Around 11:30 PM, Thursday 3/10/2016, fatal shooting on Franklin and Lincoln

I always look forward to the nice weather until I remember that that's when the neighborhood turns into the wild, wild west.  At least when it's cold out people stop shooting each other.

Seems like it's like this every year.  The shooting earlier in the day was right in front of my building.  There have been no less than half a dozen shootings right around there over the years, most of which seem related to the nearby schools.  They used to have a cop posted 24 hours (back around 2011-2012) and that seemed to help, but lately the NYPD doesn't seem particularly concerned with doing their jobs, likely because of their ongoing infantile grudge against the mayor.  By the time I came home from work the police tape was down and I didn't notice any police presence at all.  Maybe the fatal shooting that happened shortly thereafter will get them off of their asses, but I'm skeptical.  At this point I'm wary of leaving my apartment after dark, not that it matters when fools are out shooting in broad daylight (and adding a Crown Friend Chicken that's open into the wee hours of the morning + additional bars probably isn't going to help).  And this is why I'm a recluse.

Thanks for that insight. I was under the impression that those who lived adjacent to bars instantly turned into Bloods and Crips through osmosis.  

Gangs, drugs, personal vendettas or some combination seems to be the flavor of the century.   Apologies for leaving out the latter two.  

Not only is it debatable, it is ridiculous. The "availability of alcohol" has not changed one iota in the last half-decade. It's always been available at every corner. The rate of criminal violence, meanwhile, has dropped significantly in the last 10 years.

It's a strange misattribution that smacks of observer bias. If anything, there is a negative correlation between the number of establishments serving alcohol indoors and the violent crime in the streets of Crown Heights.

I think on a larger scale that data is correct, but in this specific case of our neighborhood, I don't think the new bars that are opening are contributing to violence.

mcpoet said:

Sure, let's actively ignore actual evidence in favor of anecdotal evidence. You do realize that it's possible for broader trends to lead to an overall reduction in crime while leaving more specific correlations like this intact, right? This isn't an all or nothing proposition.

I'm sorry, but if your proposition were even correct in the broadest sense (since you're complaining of anecdotal evidence), have you taken a walk down 2nd avenue south of 14th street in Manhattan?  If you were correct, the area would look like Mogadishu and it would be impossible to walk there.  Now here's the interesting part, years ago the area DID look like that, and that was before gentrification occurred.

The lingering crime in Crown Heights is doubtless correlated to the low income developments, which historically has housed (among others) people who inherited or are part of some lingering long-term social problems.

The guys in plaid jackets and beards who pay $7 for the latest double IPA in the new bars opening up are not the same category of people firing into crowds of 15 year olds in the daytime.

Those are gangs and pieces of the criminal underground whose 'vice' (if you absolutely must bring vice into it, which I truly suspect is your issue here) is peddling of goods that are the opposite of legal and licensed.

My original point, which was really just a brief comment made in passing, was simply that adding numerous bars and other late night spots will only exacerbate the extant violence/lead it to cluster around late night spots, not that 40 year old newcomers to the neighborhood will start shooting people over hard ciders during happy hour. Like I said, it isn't an all or nothing argument, and straw man arguments don't really address the force of that argument, nor do they negate the significant body of evidence indicating that clusters of bars are correlated with an increase in violence, especially in the context of other factors that contribute to that violence. It was a fairly banal statement that's substantiated by research. Believe me, I'd love to be wrong, but the evidence is pretty clear here, and to the extent that this doesn't occur it's likely because of a reduction in other risk factors.

I am glad to see that the NYPD has increased their presence over the last few days.

Wanted signs were being put up all around the area yesterday by a dapper man in a suit, likely a detective.  Only shows the victim, as I guess this potato-cam image is deemed not useful.