Councilmember Helen Rosenthal gives Captain Levon Holley a proclamation for dedicated service.
By Anthony Ferrara
A community council meeting at the 20th precinct on Monday night delved into homelessness, new bills intended to regulate street vendors, and a shooting last week. The 20th precinct covers the Upper West Side from 59th to 86th Street.
- Dary Castillo, a counselor at Safe Horizons, spoke about a the Safe Horizons domestic violence prevention program. Safe Horizons is a nation-wide, non-profit outreach program designed to help with the effects of domestic violence. Over the next 3 years, it will spread to precincts all over the city. Dary’s branch of the program will be at the 20th Precinct from Monday-Friday from 8-8. Stop in anytime during those hours, if you are a victim of a crime — whether it’s a domestic or otherwise. Call (212) 580-6411 for more information.
- Captain Levon Holley, the precinct’s commanding officer, said Lt. Ho will be taking over some of his functions that have a more “topical” nature, such as problems with vendors, some street crime & homelessness.
- Holley also said that Officer Hunter will proactively go out and engage the homeless, to offer them services, such as food, shelter, and help finding permanent housing. Over the last three months, 100 homeless people have been advised of the services that can be rendered to them, with only two of the homeless agreeing to go along. The basic strategy is to go out and “build relationships with the homeless, and hopefully more homeless folks will join the program. Especially with the cold weather approaching.”
- Councilmember Helen Rosenthal also addressed the issue at the meeting, saying “The city is working as hard as it can to help with the homeless of all kinds.” She said that homelessness is a complex issue. “Some are there to scam, some are drug addicts, and some are suffering from psychological issues.”
- Additionally, Helen Rosenthal spoke about bills dealing with street vendor bills that are presently being discussed. They could add hundreds of vendors in places all over the city, possibly creating havoc in many high traffic areas. She stated that “the legislators in power are not involved with this district, and I will vote against it.” Additionally, she will “set up a mechanism to keep vendors away from such landmarks such as Lincoln Center.” For more answers concerning this, go to Helen@HelenRosenthal.com, and leave her a note.
- As far as across-the-board felony crime is concerned, year to date numbers are down in the precinct. But vehicle-pedestrian crashes have been on the rise. “Not all of these accidents are of a high-impact variety; they are mostly accidents in crosswalks & bicycle accidents.” He gave some tips to avoid being hit, such as not crossing between cars, using the crosswalks, waiting for the signal & not to expect a car to give you right of way. Always look out at turning traffic, even when you have the signal.
- Capt. Holley spoke about the shooting of an 18-year old man last Thursday, October 20th at the basketball court behind the Amsterdam houses (240 W 65th St Thursday 10/20 at 11:18 PM). Capt. Holley stated that “it’s still an ongoing investigation, but I can tell you that the individual pretty much knows who the assailant is, so it wasn’t a random act of violence.”
- Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal’s office sent a message stating that a “Mammovan” will be available for free Mammograms, courtesy of Project Renewal on Thursday, November 10th. To get a time-slot, please call 212-873-6368.
- The Community Council Meetings have been set for the remainder of the coming year: November 29th (changed from Monday the 28th), January 23rd, and February 26th March 27th, April 24th, May 22nd & June 26th. (No meeting during the December Holidays).
- Helen Rosenthal gave Captain Holley a proclamation for his dedicated service since he arrived at the precinct 6 months ago.
Building relationships with the homeless aka moving them out of sight before any more yuppies complain.
Yeah, the nerve of those Yuppies! Who do they think they are, being all young & urban & professional & stuff!
Claire, You are the one who resents the”yuppies”. Please don’t use the homeless in attempt to hide your anger and frustrations.
I see the same “homeless” in the same spots month after month, the majority all white, young, bearded, healthy-looking males. They all look like they belong to the same cult with some dirty cardboard signs looking for money for a room or “bus” money to get wherever they want to go, some use the animal sympathy ploy with dogs or cats…they should be cleared off the streets and put on those ” busses and ……oh don’t get me started….A TOTAL DISGRACE!!
Word!
They are called Crusties. Google it.
“Crusties” in many other cities as well – SF, LA, Seattle, Austin
They tend to go to places with a sizable 20-30 something population as well as access to drugs
In NYC they have been hanging out in the East Village and Union Square area for years but started coming up to the UWS around 2009 when Trader Joe’s opened
um – I live on the second floor with homeless people camping out on my block and talking loud in the middle of the night. Am I supposed to not complain?
That’s interesting. NYC DOT just published its 2015 data for bicycle pedestrian crashes. There were 10 of them for the year in the 20th Precinct.
Also, there were 2 bike-bike crashes for the year, and 10 single-bike crashes. So total of 22 bike-involved accidents for the year, with 18 reported injuries and 1 fatality. That fatality was a single bike crash, I think that was the guy who had a heart attack while biking.
I wonder if the precinct has updated figures for ytd 2016. Maybe they show a big shift. In 2015 when there were 10 bike-pedestrian crashes to respond to, the precinct also responded to almost 2000 car crashes that left 277 people injured and killed 2 pedestrians. Already this year, an unsolved hit-and-run left a 21-year-old dead at Columbus Circle. Am I looking at the same numbers that NYPD is?
Here’s a link to the city’s 2015 data by precinct for bicycle crashes. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/bicycle-crash-data-report-2015.pdf
What has happened to the book sellers between 72nd and 74th Streets on Broadway? Are they gone for good?
DeBlasio…need i say more?
I’m fascinated by the proclamation for 6 months of dedicated service. What do you get after a whole year of service.
So the commanding officer is advising pedestrians to expect motorists to violate the right-of-way law? Why isn’t he enforcing the law?
I think his point is that you should not bet your life that everything will work the way it should. I remind my kids – people are human, and humans make mistakes. We solid all watch out for ourselves and for each other.
You mean the jaywalking laws?
Right: protect yourself because the police will not.
It’s nice to walk on Broadway and not see the booksellers between 72nd & 73rd. That stretch has been cleaned up again and I hope it stays that way.
I agree, Woody. Anyone know what happened? Did Kirk Davidson move on to a different neighborhood?
I thought they were still on B’way but spread out a little more between 72nd and 75th. Haven’t seen them since the weather got bad though.
Another self-employed business shut.
For those who complain about the homeless, please consider their history.
Let me guess – you haven’t opened your house to any homeless people.
Typical all talk…
i can tell who you are from this one comment.
Hate to inform everyone that our vacation from Kirk Davidson and his motley crew is officially over. He’s baaaack and badder than ever. And don’t think that it’s only books he sells. When the Christmas tree vendors arrive ever year, Kirk literally extorts money from them to occupy “his” sidewalk space. How do I know this? I ask them every year. I’ve informed the 20th Pct. as well. Hopefully, this year the new CO Holley will put that practice to an end. Forget the Brooklyn Bridge, anybody wanna buy a sidewalk?
I didn’t know that the ‘ol gang was back, but I was rushing to an appointment earlier today and jumped out of a cab that was stuck in traffic on B’way btwn 72 & 73 and someone started screaming and cursing at me before even I noticed the tables blocking the sidewalk. So is there literally nothing that neighborhood can do about this other than the random police roundup?