Monday, July 7, 2008

Mugging like it's 1989

In recent months, an old crime has started to reappear...on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant: a spate of muggings that has caught some in the neighborhood by surprise. People walking or biking alone have been attacked with punches, kicks — and in one case, a baseball bat — and then had their cellphones or purses stolen before they could recover.

Muggings Revive Memories of an Area’s Bad Old Days

The head of security at Pratt Institute, whose campus is in the neighborhood, said that at least six students had been mugged since April. The 88th Precinct, which covers Clinton Hill, has recorded a 26 percent increase in robberies so far this year, from 99 in 2007 to 125, for the period ending on June 29. Robberies are defined as the forcible taking of property from a person.

Some of the recent attacks have been committed by teenagers, residents and the police say. They have mostly caught their victims unaware, sometimes with a blow to the back of the head. The perpetrators have managed to revive memories of a seedier time in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, reminding the new arrivals that for all the advertised drops in crime, central Brooklyn is not the suburbs.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

We can expect more of this as unemployment rises and prices continue to soar.

Anonymous said...

Finally some of the skinny little hipster elite who are making these neighborhoods impossibly expensive for the longtime residents are getting a little resistance and in the process maybe gaining some respect for NYC. Perhaps they'll stop thinking of the L train as some sort of a fun roller coaster taking pics of each other with expensive phones and cameras (ya hear that muggers?) laughing and acting all dumb on the train. Perhaps we can have a quieter less crowded train ride as they get the message and move the heck back out of nyc.

One other thing. Pratt students ARE rich. They're going to a design school and paying something like $40k a year for the privilege Most of these people in the projects haven't seen $40k in their lifetimes, and when they try to attend a decent HS or get into a college are hamstrung by poor local schools and lack of funds. So they don't get to have such luxury jobs as fashion designer or architect or interior designer or creative director, making $60k to start. They work at Ikea or Mickey Dees, if they can get a job at all for $7.15 an hour.

And the little rich kids like some sort of landed gentry, their presence and wealth do nothing to uplift the schools or facilities of the neighborhood. they just simply drive the natives out.

So these little mugger punks, although obviously sociopaths starting early, are giving a little bit of the rich folks medicine back to them.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps they'll stop thinking of the L train as some sort of a fun roller coaster taking pics of each other with expensive phones and cameras (ya hear that muggers?) laughing and acting all dumb on the train.

So, based on your logic, if a woman wears a short skirt, and she gets sexually assaulted, or even worse, raped, then you think she "deserved" it?

when they try to attend a decent HS or get into a college are hamstrung by poor local schools and lack of funds.

Huh? Poor local schools, and lack of funds? WRONG! The worst part about being poor is having to live near other poor people, or attend the same schools! Do you really think throwing more money on poor performing schools in crummy neighborhoods is going to improve test scores? With all the money spent on Washington DC public schools, how come the test scores haven't improved? Ah yes, it must be the fault of those wealthy white hipsters!

So these little mugger punks, although obviously sociopaths starting early, are giving a little bit of the rich folks medicine back to them.

Be careful what you wish for! Those little mugger punks might just give your cracker ass a taste of your own medicine some day!

Anonymous said...

The perpetrators have managed to revive memories of a seedier time in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, reminding the new arrivals that for all the advertised drops in crime, central Brooklyn is not the suburbs.

classic...

Anonymous said...

when they try to attend a decent HS or get into a college are hamstrung by poor local schools and lack of funds.

Huh? Poor local schools, and lack of funds? WRONG! The worst part about being poor is having to live near other poor people, or attend the same schools! Do you really think throwing more money on poor performing schools in crummy neighborhoods is going to improve test scores? With all the money spent on Washington DC public schools, how come the test scores haven't improved? Ah yes, it must be the fault of those wealthy white hipsters!


Time to take your head out from up your prodigious butt. Where do you think most of these little rich kids come from, the ones that go to Pratt? From public schools. Well funded public schools in places like Greenwich CT or Bergen County NJ. Yes they spend twice as much per student as we do and they turn out quality students. We give huge tax breaks to corporations and starve our schools. Yes the overall budget looks huge, but anyone but a moron like you would understand when divided up among the number of students we have here. it's peanuts. Of course, when it comes to building stadiums for the Yankees or Mets money is no object, but just spend on penny on education.


Also, if you think that these little rich kids are hanging with the kids in the PJ's, then you really are a moron. Yeah the little rich skinny white kid "wiggers" are aping hip hop culture, listening to publc enemy or dead prez and saying they are down, as they chill in their $5 a latte cafe that the kids in the PJs, well they have to jump a wigger in order to get the cash to get into one of those places.

Anonymous said...

Time to take your head out from up your prodigious butt.
.
anyone but a moron like you
.
then you really are a moron.


Thank you very much for your wonderful comments, and your overall contributions to the intellectual discourse on this web site!

We all learned quite a bit about your character from your ad hominem attacks and petty insults!

Whenever you throw petty insults at the other party, you've immediately lost the debate!

C said...

I love how these comments took such a racist turn.

Al & Reggie would be proud.

I, however, am just not going to comment personally on it at all. I think wade nichols is fighting the good fight here.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could feel sadness or pity for these mugging victims, but if you move to a GHETTO, you should expect being a crime victim.

It's like those people who live among packs of wolves, or with bears, and get surprised when they end up wolf or bear food.

You put yourself in danger on purpose, and I hope the NYPD follows the lead of the National Park Service. They charge people for any rescue attempt, because you willingly put yourself in danger. The NYPD should follow the same logic.

Anonymous said...

They had better open some Apple Stores and Starbucks, so they can have a home base every 30 feet!
(and so they can buy new iPods)

Anonymous said...

Perhaps in a year or so, NYC will be shall issue (it'll probably take about 5-7), and someone could pull a Bronson on the muggers

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away"

Anonymous said...

"Perhaps they'll stop thinking of the L train as some sort of a fun roller coaster taking pics of each other with expensive phones and cameras (ya hear that muggers?) laughing and acting all dumb on the train."

That roller coaster line got me!

Anonymous said...

its simple...

Live it...
Learn it...
Luv it.

and if you dont,
get out.

Anonymous said...

This is not really a funny topic, and it should not be treated like one.

I live in this block they are writing about, and I have had friends who have lived in the immediate vicinity for 3-4 yrs without problem.

I have been calling the police almost nightly to report teens lighting fireworks while hitting cars/houses with no concern for people.

So if anyone is reading this and is interested in joining a community watch group, post here to get information. We are not going to be passive in this fight to live side by side with our neighbors.

Anonymous said...

The wimpy, equally sick to the muggers, "Anonymous" on July 7th 2008 posting the vindication he felt that was justly rewarded to the 'elite , rich Pratt hipsters' makes me ill to know I am sending my young, unassuming, hardworking and talented freshman son into the jaws of people like That! Instead of Boo-Hooing and comparing your sad life to the fantasy life you envision everyone else around you having , why don't you get off your whiny ass and add something positive to your environment. Complainers add NOTHING! There are plenty of venues available for you to not have to perpetuate violence as somehow justified.
Mom of A Pratt Kid, so sorry