaculate Conception Parish needs to close down their flea market - but I've been told multiple times (by people who regularly attend that church) that the flea market provides a lot of income to that parish. So I suspect that the Archdiocese is just going to let it continue; Dolan is very good at ignoring what he finds inconvenient.
THANK YOU, KEITH POWERS, for doing so much about this situation!
I can't wait for Carlina Rivera to be term-limited out, b/c she is an absolute ZERO in terms of effectively doing anything for her district. She has been dishonest since she first got in by lying about what she would approve, and nothing about her tenure has gotten any better since then. I guess she really likes getting paid $$$ for doing nothing.
Next stop, take care of Ave. A.
I never thought I'd see the day that Ave. A would be a bigger shithole than Ave. B was, but here we are.
Ditto!
With the Catholic Church - the money ALWAYS comes first. I know that first hand from a 70+ year on and off again involvement in the Catholic Church. I always found Immaculate Conception to be rigid, unwelcoming and less than Christian. That led me to take a long walk from Ave B over to Epiphany on Second Ave - more welcoming and (usually) less about the almighty dollar and more about love of neighbor.
Kudos to Powers, the silence from Rivera is deafening but not surprising. She fully supports the City Council and it's agenda driven politics.
Don't want to rain on anybody's parade but I suggest you re-read the 2nd to last paragraph. It states that the City Council doesn't wish to enforce anything regarding street vending regulations. Yup, just let the problem keep on metastasizing............
We've voted and donated to Allie Ryan every time we've had the opportunity. It was impossible to oust Do Nothings like Rivera primarily because of such low turnouts.
The flea market within the churches confines is a staple of the community. It's not some bargain bizarre, it's an integral component of the East Village.
Thanks for highlighting this. The Council seems to be almost fully detached from reality, ignoring serious problems while passing bills to spend money we don’t have and putting rules like this on reasonable efforts to maintain some quality of life. A bunch of ideologues who don’t want to do the nitty-gritty of making things better.
@1:43pm: The operative phrase in your comment is "WITHIN the church's confines" - but their flea market has routinely spilled out onto 14th Street for YEARS, and THAT is the difference.
IF the parish can contain their vendors so that they're all within the church-yard, fine. But the sprawl that's become the norm there is creating the perception that "anything goes" - and IMO, the church does not get a free pass on this just b/c they're a church. They have a large lower-level space in the church, in which they hold holiday parties; presumably the flea market could go there. (And if it can't, that tells you something about how disruptive the market is even for that church.) They also closed their elementary school, which probably has an auditorium that would be available.
Carlina has been vacationing on the Riviera for these past view years. Only making appearances to kill our East River Park, give our streets over to the hospitality industry and do the work of her financial backers.
There are 2 NYPD light towers, the other is next to the most eastern L Train stairway entrance. Today, 6/27/24, at around 10 AM, 14th ST and the west side of 1st Ave between 14th and 15th streets were clear. There were 3 9th Precinct NYPD SUVs with 6 officers on the problem 14th St section and at the NW corner of 14th and 1st Ave, a problem corner for drug dealers (the bodega there is an issue) and homeless encampments, there was a 13th Precinct NYPD SUV stationed there. I spoke to the 6 9th Precinct officers and filled them in on the Immaculate Conception (I'm a graduate) flea market issue. 3 of them nodded their heads in agreement. Let me explain and reiterate:
1. From my sources, I heard that the 9th Precinct asked Msgr. Kevin Nelan of Immaculate Conception to shut down the flea market and he refused. That's why the local politicians are contacting the New York Archdiocese directly. The IC Church also opens their rectory yard to the flea market, letting vendors drape clothing on the metal gate and fence. There is a major cause and effect of the IC inherited Mary Help of Christians (which never had any of these issues) flea market and the out of control situation on 14th Street.
2.Again the 4 xxxxx women who steal from the food pantries also have unrefrigerated raw meat, fish and produce on their blankets. They just don't only steal canned and dry goods from the food pantries. These are food poison nightmares. I have zero sympathy for them since they corrupt the whole concept of our local EV food pantries.
