Nightrider Alert! Jerk on bike commits random violence !

catwalkertexasranger

Anybody telling you or your wife to do anything but flee is plain dumb. Run away. Anybody saying to tune out and walk day or night with an ipod on is not thinking. Anybody walking up the block with a full blab on their cell phone has that big V that somebody else was talking about. When you are alone go in a straight line home, bar or bodega but don't broadcast. While moving a car off Lincoln Pl before a 6am curfew for road work I saw with my own eyes people guzzling beer on both end of the street from Franklin to Claussen pre 530 am.. With a beer bag tilted to almost empty I have no interest finding out if their judgment has been impaired by a night of heavy hitting. Their are a few nasty people everywhere avoid them if you can. If anybody tells you they have better things to do than take a report after an A and B get their badge number and supervisors name. All this BS about black nieghborhood is exactly that BS, Blacks don't like assholes slapping them and scaring their families any less then anybody else.

pittiecity

It's Classon, not some Kraft excuse for a pickle brand.

And are you serious about "guzzling beer pre 5:30 a.m.? Wow. The things I would love to say if I didn't have the utmost respect for moderators... A full blab!

ams

Not to highjack a thread with someone unrelated, but I fucking hate how I can't walk down the street in this neighborhood without getting uncomfortable comments said to (well, more like AT) me. Who the fuck taught men in Brooklyn that it's ok to speak to women this way?

pittiecity

Are you a big V catwalktexasranger?

mr. met

hahaha

catwalkertexasranger

pittie sorry I did not make myself clear. If you litter and drink beer from a bag at 530am in the morning standing if front of the bodega,or and you smack people as they ride up the street on their bike and go into some chant of intimidation you are a POS,period. Girls post over and over that cat calls and yo mami,hey baby psssst is f%$#ing stupid. If it did work, the person finding it attractive is probably the same person in front of the bodega at 530am drinking out of a bag like a good quality citizen. Fear is real because animals are free, smacking phones of the innocents or making a girl feel afraid to walk alone from the store,bar or train.If any of that is attractive than you should relocate. Crime and criminals all suck.

pittiecity

I do not litter but during the summer, 5:30 a.m. beer from a bag= a good way to enjoy a summer sunrise!

I agree that in an ideal world crime sucks, but it is not because "fear is real [and] animals are free". I suspect that the "animals" you are referring to are the people that generally cause disturbances--- young people with summers off and nothing better to do than bike into passive looking newcomers.

The neighborhood is changing, and while many of us with the luxury to "blog" perhaps welcome this, there are understandably those who do not.

In reality, most of us are "newbies" with regard to this area. (Please don't tell me how you have lived here 5 years because so have I). I cannot point to the house down the street and tell you how I grew up there... and how the house was repossessed. I am simply suggesting that the most realistic, positive way to cope is to be sensitive to the fact that those of us walking around with a "V" on our head are also those who ostracize themselves for the most part, because of their possessions. I find that one of the most appealing things about our neighborhood is to get a sense of many things--- social classes, culture, food.

We like it when it tastes good. We hate it when it when it harasses us by bike (which is wrong, but indicative of many greater, deeper-rooted problems).

pittiecity

P.S.- did you get the PittieCity for city council flier I slipped under your door?

catwalkertexasranger

Sounds human. The people that I observe 5 or 6 times sipping suds in the the wee hours have been out of school for @10 or 15 years or are getting a Phd in FU. Nobody should have the hobby of hitting people, not as a right of passage or otherwise. Youth is great and so is a summer break. Getting shot in a car at a summer vacation block party is the outcome of somebody not stopped early when it was a push or smack. There are great things all around and thugs are useless.

independent mind

It is wrong to suggest that there is any justifiable reason that someone should consider themselves more vulnerable to verbal or physical harassment.

I don't care if the person is wearing earmuffs and blinkers and speaking on a three-way call to their deaf in-laws while fumbling for their keys, there is no frigging excuse.

People get targeted for all KINDS of reasons, Crime is not always avoidable, so my advice is not to consider yourself omnipotent because you feel tough and focused when on the street. The most important thing we can do is to remember that this sort of behavior is absolutely unacceptable, and to maintain behavior that is in keeping with this belief. Its ridiculous to tell ourselves to walk around every day as if we are preparing for some kind of visual ninja-off with oncoming thugs and drunkards.

germanhermann

Subject: ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

catwalkertexasranger wrote: Anybody telling you or your wife to do anything but flee is plain dumb. Run away. Anybody saying to tune out and walk day or night with an ipod on is not thinking. Anybody walking up the block with a full blab on their cell phone has that big V that somebody else was talking about. When you are alone go in a straight line home, bar or bodega but don't broadcast. While moving a car off Lincoln Pl before a 6am curfew for road work I saw with my own eyes people guzzling beer on both end of the street from Franklin to Claussen pre 530 am.. With a beer bag tilted to almost empty I have no interest finding out if their judgment has been impaired by a night of heavy hitting. Their are a few nasty people everywhere avoid them if you can. If anybody tells you they have better things to do than take a report after an A and B get their badge number and supervisors name. All this BS about black nieghborhood is exactly that BS, Blacks don't like assholes slapping them and scaring their families any less then anybody else.

