Residents meet to discuss increased drug use/sales along E. 3rd and E. 4th Streets

Last night, concerned residents met at P.S. 15 with local leaders and 9th Precinct reps to discuss the "proliferation/spread of drugs" on East Third Street and East Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...

Resident Steven Matthews was in attendance, and left this as a comment on our earlier post about the meeting:

The meeting went well. There were approximately 36 people there, including someone from the 9th Pct and the DA's office. Almost everyone had a story, of drug use taking place in their vestibules, dealers operating out of renovated but unoccupied building, dealers having keys to the NYCHA buildings and operating out of them, founding members of community gardens (El Jardin) who have all but abandoned it because of drug dealing in them... And they came from all through the neighborhood, from 3rd and 5th Streets as well as both avenues. Many of them said they heard about the meeting from this blog, so hats off to EV Grieve!

There will be a follow-up meeting in two weeks. In that time, people with sales/use taking place in their buildings will approach the owners and try to get the building registered in the city's Tresspass Affidavit Program. And everyone was urged to call 911 when they see drug sales/use taking place. The 9th Pct rep said that despite the number of stories people had, there have been very few calls, so they were not aware of the severity of the problem.

DNAinfo and NY Press were both there; I'm sure they'll have stories today.

We'll link to those articles when they are posted...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Emergency meeting called to discuss 'the blatant drug activity' on E. 3rd St. (29 comments)

Emergency meeting called to discuss 'the blatant drug activity' on E. 3rd St.

Perhaps a sign of the bad old days, or whatever you want to call them, on East Third Street between Avenue C and Avenue D... the flyers tell of an emergency meeting tomorrow night at PS 15 to address "the proliferation/spread of drugs on our block."

The conversation will center on topics ranging from drug sales to drug use...

Today in 'the bad old days may be here again' trend articles

From the Daily News:

Squeegee men, the aggressive panhandlers who wash your car windows whether you want them to or not, are back.

For some, they're a powerful symbol that the busted economy is bringing back the bad old days.

The Daily News spotted a crew of five squeegee men at 42nd St. and Ninth Ave. Sunday, swarming cars like it was the late 1980s all over again.

The Post noted the return of the squeegee men in September 2008.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

NYC crime rate is going up, but not really

This is part of the front page of the Post today ... Uh-oh!

According to the exclusive:

Through July 17, incidents of the seven major felonies are down only slightly -- 0.4 percent -- over the same period last year, dipping from 54,447 to 54,254. The annual tally has dropped every year since 1993.

Oh, so the crime rate is actually down. But! The article insists that it could get worse. Meanwhile, as the paper points out, since 1993, reports of "serious crime" — murder, rape, robbery, felony, etc. — have dropped from 430,460 to 105,115.

We looked at the CompState figures from the 9th Precinct, which covers East Houston Street to East 14th Street from Broadway to the East River. According to these statistics, crime complaints are down 2.93 percent from 2010.... down 69.08 percent since 1993. Not that we're buying all these crime stats anyway ....

Previously on EV Grieve:
Today in 'the bad old days may be here again' articles

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Today in 'the bad old days may be here again' articles

From the Post:

Hammered by budget cuts, the NYPD will field its smallest force by the middle of next year than at any time since 1992 — raising fears that, with fewer cops on the beat, a resurgence of crime could return to the city.

Read the article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Via The Daily News!

The city's murder rate has shot up nearly 15% this year, and residents in the worst-hit precincts are worried New York is headed back to darker days.

The NYPD recorded 437 murders as of Sunday, compared with 382 in the same period last year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The "bad old days" are here again story of the day

Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

The "bad old days" are here again story of the day!

From the Post!

Gangs of wilding teens terrorized straphangers this week in a violent spate of daytime robberies and assaults on Manhattan subways -- another indicator the city could be sinking back to the bad old days that once gripped the Big Apple with fear.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

Are the "bad old days" here again...again?

From the Times:

It is impossible to know if the recent increase in violent crime in the city is legitimate cause for concern that the “bad old days” of crime may return, or if it simply represents a blip in a trend line continuing a descent of nearly two decades.

Homicides are up nearly 22 percent in 2010, compared with the same period last year. Shootings are up in the city, to 293 from 257, a 14 percent increase. And there are more victims of gunfire: 351 through April 4, up from 318 in the same period a year ago.

