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Kids on the stoop? Whaddya do? — Brooklynian

Kids on the stoop? Whaddya do?

sterling2000
sterling2000
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
So, I head out on my stoop tonight in the lovely 85 degree humidity to make a call, have a beer and grab a smoke.

There are 6 young guys and 1 gal, hangin' out, eatin' samwiches and rolling a blunt on my steps. Rather than confront, I say excuse me and ask for a place to sit. One guy gets up and I sit down, shoulder-to-shoulder with the crew and start my call with my brother on the left coast. The kids click their gums, make a few inaudible/un-understandable comments and then move on in with their bad selves and their dopey attitudes about five minutes after they realize I'm not going anywhere.

Now, I took the passive presence approach rather than the active "please get off my !@#$% stoop you !@#$% and get back to your own !@#$% homes" approach.

Anyone else care to share how to deal with the similar?

Is there any defensible reason to put up with this kind of attitude and shit?

Hmmmmmm?
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Comments

  • homeowner
    homeowner
    Personally I enjoy the passive approach. When I first moved into my house I used to get a lot of kids hanging out on the sidewalk in front. I started with the yelling to get them to move, but then I decided that it would extend my life to make them as miserable as they made me. So instead of yelling I would simply grab a broom and go out and start sweeping the sidewalk. Its kind of hard to stand on the street when someone is sweeping around you. Another favorite of mine was to wait until they were leaning against the fence and then go out and hang over the other side. Nothing shuts down the conversation of a bunch of sixteen year-olds like a thirty-something saying "...and then what happened?"

    Nope, there is no reason to put up with the attitude that folks that don't pay rent or the mortgage should expect to be allowed to sit on someone else's property.
  • sterling2000
    sterling2000
    Just came back from outside again, and half of them were back.

    I lit a cigarette, mumbled to myself and started crowing like a drought-throttled rooster, standing there calmly with my hands in my pockets.

    The kids rushed off my stoop like a swarm of rabid bats had just flown up their stoopid droopy jeans and bit them on the ass.

    Crazy trumps dumb and lazy every time.

    As Pepys wrote: "And so to bed"
  • whyfi
    whyfi
    Sounds to me like you handled it right...
  • vanilla
    vanilla
    ...and you are lucky they actually moved b/c it could have been way worse - not that it doesn't suck that they were there in the first place.
  • erikka
    erikka
    dump a bucket of water out the window.

    Hey, dousing seems to be all the rage in Crown Heights!
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    Depends on how tuff they look :p. if they don't look too tuff. i would ask them guys hey listen i have to sweep the stairs you mind moving it.

    if they are rough looking. i'll just let them sit there for a bit more. cause you never know they could be breaking windows and bones.
  • steve austin
    steve austin
    I came home late one night and two kids were smoking weed on my stoop. I nervously asked them to leave and they politely obliged. I guess it depends on the attitude of the kids you are dealing with.
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    I really don't mind kids hanging out on the steps of the building too much - most of them live there or down the block. I found it intimidating at first but now I sympathize with the need to get out of the (probably too small) apt and chill outside. In fact I think that everyone hanging outside can be a nice thing - in the suburbs I never saw any of that. We barely knew who most of our neighbors were. I think it can be a healthy thing.

    Unfortunately, it often turns loud and/or messy - that's where I have an issue. There are always some who need to crank the bass ALL the way up, and yell every word of every conversation at top volume. The two may be related. And of course it can go on well into the night, and the next morning there's vomit and/or garbage on the sidewalk.

    I guess it's the same old thing - there's always a group of people who take a good thing and make it suck.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    we get kids on our stoop all the time, making out, after they've gone to the movies. i'd far prefer than to the screaming lunatic women from the shelter who walk up and down the block
  • christina
    christina
    Personally...country music would scare me off...especially when someone sings along. Just a thought
  • sevenoneeighty
    sevenoneeighty
    typically for younger kids (under 12) looking for a relief from the street I don't mind if they are sitting on the stoop, not littering, spitting or being loud.

