More than a dozen cars on Riverside Drive had their windows smashed overnight.
“I counted 15 cars with smashed windows on Riverside Drive between 73rd and 76th,” Sunny wrote. “All windows that were smashed were on the park side of the drive I cannot be sure if anything was taken from the cars, but it did not appear that that was the case.”
Police were at the scene around 10 a.m., Sunny said.
I’ll bet its the economy, ….Not America is Great Again, Trump !
I am no trumpette, but this has nothing to do with the man in the white house.
Mr. Brandt,
It’s hoods and thugs looking for a thrill and some xtra $$$.
If Obama was president, or Hillary, would you post the same comment?
And—how about pointing a finger at our no bail system and our mayor tying the hands of the police?
How does the alleged tying-of-police-hands impact the occurrence of a random act of vandalism?
crooks are emboldened because charges will either be dropped and if not, they’ll be released without any bail requirements, even if a violent crime.
Risk/reward. We all do the analysis, whether consciously or not. When someone is considering an act like this, they factor in the likelihood of being caught, as well as what the penalty will be if they are caught. If they think there is a low likelihood of being caught and/or that they will get a slap on the wrist if they are caught, they are more likely to commit the crime.
Plus, low grade crimes like this are a gateway to more serious crimes – there is no risk involved so they don’t get their jollies from it so they move on and see if they can get away with something bigger.
Plus due to bail reform laws larceny from autos is a nonviolent catch and release offense.
It’s a return to the ’80 when we had radios that could be taken out of the car and safeguarded at home and we would put signs in the car windows stating “NO RADIO”. Don’t worry the Anti Crime Teams will be giving special attention to the condition. OH NO! Anti Crime Teams were disbanded. BROKEN WINDOWS POLICING IS THE REAL COMMUNITY POLICING
Hi Peter! So it’s not the mayor of our city and his policies that he enacted regarding the NYPD, it’s Trump? Thanks for letting me know!
UWSHebrew I totally agree with you!
UWS Hebrew:
Can yo;u give me a specific example of a policy enacted by Mayor De Blasio that hampers the police in their legal performance of their duties?
Thanks!
David S:
1) Mayor De Blasio disbanded the 600 police officers of the Anti-Crime unit. Many criminal activities have skyrocketed since then (June 15).
2) Did you notice how almost no looters at Macy’s Herald Square were arrested, even though there were cops right there? That’s because Mayor De Blasio instructed Dermot Shea to have a “light touch” when dealing with crime such as this.
You can trace much of this back to last summer, where people were assaulting cops with buckets of water on their heads (include those of black female officers), and nothing was done. Ask any cop on the street, and he or she will tell you Mayor De Blasio hates the police.
Another year and a half of Mayor De Blasio. Both Bill Bratton and Ray Kelly have publicly stated NYC is going to get a lot worse, because of Mayor De Blasio. That’s not UWSHebrew saying that, that’s the two former heads of the NYPD.
I TOTALLY concur.
Lived on the UWS from 1955-1978. Best thing I ever did was move out. It started getting worse due to current incompetence l one will ALWAYS find “bad apples in a bunch”, including CLERGY, firefighters, politicians, Hollywood, teachers, etc.
Don’t forget “Bail Reform” which allows these criminals to return to the street as soon as they are apprehended.
Yes and thank you for explaining this so well.
Thank you.
I think deblahsio called it history in the making
Imagine that this had been YOUR car, and you had just walked up to it, perhaps with your family, anticipating a nice ride somewhere. OR maybe a family member had suddenly been hospitalized, and you need to get to them A.S.A.P.
BUT your car is totally unusable…until you spend mega-buck$ to get the windows replaced AND to rent garage space, IF available.
Maybe it’s time for EVERY building to have CCTV cameras in place? Images of “the perps” MIGHT help NYPD find and arrest them.
AND maybe Community Board 7 can help subsidize such a program? Ya think?
sounds like you want it both ways—you park on the street for free, with supervision by cops that I pay for.
that car does not look totally unusable to me, either. using hyperbole as a superlative makes you sound sillier. maybe you are.
