Photo by Peggy.
August 17, 2020 Weather: Rain expected, with a high of 80 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar is full of events you can enjoy from home.
News:
Dozens of community members attended a meeting last Friday with NYPD officers to “sound off about safety concerns,” reported NY1. Residents “asked NYPD officers what they can do about public urination and intoxication among other issues. The officers said they are spread thin and can only issue violations when they witness them, which they say is more challenging since the plainclothes anti-crime unit was disbanded…The officers also emphasized the fact that the NYPD no longer oversees shelter security, as the homeless outreach team was reassigned.”
Bette Midler has written a book about Central Park’s mandarin duck. “Well, well, hello, ducky!” Vulture proclaimed. “Bette Midler announced on Thursday she’ll be publishing a children’s picture book with Random House next year about, wait for it, New York’s hot duck. Lest you’ve forgotten because we live in hell and 2018 was 74 years ago, the hot duck was a colorful mandarin duck that appeared in Central Park and captivated us all.”
A 29-year-old man was shot in what may have been an attempted robbery on 94th Street and Amsterdam Avenue early Monday, ABC reported. “The victim was shot in the hip just before 4:30 a.m. Monday. He went into a nearby deli for help He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
One of the nation’s premier real estate brokers died of COVID-19 in April, at the age of 72. Robby Browne handled high-profile sales and stars, The New York Times reported. “But he was most at home on the Upper West Side. He loved the architecture, restaurants and proximity to Central Park, which he pedaled through daily on a 10-speed bike to his Madison Avenue office at the Corcoran Group. And above all, he cherished his apartment in the Century Condominium, at 25 Central Park West, with its large, park-facing terrace and sumptuous flower gardens. So much so, that he actually bought it twice.”
The effective NYPD plainclothes anti-crime unit was disbanded as a direct response to the capitulation of our politicians to Black Lives Matter. I hope everyone who cheered and supported the anti-police rallies is satisfied. I hope everyone who will continue to vote straight down the Democratic ticket, no matter their policies on public safety, is satisfied. Now, NO lives matter in NYC.
Agreed, and thank you for sharing your thoughts here. Too many people are afraid to voice similar opinions, out of fear of retribution. This madness will continue until more people are willing to speak out and ultimately reevaluate the policies they are voting for. Good work.
They didn’t need to disband it — they needed to reform it so that it would stop committing just so, so, so many civil rights violations. No one asked them to disband it — they just asked that they obey the law. But they disbanded it instead.
Typical overreacting to save their jobs…and asses.
You can not be polite with hard core criminals, so yes they had to disband it. Gang members and antifi do not go without a fight
Couldn’t agree more.
This is exactly what disbanding the anti-crime unit combined with ridiculous bail reform policies yield – violence, death, and destruction on the streets for normal, law-abiding tax payers to deal with on a daily basis.
This mayor and the rest of his liberal-hack cronies make me sick to my stomach.
Well said. Be prepared for the tired response “You’re a fair weather New Yorker, we don’t need you, bye!”, as well as the classic “actually, crime stats are down from the same time last year”. The lunatics are running the asylum, and many people who read this website are lock-step with whatever policies Democrats enact, even if it is to the detriment of their physical safety!
UWS Hebrew, Yes, fellow readers/precinct will claim that crime is down.
I speak to cops several times a week and they all confirm that reports are (largely) no longer being filed for crimes committed with no guns, including physical harassment, shoplifting, and of course – there is no such thing as quality of life enforcement now. We reap what we sow; our police department can no longer operate a unit called “anti-crime.” Why? Because we support pro-crime organizations and elect pro-crime politicians. Indeed, the lunatics are finally running the asylum.
Yeah, crime is probably up now and why? Because the NYPD has essentially gone on strike. Have a little conversation with cops & ask them: They’ll usually admit what’s going on. And now their union has endorsed Trump for President, for god’s sake. Right now, the NYPD is effectively your enemy.
“Yeah, crime is probably up now and why? Because the NYPD has essentially gone on strike” — crime is up because criminals are emboldened. When people are not prosecuted for dumping buckets of water on the head of a cop, it will only get worse, and it has. But keep blaming the only people that are between you and someone trying to murder you. — “Right now, the NYPD is effectively your enemy.” — speak for yourself. The NYPD have their hands tied, and if they are too “aggressive” with a criminal, not only can they be suspended without pay, but prosecuted and face jail time. Can you IMAGINE having to deal with those possibilities, with a job that has lousy pay to begin with? Don’t even start the racism bit with me, the NYPD is the most diverse police force in the country, easily half of the cops I see are black or hispanic.
The sad reality is that if you are out after dark, particularly in the late night/early morning hours, you’re taking a real risk these days. 94th and Amsterdam – wow.
It is so sad. Just a few months ago (before covid) I felt safe parking on Riverside at 2:30am and walking home alone. Now I am hesitant to go outside after dark (not there are many places to go anymore at night though).
Sherman, so park in a garage instead of squatting on the public green….maybe we could finally get garbage off the sidewalks too.
