Murder on west 63rd and west end avenue

Drop the projects thing, ha? My father grew up in the projects, never murdered anybody. Neither did my grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins. There are some shady people in the projects, but if they're involved in criminal activity they're kicked out and/or banned from the property. Usually it's non-projects residents who commit the crimes. That's not to say that I feel comfortable in all projects, but most I have no problem with.

The city's decline has NOT begun. Property will fall in price making it more affordable for the middle class. If you want exclusivity, I suggest moving into a gated community in Scottsdale, playing golf till you drop. That's not what New York City is about. Thankfully.

"the city allows dangerous housing projects to co-exist near luxury apartments." I do not understand. Are you saying that there is a distinction between dangerous and non-dangerous projects and the city should have rules in place for each type? Or are you saying the city should bar luxury apartments from being built near projects (a novel zoning regulation). Or should the city move projects if a luxury building goes up near them? Was there no violent crime in areas without projects last year? I seem to recall reading about some. Are residents of some types of building entitled to greater protection and city services than others? This murder signals the city's decline?

Are you insane? Or just racist?

holy crap, you don't give up do you.

again, please move to chicago. although I have a feeling people won't like you there either. most successful and likable people tend to find the positive of wherever they are.

also, sorry to be vulgur but you are an enormous pussy. I've never met a guy who whines about crime as much as you do. you must be 5'4 and 130 lbs soaking wet or something.

one last thing - you are confusing 3 different issues. 1) rent control. 2) 80/20 buildings and 3) housing projects. all 3 are very different with different issues

What a ridiculous original post.

There also have been murders recently (and, yes, drugs) in 10021, 10011, 10012, 10013, etc., etc., etc.

Shit happens. Unfortunate? Yes. An indicator of the Decline and Fall of the City of New York? I don't think so.

One murder is not a crime wave.

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/data/506/Do-not-feed-the-troll.jpg

The murder happened at 2AM. I walk through those projects every day and feel perfectly safe. I wouldn't do it at 2 AM nor would I walk anywhere at 2AM that wasn't well lit with plenty of activity --housing project or not.

let the projects in peace. those living there "don't pay rent" you might think cause it's cheap, too cheap for your taste. but if you get to know them, you will see that many of them pay close to 30% of their income on rent or more.

the average household income in harlem was less than $23k when i move here (2006). get real, where do you want them to live?

it's hilarious how you liberals downplay acts of violence.

i think NYC should follow Chicago's model by destroying projects that are near luxury apartments. The people who live on west end avenue are terrified, and this will only hinder development in that area.

"This news has sent shock waves throughout that area"

"The people who live on west end avenue are terrified"

and you feel qualified to make these statements how? because you spoke to one person?

what is stopping you, there are hourly flights to Chicago

hey rufus - I'm a republican

and if there's one thing republicans and democrats can agree on, it's that we want you to move to chicago

ps - last time I checked, chicago's mayor for, like, the last 100 years has been a democrat

West81st - hilarious image. Amazed it hasn't been brought out before.

And yes, to echo what's been said here nearly a dozen times already, this is a city with millions of people in it. Crime, drugs, etc. will happen. When there are frequent riots and looting, then we can start voicing serious concern.

i have several friends who live there, and they told me that all the residents in their buildings are terrified. it got so bad in one building that the leasing office is offering a discount on their rents if they agree to renew their leases. bunch of people want to move out ASAP. it's really unfortunate because that area has enormous potential, but the dangerous projects must go, before that happens.

doof, before we indulge you in this particular flight of your incessant sniveling, can you post a link to the story? Or is it just that?

I'm pretty sure he can't get a date either - which is why he thinks the women in Chicago look better. Seriously, if you hate it so much here - you really need to move. Be gone as you don't want to be here and don't belong. . .what's the point of living somewhere you hate so much?!

I ditto everything, except the first. We all agree!!!

It's not so much that I think it's impossible that it happened, but I want to know what's triggering your irrational panic attack.

girlygirl77, so you resort to ad hominem attacks since you can't address the substance of my post. i'm not going to delve into an immature discussion on which city has better looking women, but suffice it to say, most guys i know think Chicago has hotter women.

"5'4 and 130 lbs soaking wet or something."

Hey evillager, I'm 5'7" and 150#, and could beat the crap out of just about anybody, so watch that stuff.

That said, your post is right on - I'm a Clinton Democrat / Bloomberg Republican, not one on social experimentation, but the projects are here, so here they must stay.

This is the safest big city in the country. If you want to whine about something, whine about gun control.

