84th Precinct Community Council Meeting Tuesday Evening; BHA on Pier 2 Issue

By on May 15, 2016 9:26 pm in 84th Precinct, brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, crime

The 84th Precinct Community Council will meet this Tuesday evening, May 17, at 7:00 p.m., at The Theater @ The Schermerhorn, 160 Schermerhorn Street (between Smith and Hoyt streets). All are invited; refreshments will be served.

The agenda includes presentation of the Cop of the Month Award, a presentation by Precinct Commander Deputy Inspector Sergio Centa on “High Tech Operations For Each Police Officer”, a Transit Police Report, and a Precinct Crime Report, with Actions and Results. After that, there will be opportunity for attendees to ask questions. No doubt there will be some about the recent incidents at Pier 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The Brooklyn Heights Association has been in communication with the 84th Precinct on Pier 2 issues, including pedestrian traffic through Brooklyn Heights on the way to and from Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Precinct has assigned 16 additional police to the Park. BHA representatives will meet this week with representatives of the 84th Precinct and with Brooklyn Bridge Park officials “to discuss needed changes to ensure safe use of the park and protection of our community.”

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  • Jorale-man

    Good to hear the park problems are getting some concrete responses. I wonder if the 16 additional cops will help curb the problems there.

  • mlcraryville

    A good turnout at Tuesday night’s meeting will help the NYPD in their negotiating with the Park Corp.
    By running 10 basketball hoops from 6AM to 11PM the BBPC has created a public nuisance. These long, extended hours are unnecessary for meeting the need for hoops in the area. They have provided the fodder for large gatherings, conflict and out-of-control behavior. This impacts on the other, peaceful activities on Pier 2.
    Why not have the Park reduce the hoop hours to a reasonable 6AM to 6PM regimen? That would surely fill the need. Also, it would reduce the extra light glare from the overheads. Can’t we all agree that 12 hours of hoop activity is enough?

  • StudioBrooklyn

    The NYPD are very lucky to have citizens like you, presumably collecting all this empirical data about the relationship between the demand for court time and the phenomenological effects of basketball upon hoodlumism, and coming up with solutions so they don’t have to. Hats off to you!

  • Concerned

    Keep attacking everyone’s suggestions, SB. It’s always easy to attack and keep putting off others’ ideas. Someone brings up an idea, all you have to do is say “where’s the study to back that up?” As if normal citizens have the time/money/experience to conduct such a study. I believe it to be very disingenuous. You also added some stinging sarcasm to that last post, which is unlike you, in my opinion.
    Moreover, you attempted to pigeonhole Mclaryville’s argument to being only about basketball. However, it is clear that his point is about the “large gatherings” the courts allow, not basketball itself.
    Bad form, old chap…

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Fair points. You’ll understand, of course, if I find declarations like the one to which I responded to be tiresome?

    Here’s my suggestion: why don’t we put our energy into doing some actual research? I’d be unconvinced that the NYPD does their own research (otherwise they’d operate much differently), and the BBPC clearly hasn’t done theirs. So instead of screeching about basketball courts it seems to me we should be going about the search for a solution in a much more intelligent way. Surely there exist private firms whose function is to conduct research? Why not commission a study before we just go trying to force police officers to materialize in our backyard (where are those extra 16 officers being pulled away from? Do we think they were just sitting around waiting to come and patrol a waterfront development at the foot of an affluent neighborhood?)?

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Listen, an entire hospital – Long Island College Hospital (LICH) –was closed down without any research/studies whatsoever by the city/state.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Yeah, shocking!

    See, Concerned, my sarcasm is on point today.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    If you’re being sarcastic about what I said, I don’t appreciate it.

