Very Angry

Subject: Re: Very Angry

People like the person complaining about the CH board will unfortunately see the realities in the other parts of Brooklyn and realize that at least in FG and CH we were honest about what happens around us.

Angry wrote: I came across this on the PH Message Board. I find it disturbing that they can't face the reality of things. This one person said that PH and PS are full of positive things, well that’s because the people chose to be in denial. They have problems in PH and PS. To be quite honest Washington Ave and St. John's has one of the biggest Gang problems out there. These stuck up people better wake up. CH and FG's Boards are REAL.

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject: Shutting down the Dailyheights Forums (now with explanation)


So I'm starting to think that the boards are feeling a bit provincial. The focus is on PH, and although we know Prospect Heights is the official Curbed.com Best Brooklyn Nabe, I really feel like we're missing the big picture.

I don't know how often you check out the other boards... I certainly don't as much as I should.

Bottom line, I think it's time to take the boards out of the shadow of Daily Heights, and spin them off into a separate entity that's more generically Brooklyn. Any objections?



AR
Grand Master

I come to the PS / PH boards because they are positive,, ie.. wine bars.. sushi places,, organic foods.. Where the Crown Heights board ( where I am ) is gang this,, murder that, vandalism here and there) in Fact I was threatened to night by a group of "young adults" that told me I should move out of their hood.. I rent, not own, so CH to me is NOT home........ For long.

enh. i prefer our board to the PS one most of the time. at least not everything turns into a rant about strollers.

anyway.

does anyone know who to contact about getting the city or the mta or someone to do something about gang-related grafitti on the shuttle overpasses taken care of? i tried 311, and the lady there was very nice but ultimately unhelpful.

Homeowner,
Point taken and very well said. I DO think it's good to make everyone aware of neighborhood happenings, I don't want that to stop, but as for me personally, I wish that there was a little more frivilous ( funny or stupid) topics to be had as in the PS/PH boards.

As I was walking home today I noticed more new gang graffiti on the building at Lincoln and New York. Why doesn't someone do something about that? I'll bet that owner will sell that building in the new CH push so not to have to really deal with the problem, and then we will here more cries of unfair gentrification when everyone has to move out. It's obivious no one cares about the place, and it's a breeding ground for crime.

see I just started one... easy as pie...

Oh yeah,
What's up with this being a guest thread. The Guest posts are ALWAYS the most inflammitory.

nybt wrote: [quote=AR]...I wish that there was a little more frivilous ( funny or stupid) topics to be had as in the PS/PH boards....

There are a lot more people on the boards that from PH, and I think that a lot of stuff gets put on the PH board simply because of habit... A lot of the Dhers (even the ones like myself that don't live in PH proper) predate the CH, BH, FG/CH, BoCoCa, GNY&B boards, so general conversation has kinda fallen to that board...i read all the boards . i wish there was a general brooklyn boards.

AR wrote: You know I've thought about this for a couple days..
Angry guest poster or whoever singled out my post can go to hell!
I have met some really nice people that live in Crown Heights, but most of them OWN their houses/ apartments. That's great, in a while their investments will flourish and they will have an awesome place to live. I rent,,, I do not need to weather the slow change in safety here, or to put it blundtly, I do not want to. Gang fighting ON MY BLOCK is not cool, I don't know how old "Angry Dipshit" is but I've done this before in Atlanta. I now can afford to rent in what you deem "snob" places like Cobble Hill or Park Slope and when I can I will. If I was "vested " in CH I would totally feel otherwise, but the simple truth is that IT IS NOT SAFE AFTER A CERTAIN TIME AT NIGHT, AND THAT TIME IS WAY TOO EARLY COMPARED TO OTHER NEIGHBOHOODS! I don't have anything holding me here and in the next 3 to 6 motnhs hope to be somewhere else. I have an awesome apartment so any of you naysayers should get in touch if your really serious about your posts.

right on. dont let them put you down!

AR wrote: I don't want to retract anything I said in my last post, only explain where I was coming from. I have been hassled a couple times already ( in only 2 and 1/2 months) for being a white guy. Another factor is as it's getting warmer the drug activity is already getting worse, and as I'm told the gangs will too(the FIRST warm day was the shots fired on Lincoln). I'm tired of people screaming outside the crappy apartments on St. Johns between Nostrand and New York at 3am, and no one else seems to care. Dog shit, don't get me started. I read that the City's section 8 program for a ton of apartments is running out soon and I'm glad. Now what sucks is, I don't want to feel that way, but the actions of many of the people that live in these apts. has changed me. That being said I think it's just time for me to start looking for somewhere else to live. By the way I just have to ask, how many of you guys feel safe coming home after midnight on the 2 or 3?
So back to what started this thread was someone slamming me for wishing there were more positive posts on this board as on the PS/PH boards. I'm not in denial, and as you can see I know what happens here, I just thought maybe a little more positive things would help me not feel so disgruntled with CH.

I Know how you feel. being asian is like a double wammy. they ask for take out and make racial slurs and sometimes punch and try to ruff me up.

Nebula78 wrote: nobody who lives here wants to hear you trash their home..This neighborhood is obviously not for a scared, disgruntled person like yourself, just move to a more affluent hood already( you said you have the money). and be happy.....and quiet!

1.These are my opinions and that's it, they may not be anyone else's. That's great.