Again - move to Chicago already. After all, the women here suck and you think it is crime infested. Be an agent of change in your own life. All you do is complain and in case you didn't realize, it is not an attractive trait nor does it endear people to you. This is a bi-partisan request - be gone.

sorry steve. didn't mean to denigrate the little people. I just really don't understand someone who goes on and on about how bad crime is in one of the safest big cities in the country.

but anyway, this guy is a jackass, not to mention a pathetic loser. he reminds me of the kids in college who just whined about how much it sucks and their home town was way better, while everyone else was enjoying themselves for 4 years.

rufus, serious question: why don't you just move?

i don't hate nyc. there are a lot of good things about it, but in terms of gentrification, housing, and overall urban planning, it is falling behind. that's just a fact.

rufus, seriously -- and I say this as a friend (hey, if you can have imaginary friends in luxury buildings in the West End Avenue DMZ, why not?) -- your meds aren't working, your psychoanalysis isn't working. Here's the last hope for you (note that it's in Chicago, on luxurious Huron Street): http://www.nmh.org/nmh/adam/adamencyclopedia/HIEArticles/003324.htm

"in terms of gentrification, housing, and overall urban planning, it is falling behind."

We had our "urban planning," his name was Robert Moses. We don't need him again.

"Gentrification"? New York County is one of the richest counties in the country. How much more gentrification do you want?

"little people." Really, evillager, you're digging yourself - I'm the same size as Tom Cruise, and bigger than Harry Potter. So there!

Rufus - You are clearly being a knucklehead. Step back and do a little self-reflection and you may grow up a bit as a person.

On the bright side, your hatred and ignorance has unified everyone else here at Streeteasy. We may disagree on a lot, but there is no place for your hate.

Hope everyone has a good Wednesday!

waverly, i'm being hateful because i cite specific facts regarding NYC? LOL!

I wouldn't call what you posted "specific facts". It was mostly opinion, started off one anecdote.

Rufus, dear, if you're not getting counseling, I think you should. You seem to have irrational fear & resentment & feelings of entitlement & a feeling that you are better than others, particularly in a material sense. It's sad. Just be happy with what & who you are & leave everybody else alone ... and yes, a move to Chicago sounds like a good idea.

rufus could almost make me get along with petrfitz. almost...

evillager, exactly what I was thinking.

rufus is the uniter on this board.

I could see stevejhx, nyc10022 (aka EddieWilson) and dco getting along with someonewhoknows (aka malraux), and petrfitz getting along with evillager just to get rid of rufus.

The idea that the city should prohibit housing projects from being near luxury developments by tearing them down and ejecting the black and hispanic people, er, I mean the hoodlums, er, I mean the thieves who make NYC taxes go up, er, I mean the tenants is beyond fathomable.

by the way, someone posted this about rufus yesterday and it hasn't been denied (nor has the claim of him being 5'4, not that there's anything wrong with that per steve)

late 20s
born/grew up in Brooklyn
Jewish
mom and/or he was harassed by some black youths in the 1980s, early 1990s, maybe even had a car broken into
one of mom or dad were potentially teachers in NYC's school system with troublesome "hoodlums"
mom / parents were renters until a co-op conversion - 50s/60s/70s type building with 8 ft. ceilings
attended one of the City's better public high schools but was still picked on because he's short, curly hair, and a bad athlete
attended Cornell University's Agriculture and Life Sciences School (the State Land Grand School with discounted tuition but is also stretching as an Ivy by all accounts). Potentially the Human Ecology school.
angry about affirmative action because he worked hard to get into Cornell and had no special breaks (parents had no money for SAT tutoring and had no alumni connections) but black students got to Cornell to study farming in his school more easily and with financial aid.
as a result of growing up renting and in a low quality co-op, and during NYC's darker years, never personally bought into buying real estate in NYC so is pissed off about the current prices and the money the non-NYers made

Living in the neighborhood I do not like those projects. I also don't feel safe walking through them much of the time and I never bring my young son through them. They are a magnet for crime b/c there is no vehicle through traffic, no stores, and are just generally isolated. I have NO ISSUE with low-income people in the neighborhood. I have a BIG ISSUE with criminals and drug dealers. Personally, I think the projects should be broken up, as the city has learned that 80/20s or individual low income buildings dispersed throughout successul neighborhoods are safer for everyone.

And BTW, it's the respectable people that live in the projects that suffer the most from the criminal element that persists there (or hangs out there). Which is why my collegue, who grew up in the Chelsea projects says "Everyone who can get out of the projects, does."

PS: Having said that, don't think I agree with Rufus.

My big project knock is how they get cheap parking in very transportation-friendly areas. In many of these scenarios, folks in the surrounding "better" areas can't even think of affording cars, and we're subsidizing spaces for those in the projects.

I remember that they tried to up the parking fees from like $50 to $60 or something minute, and there were howls and howls...

lintintin:

For the record, I am not "someonewhoknows."

"Hey evillager, I'm 5'7" and 150#, and could beat the crap out of just about anybody, so watch that stuff."

Maybe we could get steve to beat the crap out of rufus and post the video for our enjoyment. We could call it “midget UFC”.

LP1, i agree that those projects in west end should be broken up. but don't hold your breath for the NYC liberals to do anything about it.

