Thursday, August 12, 2010

Jamaica now full of more bums than ever


From the Daily News:

Drew Spitler sees the brighter side of Jamaica. His development firm, the Manhattan-based Dermot Company, was selected by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to redevelop an old courthouse in downtown Jamaica.

There, Spitler sees what could be the best side of the community: People shopping, folks enjoying street fairs and movies in Rufus King Park, and workers in hard hats building new projects. That all brings positive energy to an area that hasn’t always been so vital to the success of the New York City-Long Island border.

"It’s a neighborhood in transformation," Spitler says.


I'll say. Read this from the Queens Chronicle:

Take a stroll through Rufus King Park and you will find vagrants sleeping on benches or playing dominoes on top of trash cans. They have become a familiar part of the landscape, one that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Ed Nielsen, the acting engineer and managing operator at the closed Mary Immaculate Hospital, located across the street from Rufus King Park, says he is constantly escorting homeless people, sometimes 10 per day, off the premises.

“When they get drunk, they could kill you,” he said. “I see them fighting. They fight with each other all the time. I had an argument with them, trying to remove them from the property, and one guy threatened me.”

But even before the hospital closed, the vagabonds and their lascivious actions posed a problem. Nielsen recalled one incident, in which he found a homeless couple, intoxicated and having sex on the grounds.

“I caught them right in the act,” Nielsen said. “The woman had her legs up in the air and she was so drunk, she couldn’t even get up to cover herself. I had to put gloves on and cover her with boxes and stuff.”

Resident Amy Anderson, 65, who has lived in the area her whole life, says Jamaica has become “the bowels of the earth,” and claims she sees 20 homeless people on average per day.

“There was a Hispanic woman, who a week ago Saturday at 8 a.m. in the morning was sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk in her own urine,” Anderson said. “Why isn’t this problem being addressed? The people in charge keep saying the area is great, but they don’t live in the center of it and we do.”


Oh well, at least the park has WiFi now...

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

The people in charge keep saying the area is great, but they don’t live in the center of it and we do.”
--

Sounds like LIC and Dutch Kills.

georgetheatheist said...

An upscale slum. The buildings are beautiful but the people are ugly.

Anonymous said...

Maybe sleeping in pee out in the open isn't a problem for her. Maybe she likes it that way!!!LOL

SandyHamilton said...

In the late 50s I worked next to the court house on Sutphin. At that time there was shopping and places to eat on lunch hours. I walked down 89th Ave from the bus past the hospital and park. Safe clean area.

Anonymous said...

My guess is these bums dont start out in Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Bayside, Forest Hills, or Malba. You know, areas where people actually are parts of loving families and stable community life.

THESE ARE YOUR OWN PEOPLE. TAKE CARE OF THEM YOURSELVES.

Bob Marley said...

Jamaica always have de bums!

Nothin' new here mon!

Ras clot!

Anonymous said...

Jamaica has been down since the mid-1960s-- that's nearly 50 years ago, right? At some point, a neighborhood is just what it is, and what it is going to be.

Anonymous said...

The city govt could care less because it isn't Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

not one bum was interviewed for this story.

Anonymous said...

They were probably too drunk to talk. What a great story about what really goes on!

Anonymous said...

Hey…tone down the optimism in here.

I.M. Long Dong said...

Diversity is STRENGTH!!!

It's also, FAKE CONDOMS!!!!

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/08/11/
counterfeit-condom-scheme-ends-in-prison-for-queens-man/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_NY_NY_Blog

Judge Roy Bean said...

"Jamaica now full of more bums than ever"

come on - not all lawyers are bums, besides most will be disbarred sooner or later.

Anonymous said...

This is happening in all four boros, Manhattan is being upscaled, poor people are being driven to the outer boros. When was the last really affordable housing built for working and poor people? try 1964!

it's a dummy down and stripping away of services so people will pay much more rent money to live in a "safer" bum free area. sorry but if you wander by City Hall you will see many bums in dress clothes getting a City paycheck.

bums sleeping outside on mattress's translates to a person with out a job and a home. where is the help? no where!

Anonymous said...

This is our wonderful diversity, bringing the third world right here to NYC.