The crackhouse next door . . .
TOURÉ wrote: New York Timesthe rest of the article
A Snitch Like Me
By TOURÉ
Published: March 23, 2008
ONE hot night last summer, just past midnight, I discovered that in the apartment building across the street from my duplex in Fort Greene there was a little crack house.
Comments
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the building next door to me is a known crackhouse. My bedroom window looks into their backyard and I hear them arguing all the time about prices and product. And to make it even more awesome there's 3 little boys living there (all under age 5, I think two are twins.)
Its pretty awesome, let me tell ya... -
I wonder if this is the same building that was involved in that when I lived on South Oxford about 14 years ago. I don't want to list addresses or locations since I don't want to condemn a building that may have been cleaned up but I wonder. If it is, that building has a very interesting history as the landlord left and the building was taken over by squatters. Sad thing though is that the apartments were really nice duplexes and that one building generated some problems but the Block Association was very up on trying to get the area together and although they didn't stop it, it was controlled to a degree.
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yeah, I saw this in the paper, too. was kinda hoping it'd inspire local pols, if not law enforcement, to mobilize.
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Drkman, I think that building has been redeveloped and turned into condos...if it's the same one I remember from the mid-90s....landlord took off, suspicious fire, lots of water damage, squatters, etc.....
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Carmen, you really ought to report that address to the Agency for Children's Services. That type of environment breeds neglect and violence and is dangerous to children. Callers can remain anonymous.
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Subject: crack house
Do you think since it was in the NY Times that might prompt the police to shut the house on South Oxford down? Or that it "outs" it to the rest of the neighborhood, such as the block association?
It doesn't make sense that they would know it's a crack house and not just go in an bust them. Why did the cop need the access word from the author of the article to infiltrate?
I mean, if they bust them with crack and whatever else is in the house, it'll still shut down the dealing...won't it??
Or maybe since it was in the paper the dealers will move or shut it down, at least temporarily.
That is if they read this website or the newspaper, I guess. -
Subject: the dodgy building on S. Oxford
I actually live in the building that has the dodgy past, used to have squatters all over, etc. I can assure you that none of that happens anymore. The condos are nice, the building is full except for one unit that's being renovated, and there's a new board with no attachment to the 1990s-early 2000s history.
Obviously I'm biased since I do live there, but this is definitely not the building Toure mentions.
Anyone know whether the photo of the house (which is between Greene and Lafayette) is actually the one that Toure writes about, or whether i's just supposed to be a representative photo of houses in that area? It's not clear. -
I assume this is the Roanoke which has since been converted into condos. That was a well known crack spot until 2 or 3 years ago.
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Subject: Roanoke
Yes, the Roanoke. I think it was clean as of 2-3 years ago because a fair number of the current owners were there then. But 4-5 years ago, I hear it was pretty nasty. -
I lived down the block from the Roanoke in 97-98 and that building was a complete nightmare. It looks great now, though - we went to an open house there about 2 years ago and looked at one of the condos. They did a good job with the renovation.
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Subject: re: Roanoke
I'm glad you think that. The building just had a bunch of cracks in its exterior masonry patched up and painted so it's looking better than it has probably since before the squatters settled in. I know they're trying to keep it that way. -
Subject: my guess
my guess: the house that toure described is 99 and 101 so oxford. it's two adjacent brick apt bldgs owned by the same guy. you can tell they aren't taken care of well. the windows are propped up with broom handles, etc. i know someone who lives in an apt there. he's a sweet old man who has been there forever. i know from him that there are some unsavory characters who come in and out of that building.
whatever the case, i really think it's the responsibility of the landlord to keep that kind of thing in check. the landlord needs to know what's happening inside the building and should get the cops there when necessary. -
If the problem has been fixed for about 2 or 3 years now, why post the article?
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Subject: same
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Cool, the Roanoke is now back to what is was supposed to be. When I first moved back to Brooklyn it was on South Oxford and the Roanoke was condo's or trying to be sold as condo's. Almost immediatiely though, something happened and the landlord just left the building and other people moved into it and basically did what they wanted to do with the apartments. Good to hear that it has been renovated and is now be utilized for what is was meant for.
The other buidling that is being mentioned is on South Oxford between Lafayette and Greene/Fulton? If so, I thought that had stopped years ago. Wow. -
For those of you wanting to know what to do about it one of the posters here - neene attends many community meetings and always lists the numbers for the Narcotics squad as well as the DA's office. I suggest you either PM her or if she could post that info here for you as well.