This is just sad. I genuinely feel sorry for you for not being able to enjoy your neighborhood. Is it where you live or would you feel like this anywhere?

However, concerning the beer-drinking, this smacks of just a little too much judgment. Do you drink? Have you ever drunk late at night? Did you feel guilty for doing it? There's nothing wrong with having a beer at 5.30 nor with having it outside. Where I come from a good breakfast is some beer and sausage, and drinking outside is a sport.

cool the kid

Subject: Re: ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

GermanHermann wrote:

This is just sad. I genuinely feel sorry for you for not being able to enjoy your neighborhood. Is it where you live or would you feel like this anywhere?

However, concerning the beer-drinking, this smacks of just a little too much judgment. Do you drink? Have you ever drunk late at night? Did you feel guilty for doing it? There's nothing wrong with having a beer at 5.30 nor with having it outside. Where I come from a good breakfast is some beer and sausage, and drinking outside is a sport.

You don't see anything wrong w/ppl drinking beer outside at 5AM on a weekday?

I know it's depressing, but the truth is PH/North CH are not super duper awesome places to live. There are still much higher incidences of drugs and crime than in places like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, even Park Slope south. You get what you pay for. I've been here for about 3 years and have resigned to the bad aspects of the neighborhood. But for right now I can't afford to live anywhere else, so I just deal with it

I've found that it's been a lot easier to not get caught up in anything by staying on wheels... either by car or bike... and by not walking around at night

Sucks, but this is the nabe we have...

whatchuwant

independent mind wrote: It is wrong to suggest that there is any justifiable reason that someone should consider themselves more vulnerable to verbal or physical harassment.

I don't care if the person is wearing earmuffs and blinkers and speaking on a three-way call to their deaf in-laws while fumbling for their keys, there is no frigging excuse.

People get targeted for all KINDS of reasons, Crime is not always avoidable, so my advice is not to consider yourself omnipotent because you feel tough and focused when on the street. The most important thing we can do is to remember that this sort of behavior is absolutely unacceptable, and to maintain behavior that is in keeping with this belief. Its ridiculous to tell ourselves to walk around every day as if we are preparing for some kind of visual ninja-off with oncoming thugs and drunkards.

It's not wrong to suggest it- it's reality. It's too bad, but it's true, we live in a continually changing environment, with a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds. For the most part, we get along. But there are time when one must be cautious. Hey- I'm not exactly walking around like a ninja ready to fend off the enemy, people know me on my block, so I don't have to. But I also don't walk around like a dummy. I think I get respect on my block because I earned it, and I think its true for most of us that don't get smacked in the head. Not to say this guy had it coming, but certain people put out certain vibes. If your vibe is that you're weak and easy prey, bad people will sense it. Wrong? Hell's yea, but it's reality. Deal.

germanhermann

Subject: Re: ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

Cool The Kid wrote: You don't see anything wrong w/ppl drinking beer outside at 5AM on a weekday?

Nope. But again, where I'm from you see people in the train station at 7:00 am having some beer and sausage. It's quite common to see people on morning snack break with a beer. If you are fall down drunk day after day at 5am, I'd say you _might_ have something to worry about --- but did you measure the BAC of those guys you saw having a beer in the early morning.

Ask yourself, "If I were out there enjoying a beer with some friends, would I feel I need to be judged? Would I feel I'm doing something wrong?" I'm guessing you would think no.

prospectheightsyo

Well, it is illegal to drink beer outside here. So yeah, there actually is something wrong with it.

germanhermann

Subject: Also sprach Comic Book Guy....

Worst reply ever.

prospectheightsyo

Why do you compare your culture to somehow justify thugs drinking in public, especially at 5am? HAY did you know in some parts of India they piss and defecate in the streets?

Oh, it's not a bunch of jolly Germans drinking hefe weiss and eating schnitzel on eastern parkway. Wasn't sure if you noticed or not.

germanhermann

The original poster didn't interact with these people and they didn't interact with him. So which part of their standing on the street drinking made them thugs? If you crack open a beer on your street are you a thug?

germanhermann

By original poster, I mean the dude who first mentioned the 5am drinking. Not the original poster of the thread.

prospectheightsyo

Well, he insinuated that label by claiming they looked like they had gotten their "PHD in FU" ha. I would assume since he mentioned these people as a supporting anecdote to this thread, they probably didn't seem like model citizens. But they could just be sad, harmless bums. Shrug.

Cracking open a beer in the street doesn't making you a thug, but you will probably get a ticket.

Anything else?

germanhermann

Ah.... so he profiled them... hmm... I wonder what characteristics of their appearance he used to make his judgment.

prospectheightsyo

Perhaps red, feral eyes and drool dribbling down their chins?

carnivore

prospectheightsyo wrote: Cracking open a beer in the street doesn't making you a thug, and you will probably not get a ticket.