You walk on the street for free – with supervision by cops that I pay for.
You ride your bike on the street for free – with supervision by cops that I pay for.
School kids walk on the sidewalks for free – with supervision by cops that I pay for.
Taxis and Ubers drive around on the streets all day – with supervision by cops that I pay for.
Did I win the narrow-minded contest, or would you still
prefer to claim it?
sounds like you want it both ways—you park on the street for free, with supervision by cops that I pay for.
that car does not look totally unusable to me, either. using hyperbole as a superlative makes you sound silly. maybe you are
It is frightening. What will happen at the end of the month when the $600 weekly CARES Act unemployment subsidy expires (or, hopefully, is “just” reduced)?
Yesterday Gov. Cuomo predicted the obvious — that NY (with an unenforceable travel ban) will experience a “bump” in cases. Consequently, although I genuinely hurt for them, I hope that we are limiting how many PPEs and ventilators we lend out to the states in distress.
Will schools really reopen in September? When the winter snows come, will Cuomo’s “New-York-tough/loving” claims suffer a death in the realities of food lines?
What does all of this have to do with smashed car windows?
What does any of this have to do with some deranged or idiotic perp smashing a bunch of windows fo reasons even they likely can’t explain?
“Deranged”? “Idiotic”? Why must EXCUSE-TITLED TERMS be used for a crime? How about “criminal”? Or “deviant”? Catch a clue, this falls under the umbrella of LAWLESSNESS.
I can use whatever terms i choose; you can label them any way you want. Catch a clue – we’re on the same side here.
And stop YELLING.
My car window (and another car) was also smashed on 73rd Street between West End and Riverside on June 17. This has to be the same culprit!
Sadly, I remember the 1980s and 1990s when we parked on the street, everyone had The Club, a red steel thing that attached to your steering wheel to make it impossible to steal the car bc you couldn’t steer it. We all knew that you NEVER parked on Riverside Drive bc your car would get broken into. How sad that we are returning to those bad old days. For those who lament the “good old days” on the Upper West Side, this is what they looked like.
The Club? Really? The lock on that thing could be opened by anyone with a bump key (Google it – there are hundreds of vendors selling them on Amazon) and literally five minutes of practice. And I’m pretty sure The Club doesn’t protect your windows from getting broken.
We still never park on Riverside Drive, and would definitely never park on the west side of the street (i.e. next to the park). Old habits die hard.
Silly people. Real New Yorkers would never park their car on Riverside. Ever wonder why there are so many spots?
Silly Scott seems to believe that thugs and criminals have the right to use Riverside Drive and as their own personal looting ground, but that you and I don’t have the right to park there free of worry.
Not only is blaming the victim the world’s most popular sport, but it also feels good — for a while.
If 15 cars had windows smashed then 15 car alarms were going off.
Nobody called this in?
Thank goodness it was cars not a person.
When was the last time anyone paid attention to an errant car alarm? Or firework/gun pop for that matter. Google Kitty Genovese.
Google Kitty Genovese and you’ll see the NY Times was wrong with their original reporting and 2 people did actually call the cops and another held her as they waited for an ambulance.
What do we have to do to get the Guardian Angels to parole our neighborhood? Maybe a bunch of us should start our own group. I’m a follower, not a leader, so if anyone wants to start the group, I’m in!
I can’t imagine why anyone would street park a car in NYC without comprehensive insurance, or why anyone would leave items inside a car. I’ve personally had my windows smashed at 87th/Riverside, the side of my car scraped by snowplows, and my car moved three blocks without my knowledge by the city (incurring thousands of dollars in damage).
Defund the police? This is what you get.
The police still have a 5 billion dollar budget! I think they can investigate vandalism on that budget! I have lived across from a precinct since 1992. The cops double park on the block so you are blocked from moving. This is illegal but they don’t care. For some reason they have an aversion to public transportation. They can be a very entitled group but I know it’s tough to police in NYC.