Its a shitty situation and one I hope you can get resolved. -
Subject: contact info
stacey, i didn't get from your post how exactly to get the numbers you are talking about, do you mind clarifyng?
thanks! -
Saadia Adossa is the Community Specialist for the DA's office that covers Crown Heights. Ms. Adossa's number is 718-250-3370. I'm not sure if she covers all of Brooklyn or if there is someone else for Ft. Greene. She has been very helpful over here and I'm sure if you call her she can instruct you on what you need to do.
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Subject: Re: contact info
lilcricket wrote: drkman, you are correct about the location, in btw lafayette and the fulton/greene ave corner. this guy has been around a long time, as was alluded to in toure's article.
Sorry bout that - I suck at the search feature.
stacey, i didn't get from your post how exactly to get the numbers you are talking about, do you mind clarifyng?
thanks![/i]
One of the posters on this board, her screen name is Neene, attends many of the community and police meetings. After these meetings she has posted the phone numbers that the police dept. has given as well as the numbers to the DA's office. She is a registered user here so you can PM her and she can provide those numbers.
Hopefully she will see this post and put them up here for everyone.
Hope that helps -
homeowner wrote: Saadia Adossa is the Community Specialist for the DA's office that covers Crown Heights. Ms. Adossa's number is 718-250-3370. I'm not sure if she covers all of Brooklyn or if there is someone else for Ft. Greene. She has been very helpful over here and I'm sure if you call her she can instruct you on what you need to do.
She was very helpful to me as well. She does cover Ft. Greene. You should call her or send her an email. [email protected] -
I have lived on S. Oxford St. for more than 10 years, between Lafayette and Fulton.
The crack house that was the subject of the NY Times article is in fact 99-101 S. Oxford St.. The house photographed for the article is not this address, but rather the house across the street. I am sure has lead to some unwanted confusion for the current residents there -- too bad the Times did not think of that before running the article. I assume from reading the article and knowing the neighborhood that this is the house where the author lived and witnessed the crack sales across the street.
I would love for the crack sales to stop and the dealer arrested. But for those of you who remember the Roanoke, the activity there was far worse. The story I heard was that the owner of the building was a woman who lived in the Walt Whitman projects North of the park. Her son ran a crack business out of the Roanoke. She lost the building for non-payment of taxes. This was a very good thing for the neighborhood. -
For the record, the times made an elliptical corerction on the story, i'm sure at the complaint of the owner of the houses portrayed in the photo that accompanied the story.
Correction: March 30, 2008
A picture last Sunday with an essay about a crack house in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, was published in error. The three houses in the picture are on the same street as the crack house, but none of the three figured in the essay. -
sOxfordDwellr wrote: I have lived on S. Oxford St. for more than 10 years, between Lafayette and Fulton.
When I lived over there, the original landlord was supposed to have been a jewish guy that left the building due to some financial issues. They were trying to sell the apartments as condo's and the apartments themselves were very nice. I recall helping these 2 young women move something into their apartment and it was a very nice duplex. Somewhere along the line, the original tenants moved out and the squatters moved in and went through legal channels (like some squatters did on the Lower East Side) and evidently ownership changed hands. The woman in the Walt Whitman projects was probably the mother of one of the squatters that attempted to take over the building. Once the buidling changed hands, taxes probably came into play and the apartments were lost becuase their probably was no real income coming in, since nobody was really paying rent. I lived over there about 15 years ago just before and right after the Roanoke went wayward. Anyhow, I think that is how it went, give or take some things, but it is only a guess.
The crack house that was the subject of the NY Times article is in fact 99-101 S. Oxford St.. The house photographed for the article is not this address, but rather the house across the street. I am sure has lead to some unwanted confusion for the current residents there -- too bad the Times did not think of that before running the article. I assume from reading the article and knowing the neighborhood that this is the house where the author lived and witnessed the crack sales across the street.
I would love for the crack sales to stop and the dealer arrested. But for those of you who remember the Roanoke, the activity there was far worse. The story I heard was that the owner of the building was a woman who lived in the Walt Whitman projects North of the park. Her son ran a crack business out of the Roanoke. She lost the building for non-payment of taxes. This was a very good thing for the neighborhood. -
Subject: I'm surprised...
...no one's made the seemingly obligatory doormat joke here:
"It's not a crack house, it's a crack home."
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