Parole Office Mess Open Thread

By on September 29, 2008 11:20 am in Brooklyn Heights, crime, Nightlife

Clearly, the escape of a 32 year old parolee about to be busted again on assault charges from the parole office at 147 Pierrepont Street (1 Pierrepont Plaza) has confirmed many residents’ worst fears.

The Head of St. Ann’s School, Dr. Larry Weiss, told channel 9,  “Two weeks into the school year to have an experience like this is exactly what we we’re told was not going to happen.”  He added that the the school was promised that a menagerie of sex offenders would not be visiting the parole office.  However, channel 9 reports that 53 have passed through its doors since the office opened.

What should happen next? What would be your constructive solution for this issue?

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  • skunky

    as long as the courts need their probation officers within walking distance of the courts, Brooklyn Heights residents will need to accept that their otherwise pristine neighborhood may have some undesirable people coming through.

    The proximity to the downtown court complex isn’t going to change any time soon, it really isn’t realistic to try to wall off the neighborhood.

  • Pierrepont

    But c’mon, sex offenders in such close proximity to a school?! Now, I may be biased (as a parent with a kid at St. Ann’s), but why can’t they find office space in part of MetroTech? Or the main Post Office building? Or in that block of Court St south of Montague? It’s not so hard. Yet these so-called public servants aren’t even listening. Shame on them!

  • anon

    I could live with parolees over the likes of skunky. Of course he could be writing from jail awaiting parole.

  • DB

    How about do nothing and/or chill out? Is there a serious risk? Or is this blog inviting hysteria over an isolated incident.

  • lulu

    We may have talked this topic out. There will always be folks who don’t get what the concern is, or who try to paint concerned parents as nimby or out of touch with what it means to live in the city.

    The truth is that public officials knowingly put this facility directly in between an elementary school & a middleschool/high school, without even notification to the school, blindsiding school officials to have to scurry around beefing up security at the last minute, that these officials did so without consideration of more appropriate locations, yes, such as metrotech, that those same officials lied to concerned parents and the school saying that sex offenders and pedophiles would not be seen at this location, and that all concerns were dismissed with a derisive wave of the hand, because in front of the facility was the last place where anything would ever happen, according to officials, and yet within three weeks of opening this facility, armed guards chased, and lost, a parolee who resisted rearrest, down the sidewalk where 10 minutes later hundreds of elementary school students were to flood out of the school.

    At the very least, this facility has been horribly mismanaged from the word go. It’s no wonder people are concerned, and baffling that there are others still bent on deriding them for those obviously legitimate concerns.

  • Homer Fink

    DB – Not inviting hysteria, as that seems to already exist without our help. Looking for “constructive” conversation here.

  • lulu

    These are the facts, not hysteria.

  • anon

    Obviously the GSA needs to re-shuffle some desks and conduct interviews of sex offenders and drug offenders in another location, perhaps in the new courts building, or do as was promised to parents: visit the parolees at home. There are many options. The neighborhood is right to stand up for itself.

  • http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/ Peter Steinberg

    Is this really that complicated? The courts must have a 1,000,000 square feet of office space within a mile of that location. They can’t find a single office with which they can swap spaces?

    Peter
    http://www.FlashlightWorthyBooks.com
    Books so good, they’ll keep you up past your bedtime. ;)

  • DB

    Homer — you assume some solution needs to be had. That’s my point.

  • Sam

    @homer fink: “Not inviting hysteria”

    Really? You’re not inviting hysteria by including a YouTube clip from a movie about escaped convicts? In all honesty, do you actually believe that your post is the way to “Look for ‘constructive’ conversation?”

    The courts are literally one block away from 147 Pierrepont Street. A jail is seven blocks away. If you want to start a constructive conversation, why not begin by suggestion alternative locations? Is there any place in Brooklyn Heights that is _not_ near a school, daycare facility, church, or place of business? And keep in mind for any relocation, we will have to carry the costs.

    The provincialism and nimby-ism of this blog would be funny if it didn’t cover parts of one of the largest cities in the world.

  • anon

    why is it that some posters are just hellbent on having this facility in our commnity? and right next to a school!
    How odd and contrarian.