    Brooklyn is definitely a "stoop" culture and sometimes young kids will just and chill, no problem. The neighbors kids chill on our steps sometimes but they are completely innocent or just playing tag or hide 'n' seek or something so it's totally cool.

    But when they are causing a ruckus, they gotta' go and I don't mind telling them either since I own - and they don't.

    Most importantly" Lock you doors!!" ( Sorry, I had to say it).
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    SevenOneEighty wrote: typically for younger kids (under 12) looking for a relief from the street I don't mind if they are sitting on the stoop, not littering, spitting or being loud.

    Brooklyn is definitely a "stoop" culture and sometimes young kids will just and chill, no problem. The neighbors kids chill on our steps sometimes but they are completely innocent or just playing tag or hide 'n' seek or something so it's totally cool.

    But when they are causing a ruckus, they gotta' go and I don't mind telling them either since I own - and they don't.

    Most importantly" Lock you doors!!" ( Sorry, I had to say it).
    i agree i don't mind kids playing.
  • doublediamond
    doublediamond
    This used to happen when I lived in JC and had a brownstone stoop. It was a bunch of young men hanging on my stoop and I had to pass them to get into my place, my back to them while I open my front door. I felt vulnerable and thought they could easily push me inside.

    So, I figured out one of them was my next door neighbor (his place didn't have a stoop) and told him that I felt uncomfortable coming home in the evening and having to pass a bunch of strange men sitting on my stoop to get inside. He knew what I was getting at and apologized, said he had sisters and that he would never allow anything to happen to me.

    Then his sisters and her friends started sitting on my stoop instead. #-o
  • pensodyssey
    pensodyssey
    Christina wrote: Personally...country music would scare me off...especially when someone sings along. Just a thought

    So I guess my late-night belting renditions of "The bottle let me down" or "These days I barely get by" must be the reason I never have to deal with kids on my corner! Who knew?
  • sevenoneeighty
    sevenoneeighty
    doublediamond wrote: This used to happen when I lived in JC and had a brownstone stoop. It was a bunch of young men hanging on my stoop and I had to pass them to get into my place, my back to them while I open my front door. I felt vulnerable and thought they could easily push me inside.

    So, I figured out one of them was my next door neighbor (his place didn't have a stoop) and told him that I felt uncomfortable coming home in the evening and having to pass a bunch of strange men sitting on my stoop to get inside. He knew what I was getting at and apologized, said he had sisters and that he would never allow anything to happen to me.

    Then his sisters and her friends started sitting on my stoop instead. #-o
    thats a good point.

    Sometimes the neighborhood regulars and neighbors are good for safety. they keep an eye on your place when you are not there and if you see them almost everyday it can be reassuring. I mean, they are your neighbors after all.

    Everyone is not a criminal or out to do harm but we can be so paranoid sometimes. This is still NYC but 95% of the folks in the neighborhood are law abiding, cool neighbors just doing their thing - including the weed dealers. For women it is definitely different but I like the older women in the neighborhood looking out and gossiping.
  • erikka
    erikka
    BigGuy wrote: I really don't mind kids hanging out on the steps of the building too much - most of them live there or down the block. I found it intimidating at first but now I sympathize with the need to get out of the (probably too small) apt and chill outside. In fact I think that everyone hanging outside can be a nice thing - in the suburbs I never saw any of that. We barely knew who most of our neighbors were. I think it can be a healthy thing.

    Unfortunately, it often turns loud and/or messy - that's where I have an issue. There are always some who need to crank the bass ALL the way up, and yell every word of every conversation at top volume. The two may be related. And of course it can go on well into the night, and the next morning there's vomit and/or garbage on the sidewalk.