This has been happening further uptown on Riverside, way before the “defund the police” conversation started… and also the “defunded” budget hasn’t taken effect. It’s also just a large slight of hand and moving one line item to another budget… not really a huge “defunding” to be honest.
Can someone please explain how to connect a reduction in the budget of the police dept. (which I don’t even think has taken effect yet) to a random act of vandalism? Have patrols along Riverside Drive been reduced? Are the police on patrol failing to do their job? I think those are relevant questions.
Yeah sure. The police haven’t been defunded yet and we got this anyway. Stuff happens. Crimes are usually investigated by police after they have already occurred. These kind of crimes aren’t stopped before they happen.
It seems the issue is more trying to figure out why someone feels the need to smash car windows. And maybe try to address whatever that reason might be.
For me, it is a canary in the mine accompanying the virus as violence, joblessness, poverty and lack of funds increase in NYC.
Two precinct commanders ago the 24 tried to stop this. They greatly stepped up patrols and got light trees set up at various hot stops. The community response…..rather than asking why multiple people went to CCRB and made formally complaints saying it was raically motivated. 1PP quietly removed the lights and extra patrols.
It may shock you but while additional enforcement actions where in place GLA dropped, only to resurge afterwards and is sharply up since then City wide they are up 62% in the 24 they are up 42%
Thanks DeBlasio. Dont blame the NYPD.
Go for an early morning walk sometime across the Riverside Bridge just north of Grant’s Tomb. You’re guaranteed to see cars with smashed windows. And, lately, spent fireworks too.
I know everyone wants to blame De Blasio or BLM or defunding cops for this but this has happened before – years ago.
I hope they catch the person responsible.
Another reason to not have a car in the city.
Since alternate side parking has been suspended for so long, the parking garages are probably suffering.
No doubt it was a consortium if parking garage operators that hired thugs to carry this out. This should get at least 15 people back into their garages.
there is nothing more that I like than parking garage owner conspiracy theories.
I pity the puny minds of those who attribute everything good to their favored politicians, and everything bad to their reviled politicians. Stuff happens, physics is messy, and it’s delusional that there’s a straight line between vandalism and DeBlasio. If you maintain otherwise, I reserve the right to picture your brain as a Swiss cheese with far more holes than cheese.
“I cannot be sure if anything was taken from the cars, but it did not appear that that was the case.”
Like graffiti, this is just pure vandalism.
It’s the late 70s/early 80s all over again. Back then no one in their right mind would park anything but a dinged up clunker with a massive trunk lock on the street. Fancy cars were in lots or in the suburbs. Pop-out radios and radio covers were invented and everyone knew the risks of on street parking.
We will survive covid but the disrespect, hatred and defunding of police is much more serious matter. I don’t know how we will survive as a nation. Google any big city. All you see is violence. Police who are there to protect us are told to stand down and watch. If they go in, they might be ambushed or charged with a crime. Why would anyone want to be a police officer anymore?
Folks,
Crimes happen sometimes, unfortunately. It’s not DeBlasio’s fault. It’s not Trump’s fault. It’s not Cuomo’s fault. Sometimes things in life just happen – and in this case happen due to probably a single bad actor.
Every time some bad news hits WSJ, it’s the same nonsense in the comments. Look, DeBlasio isn’t perfect by a stretch and has said and done some dumb things. Trump is a fundamentally vile, contemptible, and deplorable villainous traitor to democracy. But you sound like insecure defensive children every time there’s some bad news. “Who can I point the finger at!??!” Geezus..
jsv, your comment started off sounding rational & reasonable. However, you then took a sharp left & used this article to vilify Trump. All logic & rationality thus went out the window. I honestly believe if a meteorite hit the earth right now, you would find a way to blame Trump for it.
You very clearly missed the point I was making then.
Your sane and reasoned approach is a welcome contribution.