  • Curmudgeon

    Sam and DB – just curious – where do you live?

  • bh resident

    Speaking for myself and not for Sam and DB: I am not hellbent on having this facility in my neighborhood; I just don’t believe that we have some sort of special status that means it should go to someone else’s neighborhood.

    There are at least two schools and a number of residences in downtown Brooklyn, one of the communities that so many here are volunteering as a new site for this facility.

    I understand people’s concern, but not the sense that because we’re Brooklyn Heights, we should offload the facility into someone else’s community, and I agree that this post/thread will devolve in much the way that the other threads on this topic have.

    But you can’t blame Homer for giving the people what we seem to want. =)

  • Homer Fink

    @DB – now you’re getting somewhere!

  • anon

    such odd comments. every community no matter how rich or poor fights to avoid having undesirable facilities located in their neighborhood. There is no dishonor in that.
    The parole office should be moved away from Pierrepont Street. These is plenty of space downtown or even in that empty hulk of a jail on Atlantic Avenue.

  • Sam

    @Curmudgeon: I live on Adams St. across from OEM, right in Brooklyn Heights. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a parole office near my apartment. However, it would still be a block away from a school, a university and a church, and parolees on the 2,3,4 and 5 trains would have to walk past many other houses, dorms, and day-care facilities.

    It would actually be sort of neat to see a map of Brooklyn Heights that had every educational and religious facility mapped out. I would be curious to see what parts of Brooklyn Heights were _not_ close to one or the other.

    @anon: “These is plenty of space downtown or even in that empty hulk of a jail on Atlantic Avenue.” I’ve heard that one feature of the jails is that they have tunnels to the courthouses. If true, this may be useful to the parole officers.

  • skunky

    “I could live with parolees over the likes of skunky. Of course he could be writing from jail awaiting parole.”
    @anon: nice ad hominem attack for someone who hides in anonymity. if you’re going to attack someone personally at least have the decency to identify yourself. Punk.

    I’m a long-time downtown Brooklyn resident, even went to one of the private schools that are so sacrosanct, and if you think that parents who have a understandable protective instinct towards their children should have veto power over government real estate decisionmaking you’re out of your mind. Where do we draw the line? How far away would the facilities need to be? The school is on the fringes of a major commercial business district, with all sorts of unsavory characters roaming all over the place already. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you spent 5 minutes on the corner of Montague and Court?

    When I was going to these schools, St. Ann’s was where you went to get your drugs, so let’s not all pretend that there aren’t bigger fish to fry when it comes to keeping your kids safe.

  • stefan

    It seems obvious that at least two of the posters who wish to see the facility remain where it is do not live in Brooklyn Heights. Sam lives on Adams Street. Sorry Sam, Adams Street is not Brooklyn Heights. Skunky lives in Downtown Brooklyn. Naturally these two do not give a fig about what happens in the real Brooklyn Heights.
    Anyway, I like the idea of moving the parole office to the old HOD, and I think it is disingenuous for posters to give the impression they live in the Heights, when in actuality they live on the other side of Court Street in a neighborhood that although nearby, is really nothing like historic Brooklyn Heights. Mystery solved!

  • Sam

    @stefan: “Sorry Sam, Adams Street is not Brooklyn Heights. [..] Naturally these two do not give a fig about what happens in the real Brooklyn Heights.[…]when in actuality they live on the other side of Court Street”

    Let’s see: I live in CB2. My ZIP code is 11201. I’m protected by the fine offices of Precinct 84. My children would go to schools in District #13. I do not live in the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, but that may be more of a legacy of the type and history of the buildings around me rather than the historic boundaries of the neighborhood.

    Of course, I apologize if Brooklyn Heights residency only counts if you live in a landmarked building in the historic district. I had no idea!

    I guess by your definition, Borough Hall is not in Brooklyn Heights. Nor is the old Board of Ed building, or any of the courts. Or even the Farmer’s Market, given that it is on “the other side of Court Street.” I’m glad that you like the idea of moving the parole offices to the HOD. However, you would think that it is not the “real Brooklyn Heights” as well, no?

