Early AM ShootIng on St. Johns, near Classon June 24 2012

Heard the shots. Sounded very close, but when I went to the window, it seemed like everyone walking by was a bit too cool about it.

...or the occasional baseball bat for shooting retaliation. Same block.

St. Johns Place Baseball Bat Attack

A 42-year-old man was walking on St. Johns place between Classon and Washington avenues on June 6 when a man he knew came up from behind him, said “This is for 20 years ago (expletive),” and hit the man in the head with a metal baseball bat. The victim told police the attacker “had a beef with me 20 years ago over a shooting.” After hitting the victim the attacker jumped into a car and drove off. The victim was taken to Kings County Hospital with head injuries, according to a police report. wahington Avenue and jump into a car to unkpnwn direction. EMS on Scene and removed c/v to kings county hospital. http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/police-blotter-st-johns-place-baseball-bat-attack

I guess it depends how successful the shooting was 20 years ago. Bat to the head trumps missed shots or bullet graze.

Between the bat incident, Sunday morning's shooting, the recent shooting in front of the barber shop, and the general sketchy dealing activity on the corner of St Marks Johns/Washington, it sure seems like some additional police presence in the area would be useful. Maybe someone should point this out to the 77th precinct?

Actually, I meant St Johns, not St Marks. Haven't noticed anything unusual by St Marks, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Bar Corvo seems to be doing alright in the shadow of the St Johns corner...although I suppose half a block makes a big difference.

I'm sure that soon enough some of our fellow posters will write about how, like loud outdoor parties at inappropriate times, shootings and baseball bat attacks are part of the neighborhood culture and that the lowly newcomers should simply accept this and not impose their biased standards on longtime residents.

I'm sure that soon enough some of our fellow posters will write about how, like loud outdoor parties at inappropriate times, shootings and baseball bat attacks are part of the neighborhood culture and that the lowly newcomers should simply accept this and not impose their biased standards on longtime residents.

Hey Jack, You are right, but this year I won't be one of those noise ranting posters.

The solution is to just move. Many of those folks, in places like where I lived will be there forever because they have no other place to go!

My advice to future ranters:

MOVE. yep, scrape those pennies together, get an extra roommate, another job, ANYTHING, cuz, the likelihood that anything is gonna change is nil, unless there is mass real estate/luxury condo funded gentrification, which will actually motivate the local cops to take their jobs seriously.

Jack Krohn said:

I'm sure that soon enough some of our fellow posters will write about how, like loud outdoor parties at inappropriate times, shootings and baseball bat attacks are part of the neighborhood culture and that the lowly newcomers should simply accept this and not impose their biased standards on longtime residents.

Gun violence and loud parties are not nearly the same thing. When some of us say the parties are cultural, it’s not because we’re trying to excuse them, it’s because we’re trying to explain them. They are cultural. Not black culture, or African American culture, but Caribbean American culture.

When my family first came here, they lived in Prospect Heights and have since made what has become a pretty typical migration for Caribbeans through Brooklyn: to Crown Heights, then East Flatbush, and now Canarsie. This weekend I was at what you would most likely describe as a “loud outdoor party at an inappropriate time” (we got there at 11 p.m. and left around 2 a.m.) in East Flatbush. It was one of at least three such parties that night on the same block—a block filled with homeowners who take good care of their properties and are active in their communities—and yet no one was calling 311 with noise complaints. Why? Because there is a clear cultural difference in what’s considered common and acceptable. The parties will continue all summer (which is carnival season here) in West Indian communities across Brooklyn. And the majority of them will be peaceful, fun-loving affairs for family, friends, and neighbors.

I'm not suggesting that newcomers to these neighborhoods must just accept it, but these are the characteristics of the neighborhood to which they chose to move. When neighborhoods change enough that the once-dominant culture is no longer so, as the western edge of Crown Heights North certainly has, then the neighborhood norms change accordingly—and that’s what we’re seeing playing itself out on these threads.