3. One perm good thing is that the Mike Deli, once next to the $1.50 pizza store, fav of the drug dealers inside and just outside of it, has been closed for about a month now.
Who wants to bet how long this will be here?
Glad I found this blog. It has great content that makes people aware of what’s going on. Hopefully everyone stays safe as a result.
Thank you Jose for your support!
I support the IC flea market because it has been operating at IC since 2014. It is only open on the weekends whereas the illegal street vending takes place every day, later in the day. This area has a long history of being a nexus for mass transit and grocery shopping. So sidewalks should not be obstructed or limited.
IMO the current problems arose in 2020 because our state elected officials passed bail reform and legalized marijuana w/o addressing the functioning black /grey market.
I recommend that the Sheriff’s Dept padlock the illegal smoke shop(s) on this block immediately. And the NYPD be allowed to crack down on the open market drug dealing and stolen goods. (I bet many readers know someone who bought back a stolen item.)
I recommend that our elected officials meet with Robert Lederman and A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) and the Office of Street Vending Enforcement to discuss and devise a strategy to accommodate street vendors within their First Amendment rights.
Disclaimer: years ago I was a street vendor for a bit - I sold artwork. And I donated money to Robert Lederman/ A.R.T.I.S.T.’s lawsuit about the NYPD arresting artists who were street vendors. So I support street vendors.
Where is Carlina Rivera?
@7:01pm: I think the bottom line is that Msgr. Nelan is not going to budge on the flea market. Also, note that Nelan is the "Dean of South Manhattan Deanery" which means he's the #2 guy for this entire part of the Archdiocese, and he answers directly to Dolan, so that's that.
The flea market is not the problem. I know many vendors there and they are respectful, kind people. When it was on A in the Mary help of Christians parking lot it was great too. The empty store fronts under the ridiculous building there now over the old potter field are a bigger problem. ( they didn’t move 3/4 of the bodies when they built the church- look it up)
Why on earth should we “accomodate” unlicensed street vendors?
They are a nuisance, not benefitting anyone, clogging up sidewalks, paying no rent or taxes.
Thank goodness at least one member of the City Council cares about doing something for this block beyond photo ops and an ironically named “initiative.”
And thanks to EV for keeping us all informed about this as always!
💯
Could not agree more.
As I read it, they are considering proposals. Now is the time for all who care to learn about and lobby against those proposals. Or at least have them amended to prevent what happened to that block.
All good points. The drug dealing on the NW corner has been open and notorious for so many years. Anyone with eyes can see it happening. It’s incredible that they have gotten away with it for so long, even after a young woman OD’d there a decade ago.
“…they corrupt the whole concept of our local EV food pantries.” THIS. I stopped donating to the community fridges because it seemed to be getting swept up for resale. People donate to address hunger, not provide revenue for people who have enough food that they can resell it.
Keith Powers is awesome. It certainly seems like he’s been trying to deal with this issue for awhile but Rivera has put her “agenda” first. I can’t imagine her wanting to get rid of the flea market OR fine illegal vendors. How do I know? Because she hasn’t! I’m just glad that Keith has a political window to organize a clean up of the street. I know it’s part in due to pedestrian traffic, but it’s telling that the bad side of 14th street is in Carlina’s district and the noticeably cleaner side of the street is Powers.
I’ve lost all respect for Rivera based on her response to this situation. Things have gotten really bad around there.
We should all make an effort to go to the cute hipster coffee shop on 14th right by where the altercation took place. I wouldn’t go there because of the people out front of it selling their stolen goods. Business is tough enough in NY, so let’s at least give it a fighting chance.
As general background it should be noted that Council Member Gale Brewer has been discussing legislation to make things easier for “street vendors” (and of course messaging that City would “enforce” - but we know the City will not and cannot)
IMO street vending is unfettered and out of hand everywhere- not just EV.
City Hall area, Canal Street, midtown, in Central Park, Queens, Brooklyn etc.
(Note: saw guy storing vending tables in bushes in Central Park)
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