    Stefan, I don’t need to know where you live–it has no bearing on the validity of your ideas. But your attack is, by definition, provincial, which also describes the tenor of the original blog posting and several of the comments.

  • bh resident

    I live on Clark Street, and I have posted regularly (and been attacked–er, challenged–by Sir Stefan) about the fact that BH should get no special dispensation when it comes to housing what may be seen as unpleasant government services.

    As for the HOD, I’m sure that those folks who invested in the swanky condos on Atlantic would object just as strenuously as those here in brownstone Brooklyn; as would, I am sure, the families of those students who attend St. Joe’s in downtown Brooklyn. It’s too bad we’re not hearing from any of those families here, in response to the BH residents who think it would be just dandy to house the parole building in downtown Brooklyn.

  • bh resident

    Hmm…tried to post this several times, but I keep getting some weird “you’ve posted this already” comment–which I clearly have not.

    I live on Clark Street, and I have posted regularly (and been attacked–er, challenged–by Sir Stefan) about the fact that BH should get no special dispensation when it comes to housing what may be seen as unpleasant government services.

    As for the HOD, I’m sure that those folks who invested in the swanky condos on Atlantic would object just as strenuously as those here in brownstone Brooklyn; as would, I am sure, the families of those students who attend St. Joe’s in downtown Brooklyn. It’s too bad we’re not hearing from any of those families here, in response to the BH residents who think it would be just dandy to house the parole building in downtown Brooklyn.

  • bh resident

    OK, I guess I did! Weird. Sorry, folks.

  • Ray

    It doesn’t matter where you live, shouldn’t happen this way in any community, rich or poor,down town or heights, kids should be exempted from daily interaction with criminals at their school. If the facility cannot move, then at the very least, the entrance should be relocated, not right beside the school entrance. Also, those on charge should make good on their promise to interview sex offenders and pedophiles at alternate locations. These would be constructive improvements to a less than ideal situation.

  • skunky

    The House of D is two blocks from Pacific High School, a Quaker meeting house, St. Vincent’s Services for Children, etc. There simply are no good alternative locations.

    Plus, I believe this is a Federal probation office, so the proximity to the City courthouse is irrelevant. It needs to be close to the Federal Courts, which, not surprisingly, are right next to where this probation office is now.

    So, the HOD idea is shot. Next idea? See, not so easy.

    @stefan
    So if I live on the wrong side of Court Street, I don’t have an opinion, I’m dead to you? Get over yourself, please. It’s this same sense of exceptionalism and entitlement that leads to the ridiculous expectations of government to bend to your every concern. Again, if you’re concerned about your kids’ safety, talk to them about sex and drugs, and educate them about strangers. Don’t make it harder for public servants to do their jobs because you pay $20k a year to send your kids to private school and you think this buys you something. Maybe you should volunteer at the school to guard the kids when they let out in the afternoon. At least then you’d be doing something constructive. Or maybe you can get your nanny to do it for you.

  • HDEB

    What’s wrong with NIMBY?
    There are a lot of things I don’t want to live near. When deciding where to live I take into account everything in the neighborhood. If a new establishment moves in I believe it is reasonable to be opposed to the new establishment if it does not fit into your schema of your neighborhood.

  • http://www.myspace.com/billyreno Billy Reno

    Dan Zanes’ kid goes there. Looks like he’ll have to start packin’ heat in his banjo case.

    Again, thank Buddha my kids go to a nice, safe public school.

  • anon

    Adams Street is not in Brooklyn Heights except maybe in some misleading real estate ads.
    Our two neighborhoods are separated by Court Street.
    Nice try Sam. When you bought or rented your apartment it was probably one-fifth the price of comparable apartments in the Heights. Don’t try to horn in on a much classier and nicer neighborhood than you can afford to live in. Same for you skunker. You live on the low-rent side of the tracks, don’t act all high and mighty.

  • lulu

    This is maybe not a constructive forum for this…

  • hickster

    NIMBY FIRST… When you pay exorbitant rates to live somewhere you should get the benefir of the bargain. Basic contract principle. I dont ever see this parole nonsense being an issue on Park Avenue

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