But it is not statistics, but rather the tenor and pace of 2010’s spasm of disorder that are suggestive of a bygone era, and have again raised questions about whether New York City is finally at the end of crime declines.

Read the whole article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Trend alert! The bad old days are here again!

What's doing in...Williamsburg: "It's like St. Mark's in the '70s" (but! "This is not Haight-Ashbury")

The Daily News investigates the alleged increase in squatters living in Williamsburg.

Let's just jump right in!:

Heroin-addict hobos from around the country are overrunning hipster haven Williamsburg — living in stalled luxury condo projects in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood.

The newcomers, who call themselves "gutter punks," are stirring outrage among residents and shopkeepers who charge the bums brawl on the sidewalk, shoplift and shoot heroin in trendy cafe bathrooms.

"It's like St. Mark's in the '70s," said Williamsburg activist Philip DePaolo, referring to the notorious East Village hangout. "It's the bad old days all over again. There's crack and heroin all over the neighborhood."

The squatters, from middle-class families, hop freight trains to the city, where they can earn up to $150 a day panhandling in Manhattan. At night, like plenty of other borough commuters, they return to their homes: grubby hideaways inside boarded-up lots that pock the once-booming neighborhood.

"I've got to sleep somewhere, and I might as well do it in Williamsburg," said Stuart, 22, a Florida college dropout.

The admitted alcoholic and heroin user makes $15 an hour panhandling in Union Square, holding a sign that reads "Traveling Broke and Sexy."

"The girls here like it that I'm dirty and I ride trains," he added.

The vagrants - who also call themselves "crusty punks" - swarmed into Williamsburg this spring, drawn by open-minded young people and vacant lots.

And what do local politicos think?

"This is not Haight-Ashbury," said Community Board 1 member Evan Thies. "This is a family neighborhood."

And the cops?

Cops said they haven't seen an increase in crime or vagrants, but would monitor the area.

Also in the Daily News today:
For some homeless drug addicts, squatting is made easy in Williamsburg

For further reading:
Reader Rant: Williamsburg's Squatters' Row Has Got to Go (Curbed)
'Lots' of Woe in W'Burg (New York Post)
The BillyBurg Bust (New York)
‘Eternal Sunshine’ house may not be torn down after all (The Brooklyn Paper)
Eternal nightmare of the not-so-spotless crackhouse (The Brooklyn Paper)

As hard as they tried, the Times couldn't find anyone to say Yes

Hasn't this story been done already?....From the Times today: As Hard Times Loom, Will New York’s Streets Get Meaner?

Uh-oh!

If a shrinking economy, soaring jobless claims and a troubled financial sector are not angst-producing enough, the threat of increased crime is leading many conversations toward a nagging and persistent question: Will the bad old days of record numbers of murders and ubiquitous street muggings be far behind?

YES! RIGHT?

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, for his part, said he has heard this all before.

He said similar worries were being voiced as he took over in 2002 for a second stint as the city’s top police official: Things were headed in the wrong direction, the economy was devastated after Sept. 11, 2001, and there were predictions that crime would increase.

Instead, overall crime has dropped nearly 30 percent in the last seven years, he said, and in 2007 the lowest number of killings was recorded since the city started keeping what it considers reliable records, about four decades ago.

“There’s a lot of predictions that crime is going to go up as a result of the economic crisis,” Mr. Kelly said on Friday...

“The fact of the matter is that hasn’t happened,” Mr. Kelly said. “The fact is we’re down 14 percent, and we’re down in every category across the city.”

Hmm, well...I'm sure this story will be revisited in another month or so.

Report: Cops will be cracking down on petty crime

From today's Post:

After giving petty criminals a break, the NYPD summoned a dozen precinct commanders to Headquarters Friday to help focus efforts against aggressive beggars, squeegee men, hookers and illegal peddlers, The Post has learned.

Station-house bosses from Manhattan and The Bronx met with top brass and gave them reports on quality-of-life problems each is facing, according to sources familiar with the gathering.

The summit was called by Chief of Department Joseph Esposito after cops issued 7.1 percent fewer summonses for minor offenses in 2008 than in 2007, as The Post reported last month.