A post about broken car windows on Riverside Drive and you spew your hatred for the President. Who has nothing to do with NYC. However, regarding the person who is in charge of NYC, you state “Look, DeBlasio isn’t perfect by a stretch and has said and done some dumb things.” — the kids have a term for that kind of conclusion: “clown world”.
UWSHebrew and some other commenters are doing their best to make every single crime incident a political issue.
We can call it “Chicken Little Syndrome”. UWSHebrew has been decrying the UWS “crime wave” and asserting that the city is falling apart for many years, through comments on this site.
Who could guess that statistics show the 7 major crime groups to be down significantly in the 20th and 24th precincts in 2020? 20th, year to date, down 10.82%; 24th, down 7.86%. It’s true that burglaries are up but Grand larcenies and Felonious Assaults are down. Grand larceny is the most common crime.
The 20th has had 1 shooting incident this year; the 24th, 3. There have been 5 murders in the 24th (0 in the 20th), which is too many but hardly a huge crime wave. Murders tend to be committed by people who know each other; for example, the sad double murder/suicide on W. 93rd. This sort of thing would indeed be affected by the economy.
Just the facts, Ma’am, as Joe Friday used to say. (Citing Joe Friday might be dating me.)
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-020pct.pdf
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-024pct.pdf
“19-Year-Old Man Shot on 109th Street, In Critical Condition” — WSR headline story, July 15, 2020.
Sorry, but 5 murders vs 1 last year same time is unacceptable. That’s not OK. My neighbor saw a young man hide an ice pick in his pants while walking on Broadway in the 90’s. There is an increase of violence in the air that wasn’t here a year ago. There’s a feeling of no repercussions now that wasn’t here a year ago. If we don’t stop it now, it can and will get worse. I’m not a Chicken Little, I just call it as I see it.
We need to vote smarter next elections and put some controls in place so everyone feels as safe as they were a year ago. It will never be perfect but I’d like to have some balance again.
reply to ConcernedUWSider:
i agree with you that 5 murders in 24th PCT is too many, and now possibly a 6th, see reported shooting on 109th this AM on WSR.
I also agree with your advocacy of “balance” on criminal justice issues.
But regarding “feeling safe”: in 2000, at the end of the “tough on crime” Giuliani era, there were 673 murders in NYC. This year it likely will be shy of 400, and even that is a large increase from last year. Supposedly people “felt safe” in 2000.
there were 5 murders in the 24th in 2003, 2006, and 2011.
I don’t want to go back to an era of racial profiling (Bloomberg) or total lack of concern and in-your-face defiance after horrific police killings of innocent Black civilians (Giuliani).
For most of the De Blasio era, crime was at its lowest in record, lower than Giuliani and Bloomberg. Without racial profiling. Somehow he never got praised for that.
Bruce, I wish I was Chicken Little. I really, truly wish I was.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/14/at-least-17-people-shot-in-nyc-on-monday-as-gun-violence-soars/
You sure about that Bruce? Check out the 105th area or the 90th Columbus area as of late…
I presented facts about the UWS. UWSHebrew countered with a lurid NY Post story about a poor area of Brooklyn. (Indeed, there is a gun/shooting problem right now in poorer areas of the city.)
I recall UWSHebrew, maybe 2 years ago, describing his version of “UWS carnage”, as he allegedly ducked behind cars in his neighborhood in the midst of running gun battles. Worse then or worse now?
Somehow I manage to walk Broadway every single day without encountering a single shooting.
If carnage is in your mind, no one can get it out.
A sensible analysis, thank you. Too bad so many people are always ready to jump to the worst scenario. The truth is almost always somewhere in the middle.
@UWSHebrew – Am I to understand you believe the president is not these things? And that you are a supporter of him and his administration? Because if so, then that is very revealing.
#TRUMP2020
jsv, you did a better job than I did of getting my point across. I’m the ‘swiss cheese’ commenter, above. I vividly recall learning the term “spurious correlation” in college. All these people who think the sun is out because Trump’s in office need to think again. The sun is out bc, folks, weather happens.