FTFY.

independent mind

I think I get respect on my block because I earned it, and I think its true for most of us that don't get smacked in the head.

OK, great, I"m sure you have. All I'm saying is, be careful that you don't have a false sense of immunity and get in trouble yourself, and, more importantly, don't fall into the trap of feeling that those who may not be as tough or together as you in any way haven't 'earned' their right to not be accosted. I know you wouldn't feel that way if, hypothetically, your grandma with dementia was hit, or your daughter on her ipod who's just received a txt from her friend and is not paying attention to the sidewalk.

I've lived in a very intense, what most would call 'scary' hood for ten years, but I don't look to my neighbors for respect, I look inside, at my ability to feel compassion for others, whether or not I see them as hard. I've seen bad things happen to all kinds of people, so let's practice a little sympathy rather than chastisement.

prospectheightsyo

Hmm I would love to see a dramatic PSA with some girl walking down the street in Brooklyn listening to her IPOD while texting. Sounds dangerous enough.

germanhermann

uh, I think everyone has the right to not be accosted, there's nothing to earn. Your not being accosted probably has more to do with you not drawing bad luck in the randomness of accostings. You could walk down the street with blinders on texting with the left hand and holding a second phone in your right hand shouting through speaker phone and I think much more often than not, you will not get hassled. It's just having bad luck, not having not earned the right to be left alone.

I have a friend who has supremely bad luck. He doesn't dress particularly odd or draw attention to himself through any of the ways mentioned so far; yet things happen to him. He's been punched in the face after responding in the affirmative to someone asking for a cigarette (in Brooklyn); been jumped at a gas station (RI); been punched in the back of the head (west of Times Square); even had chicken thrown at his head from a moving car going by too fast for the passengers to have a chance to size him up in anyway (Indiana, I believe). None of this is provoked by anything in his way of being --- he just has horrible luck. Whereas I read while walking down NYC streets in all neighborhoods and have not once been hassled.

whatchuwant

independent mind wrote:
I've lived in a very intense, what most would call 'scary' hood for ten years, but I don't look to my neighbors for respect, I look inside, at my ability to feel compassion for others, whether or not I see them as hard. I've seen bad things happen to all kinds of people, so let's practice a little sympathy rather than chastisement.

I don't think I'm chastising anyone- and I do agree that bad things happen to everyone. BUT! You are less likely to have something happen to you, however, if you're more aware of your surroundings than "your average bear."

And, as Herman has shared, there are people who are just targets no matter what they do. I feel bad for your friend, Herman- I hope he's developed a seriously thick skin and a great sense of humor from all those awful experiences.

germanhermann

If you are the victim of a drive-by fried-chickening you develop a sense of humor.

Also, HermanN is my last name. German is actually my first name, not an adjective.

ishtar

prospectheightsyo wrote: Hmm I would love to see a dramatic PSA with some girl walking down the street in Brooklyn listening to her IPOD while texting. Sounds dangerous enough.

She's more likely to injure herself on these decrepit side walks.

xlizellx

Subject: Re: ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

Cool The Kid wrote:

You don't see anything wrong w/ppl drinking beer outside at 5AM on a weekday?

I know it's depressing, but the truth is PH/North CH are not super duper awesome places to live. There are still much higher incidences of drugs and crime than in places like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, even Park Slope south. You get what you pay for. I've been here for about 3 years and have resigned to the bad aspects of the neighborhood. But for right now I can't afford to live anywhere else, so I just deal with it

I've found that it's been a lot easier to not get caught up in anything by staying on wheels... either by car or bike... and by not walking around at night

Sucks, but this is the nabe we have...

1 - I don't see anything wrong with drinking beer that early outside (except that, stupidily/technically in NYC it is illegal to drink on the sidewalk) - maybe they work night shift. A lot of people in my family (aunts/uncles) used to waiter/waitress until 5am (closed at 4am and then had to clean up) and then they'd go to the bars for 6am because that was their evening. they'd drink until 8 or so with coworkers and then sleep until 2pm so they could go to their shifts. sorry not everyone is on your timetable of when it's ok to drink and when it's not.

2 - Check out the map just posted today on Brownstoner:

http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Maps/?map=nyc2&x=0.5866666666666667&y=0.41625&zoom=0&basemap=crime&report=1&ax=0.46041581458759373&ay=0.41573278800272667&star=1&tab=themes&ll=40.752063846333,-73.9098853142113

I don't know where you get all of your information, but I would MUCH rather walk down the streets in PH/CH than those in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. Not everyone lives on Bedford Avenue between S 6th and N 11th.

3 - We live in NYC - the OP here did nothing wrong. Nothing. Are you more likely to be bother/attacked if you look busy and aren't paying attention? Maybe. But would this person NOT been hit if they had been walking empty-handed? Seems doubtful - this guy hit someone on the sidewalk. No matter what they were doing, he would have done it.