Early in the week, a unit from headquarters scouted the city looking for problem areas and taking photos. Then brass called the sitdown with precinct heads to hear from them.

They talked about petty crimes and misdemeanors that can drive the average New Yorker nuts -- street walkers, panhandlers who get in your face and homeless people who hang out at ATMs or fast-food joints.

T-shirt for tourists proof that bad old days are back?

And are they the bad old days of the 1970s or the 1980s? On Fulton Street near the South Street Seaport.

Trend alert: The bad old days are here again!

Yesterday, we learned that maybe we won't want to watch realistic fare such as "Life on Marzzzzzzzz" since we'll all be out in the streets shooting each other and who needs TV when there's reality right out the window. Or something sort of like that. Today, the Post has a piece titled:

'SCARED TO COME TO NY'
LIKE BAD OLD DAYS OF PETTY CRIME

It feels like a flashback to the 1980s on city streets -- an era no one's nostalgic for.

Overstretched cops are struggling to combat petty crime, according to police sources -- resulting in an easing of enforcement that's taking Manhattan down fast, angry New Yorkers told The Post.

"People tell me they're scared to come here," said Greg Agnew, owner of the East Bay Diner on First Avenue at 29th Street. "Guys are hanging out in the street, doing things they're not supposed to be doing, loitering. They cause fights. They urinate on the floor, There's drug use."

How about the East Village?

In Alphabet City, residents are seeing signs of decay.

"You're seeing empty drink bottles in the street, you're catching people urinating. They're 'tagging up' [spray-painting graffiti]," said Anibal Pabon, 44, an office clerk. "All that stuff is coming back."

(Hmm...public urination: future trends piece!) I don't mean to make light of any of this...I've noticed a difference...The cynicism comes from how the media are portraying all this...Building an entire crime-trends article around the quote from one NYU student, for instance. So we're right back to the bad old days of the 1980s? (Or, in he case of the Times yesterday, the 1970s?) Things are just GETTING REALLY BAD HERE right?

Meanwhile, on the page opposite this scary crime story in the Post, there's an article titled Crime Dips on Subway.

Subway crime dropped by 3 percent in 2008 -- marking a third straight year in which the good guys gained on the underground goons.

Robberies went from 796 in 2007 to 823 and rapes from one to three, but murders, assaults and grand larcenies all declined, according to NYPD statistics.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Noted
Returning to the scene of the crime

"The old Hollywood sense of lawless New York is rearing its ugly head"

Julia Vitullo-Martin, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote an op-ed in today's New York Post titled "Revenge of the Bad Old Days."

She begins:

Does it feel some days as if New York-- wealthy, successful, seemingly at the top of the world -- is slipping back into the bad old days of crime, noise, dirt, rudeness? Like pentimento rising from an old canvas, the traces of New York's previous misery are appearing on the streets and in the subways -- graffiti, aggressive panhandling, open drug dealing, filthy public areas, ear--splitting noise, screeching sirens, a sense of disorder we thought was gone. It's not "Soylent Green" again, but the old Hollywood sense of lawless New York is rearing its ugly head.



And fast-forwarding past a lot of analysis and stats and what not:

Are we heading backwards? No, but we need to remember our own heritage.

New Yorkers haven't always understood that some ominous trend was beginning. For example, 1958 was the start of what the late Erik Monkkonen, a historian at UCLA, called New York's "rogue tidal wave of violence." Almost no one noticed at the time. It lasted until 1992, when the Dinkins administration, under Commissioner Ray Kelly, began its Safe Streets program. And while Monkkonen was optimistic about New York's future, he warned of the relentless cycle by which, once some "lower level of violence had been achieved, the mechanisms for control and the value of peace get forgotten, and a slow rebirth of violence begins." We can fool ourselves into thinking that the New York of the last few years is the New York that will always be. But our city is and always has been a tumultuous place, in which the miseries of the past don't seem so far away. We need to be vigilant, as we have been since 1992, against the small, unpleasant, menacing intrusions on New York's quality of life.

We know that New York's economic engine, the financial industry, is under immense strain, that the mayor's budget faces severe deficits, and that some businesses are starting layoffs.

Bloomberg has been the right mayor for good times. Now the truly difficult part starts: keeping New York great in hard times.

[Image of the East Village in the 1970s from Litter Bugged via Filthy Mess]