2. I may be disgruntled, but scared is the wrong term. Do you come home on the trains at 2:00am? I'd really like to know. I want to be able to do that in my neighborhood.

3. NO ONE, NO MATTER WHAT COLOR THEY ARE HAS ANY RIGHT TO HASSLE ANOTHER PERSON BECAUSE OF THEIR DIFFERENCE IN COLOR.

4. Most of my neighbors are really nice people, I love my apartment, but CH does not allow me the freedom I would choose to have.
So, when I can, and it will take a few months, I will move.
But that's it I'm off my soapbox, I return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Ok, 2am is a little late for alot of people that don't go see music, etc. in Manhattan, ( ok, I'm really not being antagonistic here) I seriously want to know how late people take the trains and feel safe. I do alot of stuff in the city and I would rather use my money on other things than $25.00 cabs and car services ( when they will come to CH from Manhattan). Serious question for Nebula(not a sacastic one) does living here affect the choices you make reguarding your lifestyle?
See to me, I would rather have the freedom of choice and have to pay more for it, that's just my personal priority.

I had a feeling your reply was going to sound just like that. I didn't have the luxury of coming to CH before I moved from 3000 miles away. The person who owns our building was the source of alot of the information we had (and he admits not doing enough research). I also was on this board too. There was alot of optimisim about CH really changing, now that I live here, it's not what I want for my home. Yeah, of course there is crime everywhere, I've stated that myself in previous posts, but CH is ripe with it. Moving to NY is hard, we had a chance to move here (CH) very easily and did, now the time is coming to move on. Go back and read the thread about the 3/10/06 shooting incident, people talk about the gang problem here, watching your back constantly, that there are shots fired all the time in the summer, why does anyone want to deal with that kind of shit? I don't. As far as thinking the 'hood was going to change because I moved here, whatever--- you yourself called CH the ghetto, I wished someone had said that when I was trying to do research before I moved here. I'm too old to RENT in a place that does not make my life happy. And yes, a move will solve my problems, because they are very neighborhood specific.

Look,
I said what was on mind and that's all. I'm not trying to start some stupid bandwagon, and I wasn't even looking for someone to even agree with me. This thread started out with someone railing me for a post in the PH board, then I just let loose my feelings on my neighborhood, (yes, I live here, so it's my neighborhood). Candicissima, I do wish I could have done my homework enough on the transportation issues, you are fortunate to be where you are. I didn't blame this board for anything, I just didn't do enough research for myself before I moved to CH. And yes I reserve my right to move in and out of wherever, whenever I want when If don't feel safe.

that last post was mine, I wan't logged in.

when I moved to NYC I lived in Harlem. this was back in 2001 when that nabe was getting all sorts of crazy press about how it had "turned around" and was a "hot spot" and "totally safe". horseshit. for a long time I took the 2/3 home (I lived at 135th and 5th ave) any time - didn't matter how late it was. then that fucked up Harlem rapist raped a woman in my subway station at like 3 p.m. so I stopped feeling safe taking the train after around 11 p.m. seeing as how my apartment was $600/month stabilized I could afford to just take a cab home and quit thinking about it. then some kid in a drug deal gone wrong shot himself in the foot outside of my apartment at 2 a.m. a year later, a bullet came through my window.

so I moved to Washington Heights, allegedly more family friendly than my little corner of Harlem. er, yeah. the Mexican/Dominican drug war was being waged nightly and once again I just took cabs home late at night. some guy got stabbed to death in my subway station at 2 p.m on a Saturday afternoon. between that and regular shootings on Broadway, I figured it was time to move to Brooklyn.

now I live in Washington Ave. I realize I'm not in the 'heart' of CH, but I've had my fair share of scares here, too (last one at Yelison, where the owner was menacing a guy with a machete. menaced guy was threatening to shoot the owner. yes, they were between me and the door.) so I take my personal safety VERY seriously here. I think I told you this stuff when we first met at Soda:

1. I always take a cab home after around 11 p.m. why tempt fate?
2. I'm hyper aware of my surroundings and have developed several "escape" routes in problem areas in my nabe (as you know, I live very close to the corner of St. Johns and Washington - notoriously drug/gang central).
3. I try not to be distracted on my walk from the subway - I put my iPod away while I'm on the subway before I get out at my stop, I don't return calls until I get home, etc.

I could get mugged (or worse) tomorrow and none of the above will have made a difference, but I like to think that I'm using every tactic available to me to protect myself. would any of the above change if I lived in Brooklyn Heights? not really - I'd be paying more money for my apartment and still be taking cabs home after 11 p.m. in fact, I'd probably be taking more cabs home at a greater expense - part of what I like about this neighborhood is that both within the nabe and in surrounding areas (PS, ft. Green, bococa) there are a lot of fun bars and restaurants and venues (jamie lidell at southpaw anyone?) that keep me from leaving the area.

finally, while I don't think that taking a self defense class taught me a whole lot about physical self defense (I'd totally get my ass kicked), it did let me focus for a good 2-3 hours on the issue of self defense, on preventative measures I could take, about my attitude, etc. I always thought I was a tough broad, but taking that class a few years ago really helped me improve on my innate toughness.

all of that said, I do know what it's like to live in a transitional neighborhood (like CH, or Harlem several years ago) and think "what the fuck am I doing here?" and it sounds like you know what the solution is - either invest and make the problem your own, or leave. I chose to leave Harlem and WH - I wouldn't begrudge your choice.