Great idea JuiceMan!

I think the Steve/Rufus cagefight should be like Thunderdome

TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVE! TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVE!

It is a shame. I am sorry to hear about the death.

manhattanfox: you're sorry to hear about what death--do you mean the upcoming Thunderdome death of Steve or Rufus? Or do you mean that murder that never occurred, or was a special secret murder known only to residents of "luxury" buildings on WEA near the projects (and not to any major media), aka the Parcvendome death?

alanhart, are you an idiot? do you really think the major media report every single murder in NYC?

I am going to forbid myself from posting on this thread after this. The OP is a hysterical reaction to a single crime that is from what I can tell not especially remarkable in terms of the other murders this year in NYC. I reveal little of my personal life on here, but I think it is fair to say, based on my reading these forums for a year, that no one on here is more closely and intimately involved on a daily and personal basis with the city's law enforcement communities than I am. And for whatever it is worth, this OP does not reflect the reality of any substantive change in crime levels in that section of the city, is patently offensive in too many ways to bother discussing, and so far as I'm concerned this thread should die and we should all resist adding to it so it fades into the ether of dead threads.
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My kid goes to daycare a block from the supposed murder, and while it is unfortunate especially for the deceased, I could care less. My kid will continue to go to the daycare and continue to love it. Assuming of course my 6 month old isn't dealing drugs at 2am which can indeed be risky business.

Kgg, I wouldn't feel so calm about it if the murder did indeed happened. I felt the same way as you until the summer of 2005.

I was single at the time, living in a new development condo directly across from the project (6-8 buildings in total). One night, I had emptied out the garbage and left the door unlocked and fell a sleep (stupid me). Apparently, one of the unsold unit on the 1st floor window was left open to let the paint dry. One of the thug had entered in and I guess he tried every door until he hit my unit.

This was 4AM on Sunday. I am a very light sleeper and woke up to a noise coming from my 2nd bedroom. For about a minute, I thought it was the AC rattling but knew something was off. I proceeded to the 2nd bedroom and found a person packing my laptop and other things into a bag. I literally hit the roof and screamed for help and ran out. My neighbors thought I was drunk and I was just being an ass (found out the next day). I don't know what had in me, but I waited by the front door and few seconds later, he ran out and clashed into me. I had pinned him against the wall, checked for guns/knife or any other weapons (none, thankfully) and took all my belongings back. I pushed him to the floor, re-entered my apt and called the police.

Police showed up in about 30sec. I saw him disappear into the project and told the police. Police refused to enter the project and started to powder my apt for fingerprints (didn't find any usable ones). I went down to the police station for ID from a photo book but there were just way too many and confusing. They didn't end up catching the guy. The thug was about 5'7 160lb (right about stevejhx) drugged up white male(possibly russian or polish). Luckily I got all my belongings back except $300 Cash (he did not take my LV wallet and CC for some reason). I lost the cash because when I took my belongings back, I did not feel the cash in his pocket.

I had 3 broken living room windows following that incident...ended up replacing with plexiglass. 6 more broken entry in my apt during that month, but none since that month. I had trouble sleeping at night for the next 18months or so. Things are better now, but little noises at night brings back that night.

My take is,
I don't walk late at night near projects
I no longer live across from it
I don't plan on raising my kids anywhere near it (thinking of NJ or Westchester)

I don't hate colors, but I learn to walk away from any potentious problems.

clarification;
6 more broken entry in my APT building, not my unit.

Everynight, I wish I had beaten this guys head to a pulp that night. I still don't know why I had just pushed him on the floor and waited for the cop. Cops called me stupid (lectured me for about 5mins) for even attempting such thing.

rufus -- yes, the Post, News and NY1 report every murder in the city. It's their bread and butter.

ba294 - that sucks.

ba294, my condolences go out to you. sadly, your experience is becoming more common in Manhattan.

A man was murdered in Chicago. I know that for a fact. The city of Chicago is terrified. Terrified, I'm telling you.

Shit, Milwaukee has instituted curfews as a result.

How do we know that the drug dispute wasn't some rich guy who got a margin call from his broker and couldn't pay his bill to his supplier? Why is the presumption poor vs. poor rather than rich vs. rich?

unmanned, the vast majority of crime in NYC is either poor against poor or the poor attacking the rich.

with obama as president, these poor people will be getting our hard-earned tax money. After all, Obama wants to "spread the wealth."

Critic: Cop cuts gutting CAPS

Mayor Daley is gutting Chicago's community policing budget and reducing staff 25 percent -- a cost-cutting move that, critics contend, would leave the 15-year-old crime-fighting program "almost dead."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1226765,CST-NWS-CAPS17.article

unmanned and Rufus are the same person.....and by that I mean another one of Rufus' personalities.

Rufus
Does Poor = criminal?

I am not Rufus. Is that a problem?

This discussion was also started by rufus, and seems a lot like AcesCracked