Sunrise. Photo by Scott Matthews.
Crime, mayhem, real estate, and food dominated the headlines about the Upper West Side over the past week or so. See our roundup below:
A 20-year-old man from Washington Heights named Edward Fall has been arrested and charged with a hate crime after police say he shot two joggers in Central Park with a pellet gun — one on August 17 and one on August 18. “But Fall claims he’s being made the scapegoat in those two shootings — and told cops that his friends used a pellet gun to shoot a man, a woman and a dog in a previously unreported incident on Thursday in Hell’s Kitchen.” Antwan Ross, 21, has also been arrested. The woman who was hit on the 18th said that she heard several black people using anti-white language after she got hit. Fall is reportedly blaming his friends for the attacks. (Daily News)
Car break-ins along Riverside Drive, West End Avenue and the western side of Broadway between West 86th and 110th streets have fallen 55% this year as police have increased patrols and set up light towers, as we reported a few months ago. “The lights, combined with increased enforcement along Riverside Drive — including plainclothes officers patrolling on foot, bike and car, and regular nightly squad car patrols — appears to have worked, Gallitelli said.” (DNAinfo)
Why are there so few statues of women in Central Park? A group wants to change that. (Vocativ)
Two teenagers were charged with felony mischief for defacing the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on West 89th with red spray paint. Police say the geniuses sprayed their names on the monument. (ABC)
A Columbia student is carrying a mattress around everywhere to protest the university’s lack of action after she reported a rape. (Spectator)
Fashionistas are shunning Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, which starts this week. “Editors and buyers now gripe about the check-in process, which requires a fearsome trek past security guards, street-style posers and sponsor booths…Perhaps fed up, designers have been deserting. After debuting in September 2010 with 89 designers showing on the premises, Lincoln Center is hosting 78 this fashion week.” (NY Times)
The Post learned more about the building on West 62nd street that one of our commenters called the “Paw Door” building: as we wrote last week, pups can’t touch the lobby floor. (NY Post)
Extell and Megalith will partner to build a tower on West 66th street, but it’s still not clear how big it will be. We first wrote about the possibility here. (The Real Deal)
A basketball league at Amsterdam Houses has become wildly popular, but there’s nowhere to play in winter because public gyms are all booked. (NY Times)
Westside Market is opening on the East Side, but will still be called Westside. Those Eastsiders may get confused. Learn a little about the store’s history. (NY Times)
And here’s a glowing article about Fairway. “The business is a city classic. Though it has since expanded, the store’s Upper West Side flagship sits on the original Fairway’s footprint at 74th and Broadway, where Nathan Glickberg, a Russian immigrant who started a produce stand in the 1930’s, and his son Leo first opened the market’s doors in 1954.” (Observer)
The 84-year-old man arrested for jaywalking on West 96th street is suing the city for $5 million. (Daily News)
How Marv Stollman became the Central Park tennis court matchmaker. (NY Times)
Once again, John Lennon’s killer gets denied parole. (AP)
A woman raped by a pizza delivery man in her apartment on West 61st street is suing the doorman, the condo, the pizza shop, and the management company. (Daily News)
For our last bulletin, click here.
Re new luxury development on 66th Street….66th Street is the route to the tranverse/East Side and for the M66 crosstown bus. There is already much traffic congestion on 66th street, which impacts bus transit.
Additional development seems like a traffic nightmare.
I wonder when I can join the parade and sue the city? Maybe I should just keep jaywalking until confronted by a cop, and then cha-Ching!
well whadaya know… the 24th Precinct’s tactics on the car break ins WORKED. they were ridiculed by many on this site.
stop rewriting history that can easily be checked.
the 24th Precinct has never been ridiculed by anyone on this site , especially with regard to car break in tactics.
what has been discussed is the decline of the west 90s.
documentation of ridicule of the “light tower” idea by commenters on this site:
“These lights shine directly into my bedroom. If they are going to continue with this idiotic idea, at least point the lights towards the street.”
“This is sad and pathetic. We all know what the real problem is: the f****** shelter!!!”
“Shining a light on a car to stop it from being broken into is a stupid idea.” (that one from Paul RL)
There were many more comments which said that the only way to solve the break-in problem was to get rid of “Freedom House.”
There have been numerous other cases on this site where commenters have ridiculed the 24th Precinct on other issues — always anonymously.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/06/20/nypd-sets-up-light-towers-on-riverside-drive-to-deter-thieves
well of course your agenda is always the same.
subsidized and welfare tenants are always good and everyone is bad.
Not sure you would feel the same if that lights were shining in the window of your Riverside drive luxury condo…
I would like to hear you respond the next crime that is committed by the denizens of the shelter.
I don’t even know how you can be involved in this discussion and praise the 24th Precinct for reducing crime when all do is deny that there are any crime problems in the first place. Oh yeah – I forgot – you like to argue and bully everyone on this blog that doesn’t agree with you. For the record, I maintain that the lights alone ARE a stupid idea. But the 24th also added patrols and plainclothes officers to help stem the tide of car break-ins, which according to you, were never a problem in the first place.
Kudos to the 24th Precinct! And thanks also to Neighborhood In The ’90’s and all concerned neighbors that kept the pressure on our officials to do something about the car break-ins. We have a long way to go to clean up the West ’90’s and it’s important to keep reporting all incidents that adversely affect our quality of life.
More vigilance and cops on the street to prevent “minor” quality-of-life crimes like car break-ins? Looks like Bill Bratton’s (and Guiliani’s) Broken Windows policing tactics are working out well (as if the last 30 years of evidence haven’t been proof enough); much to the good Reverend’s chagrin.
Talking of hate crimes, I often see anti Israeli slogans on Columbus Avenue btwn 86th & 96th. Turns my stomach. Some brilliant resident does this in the middle of the night. Could the police do more frequent drive through in this area, esp. at night. Tempted to do it myself but what would I do if I caught them?
Hypothetical: Imagine everything about what you saw were the same except for one difference: the slogans, rather than being directed against a state or regime that apparently enjoys your favor, were instead directed against a state or regime that did not enjoy your favor.
Would your reaction be the same?
Would you still use the term “hate crime”?
still a hate crime.
As described in Liza’s post above, the crime she witnessed was the defacement of property that is either public or belongs to someone other than the defacer.
The concept of a “hate crime”, at least in a case such as this, would seem to equate-to a criminalization of thought. And of a particular view or sentiment, as what is hateful and illegitimate to one person is legitimate and even noble expression to another.
The concept of freedom of speech becomes meaningless if it does not apply even to the expression of views that may be deemed hateful, repugnant or vile.
Note also that the poster Liza did not describe what the slogans she reported seeing actually said, only that they were “anti-Israel”, a highly subjective characterization. Could they, perhaps, have been reasonably construed as incitement to violence or other criminal behavior? Only the actual content and proper context of the slogans-in-question can tell.