Open Thread Wednesday

By on August 16, 2016 11:59 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • StudioBrooklyn

    Sure, I’m just saying that I consider the law a poor metric for what’s behaviorally acceptable, and thus deferring to it weakens your argument somewhat. As you just said, there are a multitude of reasons why beggars are bad for a neighborhood, and none of the examples you gave came down to the fact of their illegality. In other words, something can be illegal just because it’s bad, but it can’t be bad just because it’s illegal.

  • Concerned

    You consider the law a poor metric for what’s behaviorally acceptable? Really? Well, that’s a big difference between us. I understand that there are some laws that are debatable. But I think that the vast majority of laws are there to prevent unacceptable behavior in a civil society. I’m sure you know that a lot of debate and time and energy goes into enacting a law. Many times, a law protects the public from unforeseen occurrences that only experts and time show. And while a lot of those unforeseen occurrences become major factors for enacting a law, the public never hears about them because they get buried in a notes section deep in the annals of the law/statute. So it’s surprising that someone like you with an open mind, doesn’t give more weight to the law on its face, considering there are probably a lot of considerations you’re not privy to.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    I prefer to go directly to the source when considering the acceptability of behavior. Like I said, something can be illegal just because it’s bad, but it can’t be bad just because it’s illegal. And in too many cases to my taste, good things are illegal and bad things are legal. You might assess this pattern differently, and (thank you for saying my mind is open) that’s probably the source of our disagreement.

  • irritated mom of 2

    unfortunately, i spoke with police officers about this guy recently and he said he is allowed to be there asking for money. unless he’s harassing people, being aggressive or violent there is nothing they can do about it. him calling you a “f@ggot” is harassment and can get him removed but you need to be willing to call the cops and stick around to attest to this. the best thing we can all do is not give these people money. also, the police officer told me this guy walks around with 2 cell phones and takes a cab to his designated location!

  • bklyn84

    NYC Department of Transportation has an interactive map of street evaluations, parking regulations, resurfacing projects, etc.

    How is your street rated and what’s going on?

    Enter your address and then select various data options to see ifo

    http://www.nycdot.info/

  • AndyHeights

    When I saw the original post here, I had a feeling that it was going to deteriorate into the discussion which has ensued. All I can add is that I found it extremely annoying during the Verizon strike to have to walk down Montague Street anywhere near the Verizon store as I found the picketers overly loud, aggressive and annoying to innocent passers by, but I understood their legal right to picket and I had to handle it.

  • Greg

    Law, I think, is very complicated. And at core very hard to separate from the politics and economics that motivate the various players who write laws.

    Many laws indeed serve the public good. That’s pretty clear to me. But it’s also clear there’s a strong, sustained history of laws that were never intended to serve the public good, and were passed to advance the narrow political interests of whatever politicians, lobbying groups, or businesses wanted them. And obviously we know there’s a long, long trail of “unethical” laws that have been reviewed and ultimately overturned, as well as a long trail of still present laws that have weak moral support and don’t seem to have long-term viability.

    Apologies if I’m making this too pie in the sky – I’m not even referring to the immediate subject. I’ve just been spending a lot of time recently researching an era of New York history which has involved diving deep into lawmaking and all the political dealing and shifting winds that ended up producing, maintaining, and upending the various laws that have impacted our society. I find the subject fascinating but also see a clear and important distinction between “law” and “social good”.

  • gc

    In the big picture are any of us really “innocent passers by” ?

  • #neverconcerned

    Honestly, tired of this neighborhood blog getting hijacked by one person.

    Here’s my solution for both blowhards and homeless beggars – ignore them. If they can make a single penny or get a single response, they’ll go somewhere else.

  • Concerned

    Huh. I didn’t realize. Sorry I’m ruining your blog experience. I’ll try to keep my posts to a minimum.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    “Hijacked” seemed somewhat hyperbolic to me. The truth is, though, most of us *probably* could make more productive use of the time we spend writing on here, myself included. We just love writing to each other so gosh darn much.

  • Donaldtrunk

    Soon America will be great again and all these problems will be solved.

  • B.

    Just FYI, when I went to school in the Heights in the 1960s, beggars sitting about and hurling remarks at passers by were not “a reality of city living.” I never saw panhandlers on Mintague or anywhere else.

    There was a man, true, who’d lost his lower torso and legs, perhaps in war or an industrial accident, who wheeled himself up and down Court Street, but that’s a little different, no?

  • B.

    Oh, dear. “Montague.” Sorry about typo.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Acknowledged. In fairness, I said “this is a reality…” not “this was a reality…” ;)

  • B.

    Okay! If you meant “has always been a reality of city living,” you would, no doubt, have said so — but present-perfect tenses are so rarely used, that I supposed you wrote “is a reality” to mean it’s always been, in the history of cities, the case. Pesky things, verb tenses.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    I would think it presumptuous to make such a statement (beginning with “On a personal note…” and ending with “…not sure…”) beyond my own experience of living in NYC (less than a decade). And, of course, “city living” can mean strikingly different things from one neighborhood to another, or from one block to another, regardless of tense.

    But I’m not sure who to defer to about what has been the “reality” of life in this neighborhood, as far as the quantity or intensity of beggars/vagrants in the area. Even long-time locals don’t agree on that one.

  • redlola

    i like it too. i’m a pescatarian and they have a crab option that is delicious.

  • redlola

    who is that dude who walks around in black suit with a large plastic duane reade bag and asks for money. i see him constantly.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    If it’s the same guy I’m thinking of, I often see him near the corner of Pierrepont and Henry, sometimes on the steps of that really famous building on the southwest corner (sorry, don’t know its designation), chatting with what appear to be a couple of younger tenants. He has, on one or two occasions, asked me for money. Today he asked me where Monroe Place was.

  • redlola

    For some reason, he goes out of his way to get to me and ask me for money. Like crossing the street lol

  • redlola

    yep, we sure are.

  • redlola

    waiting for someone to talk about the cops for telling you that cause you know that was somehow violative of that poor “victim’s” rights.

  • redlola

    i’m tired of it being hijacked by people who are never concerned about their neighbors and overly concerned about people who come here and disrespect residents.

  • Andrew Porter

    If you look at your comment, you can edit them any time to correct typos. Click on the “Edit” below the post.

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