Amen, jsv. And this is the supposedly “intellectual” Upper West Side we experience in these comments.
Well, I voted with my shoes after 30 years the juice was no longer worth the squeeze except for the museums and the theatre, anything the city has to offer can be had elsewhere at a far lower cost, both to the wallet and one’s sanity. At least for now NY is over. It’s dried up, used up and living on deeply faded glory. Stockholm syndrome is the only reason people still cling to it so tightly. You couldn’t get me back there except for visits for exhibits at the Met.
There is no doubt that people feel emboldened that the police will not act on “minor” offenses. A few weeks ago three teens spray painted graffiti in Riverside park at 4PM in broad daylight on the main walk with tons of people around with zero sense there would be ramifications. I shamed them away but it was too late to stop the vandalism. I know some people will shrug “so some kids and graffiti” but that’s the slippery slope to losing treasures like Riverside Park for families and the community.
And yet you can’t stop lurking around the neighborhood message boards so clearly life in the exurbs isn’t quite fulfilling enough to keep you busy.
“The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.”
– the late, great John Updike (and he wasn’t even a NYer.)
No Regrets, NYC has gone through many, many iterations over its storied, unmatchable history and true New Yorkers abide and love it. (Obviously, you miss it from wherever you are and maybe even have the regrets you claim not to have since you seem to need to troll the WSR. Most unbecoming.)
Does anyone know there is a pandemic on? That the future is unknown, on the UWS or Scarsdale? That the goniffs are very frustrated and angry, perhaps? Or just plain criminals? That some of us make decisions about a politician based on his/her/they/ conduct, policy building, and empathy for what people are enduring, during this period? I stand with jvs!! Not because I am Trump hater, or a lover of anyone else, but because Trump has devastated our country, humiliated us in the eyes of the world, created a toxic environment for immigrants who have served him and all of us, almost kicked out the academic population for no reason, draining capital out of academia and terrorizing the youngest and the brightest, and you think this is Trump hatred? This is my love for my country, my city and my neighborhood. A shoe would do a better job of running this country. I wish him every happiness should he return to private life, and stop terrorizing us, so we can wake up one day, without the latest perfidy he has fostered on us. And that’s not all I have to say!! But please. This is not about the person, it is about his performance as POTUS. That’s all.
This has been happening up and down riverside for months. All the way pay 110th street. All on park side of the drive.
I am pretty sure that the democrats are losing some of their fans at this point. They have made it so that nobody can speak a single word that has not been pre-approved. Never thought I’d live to see it, but they have literally silenced the entire country.
If it was “literally” then your post wouldn’t be here. In any case, it’s a big exaggeration. There are factions across the poilitical spectrum that are aggressive in achieveing their goals. For me, the vast majority of the Democratic party has a level of integrity matched by perhaps 5% of the GOP.
Our mayor isn’t too concerned with such problems.
The issue, as I see it, there is a degree of street crime all over our neighborhood that has become tolerated under this current administration. UWS residents are told to accept it and welcome these folks who are described as down on their luck into our community. In many cases, they are not from our community, but are brought in. This needs to be seen as unacceptable. Homelessness may not be a crime, but assault and robbery is. If this is happening, the law needs to be applied EVEN if the person is homeless. If they are viewed as not able to be held responsible for their behavior due to mental illness or drug addiction, then they don’t belong on the streets.
You know what would be great? If everyone who posted here would write their concerns to every city council member too. I write to them to express my concerns and worries and my friends all laugh and say they don’t care. But if enough people write and complain then maybe something will happen? Things got better after the miseries of the 1970s and 1980s so cant they get better again? Why do we have to accept any of this as the “new normal?”
Back to the 70s as I remember these broken windows (from my apt on 82 and Riverside)
Will get worse as lawlessness proceeds.
That is pretty brutal. No matter the reason, no one should go and do that to someone’s car. That car may be someone’s lifeline. It is a utility for crying out loud and people wonder why people are unemployed.