Photo courtesy of Jen Chung/Gothamist.
Three masked men robbed the Rodeway Inn at 31 West 71st street on Wednesday morning, assaulting the manager and two other people in the process, the Daily News reported.
“The crooks burst into the lobby of the Rodeway Inn on W. 71st St. just past 8:05 a.m. and smacked the hotel manager in the head with a pistol, demanding cash from a safe, cops said.
When the manager opened the safe, the robbers, wearing blue jeans and ski masks, grabbed its contents and fled.”
That hotel was formerly the Comfort Inn — a rape was reported at that location last year. The thieves reportedly made off with thousands of dollars.
Quick, somebody get the statistics showing how much crime has plummeted under the current mayoralty!
And really, really hurry so that we can get those statistics posted before the *next* article about a neighborhood crime gets put up!
Officer Cato, isn’t there a page on Theerant that’s missing you?
Always so disconcerting when a crime like this happens so close to home. Hopefully there are nearby surveillance cameras that clearly show the perps.
All sorts of police action occur at this hotel. I would say it is almost a weekly event when there is either an ambulance or police car called to that location. I always feel badly for the tourists who don’t know any better but to stay away from that dump. I hope once renovation is done – they will at least make it a comfort inn again.
Probably a bunch of dog lovers…I would canvass the dog parks and dog groomers in the neighborhood.
This type of selfishness, aggressiveness and need to impose their will on people just trying to live their honest, hardworking, taxpaying lives is a classic tell. Not sure but sounds like a typical terrier owner or maybe a lab.
Does this place have a “hot sheets” reputation? What kind of hotel has loads of cash on hand these days when a credit card gets the reservation, etc?
Sarcasm?
crime has been down since the beginning of the De Blasio administration, and it is obvious that De B and Bratton have done a great job on it. so why the constant complaints about the Mayor every time there is an incident?
I have become convinced that the people complaining don’t really care about CRIME, which is much lower now than it was under Giuliani. they just can’t stand it that the Mayor did away with racial profiling, and it worked.
Yeah right…keep telling yourself that Bruce. Next you’ll be saying that giving a pass on minor offenses has no impact on the neighborhood. Hopefully the perpetrators will jump turnstiles, drink, sleep and urinate in from of your building not mine.
i’ve never noticed any turnstiles in front of my building.
This is FALSE. Crime is up under de Blasio. Stop, Question, Frisk no means that cops will NOT question someone, even if they see a bulge under a shirt that looks like a firearm.
Your information is wrong. Crime is UP under de Blasio, and actually getting worse each quarter!
The most recent annual stats indicate crime is at a record low in New York City. https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/12/nycs-crime-rate-hits-a-new-record-low.html
New York, despite its size (and its tabloid fearmongering), is an exceptionally safe city, for what it is. That doesn’t mean we don’t have problems with crime, and it doesn’t mean that there aren’t neighborhoods that suffer from violence.
@ Cato: Taking a single incident and projecting on a larger scale is one of the oldest debating tricks on the books.
You may be right, but you’ll need a better argument.
Actually Ben David, you’re quite wrong on this. Stop and frisk still exists, especially if you have a threatening bulge in your jacket. The only thing that stopped was the ability to stop based on skin color or a hodge-podge suspicion.
I live on the corner of WEA and 71st and it is unbelievable the amount of “stuff” that goes on West 71st. For a random street with a dead end and no store fronts or anything that would remotely seem to attract any attention/foot traffic, it is incredible the screams, police activity, ambulance visits…that go on. Fires, cars flipping over, gun shots, and now this. I actually walked up and down the entire block s just a few weeks ago out of curiosity and there are indeed a few very suspicious looking buildings at the very end of the block at the dead end, including this “hotel”.
Btw, crime in NYC, along with overall quality of life, has gotten markedly and significantly worse in the last two years. No way to spin that. Blame it on DeBlasio or whomever else you want but it has gotten much worse. And the only reason why crime numbers are down is because the police NEITHER care to police crime like they used to nor are they being allowed to do so.
No spin needed. The crime statistics simply don’t bear out your claim. (And don’t quote Mark Twain; it’s cute, but not true…)
No one is quoting anything but the facts.
Nobody who actually lives here believes that the quality of life has gotten better.
While there was a drop in burglaries and stolen vehicles, three of the most serious crimes rose in 2015: homicides were up 5%, rapes 6% and robberies 2%. Also, crime increased in two of the city’s five boroughs, Manhattan and the Bronx.
So, to put it correctly, petty crime is down, MAJOR crimes are up. Yeah, that sounds like so much safer a city now.
And with the mayor’s total lack of support for our hard working officers I only see the crime rates rising, it may not appear in statistics of total crime, but to me the homicide rate tells all and is a harbinger of where overall criminal rates are heading.
Bruce., I thought even you would understand that I meant your “neighborhood subway station”…
the comment by “West Sider” above is an accurate editorial comment. Thank you West Side Rag.
It is obvious, after more than two years, that De Blasio and Bratton are doing an excellent job in combating and containing crime. Further, our local precincts have caught almost every criminal identified on this blog, and have used social media well to identify suspects.
While there was a drop in burglaries and stolen vehicles, three of the most serious crimes rose in 2015: homicides were up 5%, rapes 6% and robberies 2%. Also, crime increased in two of the city’s five boroughs, Manhattan and the Bronx.
1) The owners obviously don’t care about their employees, their clients, or their neighborhood. 2) Commercial insurance as a rule refuses coverage if you don’t have security cameras. 3) The crooks knew there was cash in the safe and that it was easy to rob 4)Stop political spinning: it does NOTHING to solve the problem. Focus on isolating the handful of criminals drawn to this location, close the hotel, and investigate and perhaps prosecute the landlord 6) Here’s a link to the new NYPD Crime Map https://compstat.nypdonline.org/2e5c3f4b-85c1-4635-83c6-22b27fe7c75c/view/89
So Di Blasio and Bratton say Crime is down in NYC.. Maybe they aren’t keeping track of the crime on the UWS.
Dear West Side Rag,
After you publish a crime story, please just cut and paste the comments from the previous crime story.
No one will actually notice since they are essentially the same every time.
The hotel is close to Central Park, not near the “dead end” part of 71st. That said, that car flipping over last year was wild.
@David Collins
A bit puzzled by your comments….
The hotel is between Central Park and Columbus, not near West End.
Trust the crime stats cited in comments above? I don’t. Why? Incidents such as those described in the following articles:
“Disappearing” Urban Crime
[Unknown] On [Unknown] Crime–In DeBlasio’s New York, NYPD Won’t Say
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