NYPD’s response doesn’t make objective sense, if you are generally inclined to believe what some fella named (checks notes) NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said, to the press, in announcing the decision a couple months ago. Whatever is going on, people warned at the time that the risk of NYPD using underhanded tactics to get the notorious plainclothes unit back was real. I can’t think of them without remembering the time they tackled tennis star James Blake.
“A majority of the roughly 600 officers in the department’s “anti-crime” units would be immediately moved to other assignments, NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in a press conference, though a portion would continue to patrol the city’s subways. The reassigned officers will take up positions in the detective’s bureau and the department’s community policing efforts, Shea said.”
While I agree that Black Lives Matter, the protesters seem to care less about how many people are being shot than they about who’s doing the shooting. It’s like, NYPD didn’t shoot anyone this weekend so whatever.
I would like to have the plain clothes officers back and I would like to fully fund the people and parts of the NYPD that keeps our communities safe and learn.
I think the City Council was wrong to defund the NYPD – ESPECIALLY in the midst of a pandemic which is creating all sorts of other problems…including more crime. Shootings are up like crazy this year across the city.
At the same time, I think there needs to be police reform. Violent cops need to go, and be punished swiftly. Racism should not be tolerated.
Both views can be supported at the same time – FUND the NYPD, at the same time rules must be changed to eradicate police violence and racism.
These need not be mutually exclusive goals.
I think Rosenthal should start listening to her constituents on these matters.
I’ve heard of Peking Duck but not New York Duck. Is it tasty?
Why do you assume that those who march in protest of the violations against ordinary citizens are the same people committing crimes, especially violent crimes. And when you, personally, have experienced arrogance, hostility and refusal to respond by many NYC police, as I have — and I am Caucasion — you might feel differently. People parading peacefully — white and of color — have waited so many years to be taken seriously about police brutality. That the Police are responding by essentially going on strike and declining to patrol or pay attention in their assigned comunities are not doing the work they’re paid for. The comment at the meeting that Police only respond when a gun is involved dropped the ball when a young woman standing on the platform under 72d St. and Bwy. was stabbed in her shoulder as she waited for her train. Passing by on street level shortly after (I discovered), I was so surprised and pleased to see a police presence in the area, I stopped and asked, “Are you City police? The younger of the 2 men nodded pleasantly. I said, “Well. It’s good to see a uniformed presence up here.” The younger cop smiled; his partner had a sneer on his face, and looked away. Later, I learned their presence was in response to the knifing. We’re living in an unhealthy environment; I welcome the return of Curtis Sliwa. He and his group are what’s missing on the UWS: people who act and who care.
How about plain ole’, regular uniformed cops walking a beat on the UWS? Does anyone ever see that? If I see police walking around outside a patrol car, it’s to go into Starbucks to get some coffee.
It’s a slowdown.
They feel hurt and unappreciated.
Wish I could slow things down at my desk whenever I feel the same way.
But I don’t have the GUNS, and the POWER, and the UNION.
Still, police budgets should not be cut mindlessly and the plain clothes anti-crime unit should not have been disbanded. But, looking forward, the department needs to hire officers with four year college degrees and require them to live near the neighborhoods they serve.
An occupying force from out of town doesn’t cut it.
Keep listening to everything the police say, you fools. And let that racist flag that you try so so hard to keep dormant (badly) fly free! They disbanded themselves, took their toys and went home because someone wanted some oversight. Simple as that. You just need to blame someone, anyone, because you are scared. You are weak.
The NYPD is purposely slacking off as their “payback” and to use those results in their propaganda campaign. I thought Upper West Siders were more savvy than to fall for it. Officers should be penalized for not doing their jobs. But there’s no accountability and the “union” has too much power. Those “anti-crime” officers were merely reassigned to the detective’s bureau and, according to Pox Commissioner Shea, to community policing efforts.
The NYPD has been emboldened by Trump and just endorsed him publicly for re-election. Do we want police in politics?
The 20th precinct has dirty cops and everyone knows it. They ruin things for the good cops. They do a really good act at community meetings.
Robby Browne was one of the most fantastic people and New Yorkers ever.
I wouldn’t vote for Trump in 100 years. But I’m done voting for the far left like De Blasio. Disbanding the anti-crime unit was insanity. NYC has no plain clothes officers? That’s nuts.
Look around. There are no kids, and that’s a terrible sign. Not just because of the pandemic, or because many people left to stay with relatives (not ALL of us on the UWS have summer homes, you know) but because GOOD parents are keeping them inside because IT’S NOT SAFE TO GO OUTSIDE. I have three kids, a husband and a very small apartment. Disrespecting police is not acceptable. Racism is not acceptable. And I taught my kids to respect EVERYONE. We CAN be supportive of each other and reform unacceptable situations as well. Going all-out anarchist will affect you & your family forever. And for your information, I married OUT of my culture and OUT of my religion. And my husband’s family ostracized him because of it. This, in no way, makes me a better person. It makes me a HUMAN. I lived in the gang & drug infested south Bronx of the 1979s. No one wants that again. Stop crying and try to get along.