  • Concerned

    SB, for me, the scariest thing about your thinking is that we have a clear and present danger (excuse me for taking lines from movies) that needs to be taken care of. NOW! How many pier clearings, brawls, gunshots, stick/knife fights, jumpings, brawls, etc… are we going to have before you want to do something about it??? The thing that is craziest to me is that we’re simply talking about lessening access to basketball courts. I mean, it’s basketball courts. Do you know how many courts we have in the city? They’re everywhere. It is clear pier 2 is the problem and it is clear the problem is not coming from anywhere else on pier 2 besides the courts.
    Answer me this: What amount of violence would it take for you to want to take immediate action?

  • StudioBrooklyn

    My sarcasm was meant to imply that I am unsurprised that drastic measures, such as closing a much-needed hospital, were taken without prior research. Sadly, it seems, too many things in this city happen for reasons that have nothing to do with existing patterns of life. I worry that the same fate might befall our “park” if we’re not careful.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Is it Groundhog’s Day already? You’re giving me Vertigo with having to repeat myself so much, or perhaps something’s getting Lost in Translation. :)

    Here’s my deal: I look at the crime and annoyances as a byproduct of the problem, rather than as the problem itself. And as I said before, a heightened police presence would be a viable treatment of those symptoms, but it does not address the problem, which I believe to be a cocktail of geography, poor planning/civil engineering, and the sociological divides that will continue to plague this city until actions are taken in response to research and data rather than in response to NIMBYism, bribery, corruption, or revulsion at being exposed to the sadly ordinary goings-on among less fortunate classes of people. Solving the problem may take generations, and it’s not mutually exclusive of treating the symptoms with heightened police presence, but I don’t think closing basketball courts or even the whole pier is going to do one bit of good for anyone.

  • Teresa

    Closing the courts at 6pm, especially in the warm weather with longer daylight, would seem to me to be an under-utilization of them, and make it very difficult for school kids to get much time on them.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    To say nothing of would-be basketball players who hold day jobs.

  • Concerned

    Who cares!?!?! You all are defending these basketball courts like they’re the only ones in the city. There are basketball courts all over the city.

    This really would be an easy “science” experiment. We should shut down the courts for the rest of the summer and see what happens. I guarantee a) the crime would go down, b) ZERO people would be deprived of basketball and c) all you would try to come up with multiple other reasons the crime went down.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Clearly you have about zero street smarts. Reducing access to the courts will only intensify the problem, not reduce it. The problem is Pier 2 is “turf” that’s up for grabs, outside of anyones “hood”, thus “gangs” are vying for dominance over the courts. Limit the access and the’ll more reason to fight over it and likely retaliate out of spite. The solution is have everyone sign in with ID. Once the courts have an air of bureaucracy and the troublemakers know their info is on record the’ll move on.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Wrong, many studies and much research was done: How much are the LICH properties worth? How much money can we make? How do we collect it with out being caught?

  • Concerned

    Oh yeah, Arch. You’re Mr. Street Smart growing up in Brooklyn Heights… I’m sure the movie “The Warriors” was about you and your buddies growing up at St. Anne’s and Packer. That’s right, now I remember, it was Swan, Ajax and Arch Stanton…
    LOL!!!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    You don’t know anything about me or the life experences I have had. So please keep your sophomoronic comments at bay and address the issue.
    BTW, I thought the Warriors was a silly joke of a “film”.

  • Concerned

    Ok, Arch. I just want better safety and accountability down there. Maybe you’re right (but not about The Warriors).

  • New to BK Heights

    What about the notion of consequences? The park – and all of its piers and facilities are there for people to enjoy and use appropriately. At this point, it has been demonstrated that certain people are abusing the privilege of the park by using it for activities OTHER than what it was intended for… activities that make it not only unpleasant, but dangerous for other patrons. It seems that if one particular section is a hotbed of illegal activities (violent ones at that) – then EVERYONE’s privilege to use amenities in that section should be removed. Unfortunately this argument seems to be deteriorating to a war of political ideologies – this is about a public recreation area that is unable to function properly due to misuse. If you can’t play nice, then unfortunately no one plays.