    I guess it's the same old thing - there's always a group of people who take a good thing and make it suck.

    they can sit on your stoop only if they are incredibly cool hipsters? Like, they can name every song on the new White Stripes album or they have to move?
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    they can sit on your stoop only if they are incredibly cool hipsters? Like, they can name every song on the new White Stripes album or they have to move?
    omg. you should at least try to read some of these threads. take a little time and come on back.
  • thecolonel
    thecolonel
    I'd make peace with the youngsters and give them a cool Mint Julep and some yummy fried chicken. But the best way to get rid of the little rascals is to go out side only wearing your boxer shorts. Works like a charm. :lol:
  • erikka
    erikka
    BigGuy wrote:
    they can sit on your stoop only if they are incredibly cool hipsters? Like, they can name every song on the new White Stripes album or they have to move?
    omg. you should at least try to read some of these threads. take a little time and come on back.
    Uh, right. And then start one about how much I love hipsters and how much I hate chicken bones? that thread was genius.

    Son, I done been around. Check out my posting number. It's solid.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    america is about the only first world country where people are afraid of youths. kids know kiddy jail is nothing.

    other than that only other people are afraid of are child soldiers in africa.
  • doctorj
    doctorj
    armchair_warrior wrote: america is about the only first world country where people are afraid of youths.
    The young people of today love luxury. They have bad manners, they scoff at authority and lack respect for their elders. Children nowadays are really tyrants, they no longer stand up when their elders come into the room where they are sitting, they contradict their parents, chat together in the presence of adults, eat gluttonously and tyrannise their teachers.

    -- Socrates, ca. 400 BC.

    There's a good one from one of the Roman orators lamenting his son's lack of discipline and interest only in women, parties, and fast chariots, but I can't quite track it down.
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    Uh, right. And then start one about how much I love hipsters and how much I hate chicken bones?
    I assume you saw the fact that my issue is with noise and garbage regardless of who does it, as I've reiterated a number of times, and which has been echoed by a number of other posters. And that my ironic praise for the poor hated little hipsters across the way was because of the fact that they didn't produce either. So based on that, how do you think I'd feel about anyone making lots of noise on my stoop?

    Seriously, re-read the threads and lets keep that whole reading comprehension thing in mind.

    Of course, if someone were hanging on the stoop singing Great White, instead of White Stripes, now that'd be a different story.


    image
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    just what i need, metal-heads on my stoop. likely leaving chicken bones behind
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    Yes, but the music of Great White is pleasing to god.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    but you are an atheist.
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    I know. I only refer to god in the context of hair metal bands, which I think is pretty sensible.
  • thecolonel
    thecolonel
    "Bob" is.
    "Bob" becomes.
    "Bob" is not.
    Nothing is; Nothing becomes; Nothing is not.
    Thus: Nothing Is Everything.
    Therefore: Everything is "Bob".
    Abracadabra.
  • thecolonel
    thecolonel
    "Bob" is Hope.
    "Hope" is God.

    Therefore: God is "Bob Hope".

    Abracadabra.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel

    Subject: Re: Kids on the stoop? Whaddya do?

    Well played man. Bravo. Most people are decent folks and respond better to non-yelling.
    sterling2000 wrote: So, I head out on my stoop tonight in the lovely 85 degree humidity to make a call, have a beer and grab a smoke.

    There are 6 young guys and 1 gal, hangin' out, eatin' samwiches and rolling a blunt on my steps. Rather than confront, I say excuse me and ask for a place to sit. One guy gets up and I sit down, shoulder-to-shoulder with the crew and start my call with my brother on the left coast. The kids click their gums, make a few inaudible/un-understandable comments and then move on in with their bad selves and their dopey attitudes about five minutes after they realize I'm not going anywhere.

    Now, I took the passive presence approach rather than the active "please get off my !@#$% stoop you !@#$% and get back to your own !@#$% homes" approach.

    Anyone else care to share how to deal with the similar?

    Is there any defensible reason to put up with this kind of attitude and shit?

    Hmmmmmm?
  • bigguy
    bigguy
    Therefore: God is "Bob Hope".
    Bob Hope is dead.
    -Nietzsche
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