The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Call Me Ahab...the Q's Quest For a Qlean Qorner

It's my white whale.

Dang I hate the trash at 713 Flatbush, the NE Corner of the Flabenue and Parkside, ParsideZ Deli. Heck I can't stand that whole eastern block from Flat to Win and the half dozen "chums" who help make it one of the most criminal blocks in the neighborhood (charts show an unusually high number of crimes take place there, with a bunch of notorious apartments, one that was raided by the narcs just recently). I've repeatedly told Martinos and Fitzgibbon of the 71st just how much a problem this area is, and they assure me they're "on it." Would be nice to see cop out there once in awhile.

But the trash. Man. Here's some pics from yesterday.



I, Clarkson FlatBed, hereby pledge to do something about it, so help me Allah. The deli has been warned - I told 'em I'm ready to throw the book at them (yeah, like I have any real authority) if they don't clean up their act. They're not responsible for the trash, but they are legally responsible to keep it clean to 18 inches into the road. They benefit from "location location location," so they need to step it up.

Please join me by politely reminding them, for the sake of the whole neighborhood, to keep the garbage in check. Until we get a BID around here, no paid employee is going to go around picking up after us. And y'all who throw your household trash int that bin? There's a special receptacle in Hell awaiting you!

11 comments:

diak said...

As part of being "on it," the 71st should be enforcing the "No Standing" rules in the morning on that side of Flatbush. While not the entire solution, it would at least be a help if the street-sweeping vehicles could do their job.
As to the "chums," maybe it's time for the 71st do a bit of "street sweeping" too.

babs said...

Unfortunately, many of the households using NYC trash cans for their garbage have no other choice - their landlords don't provide the city-mandated building trash receptacles. Now the businesses using the trash cans for their garbage in order to avoid paying commercial carting fees are another story.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

They have. Those guys (and the gal w/a boyish swagger) are very well known to the police. All have long rap sheets.

There's a little technicality called due process though, that prevents keeping them in the clink for too long, and it's not like they have any place else to go.

Curious27 said...

Seems to be a similar problem on Nostrand, especially near the new express bus stop. Folks are stopping into the local eateries and grabbing some grub, eating as they wait for buses and then hopping on, but not before dropping their trash all over. I saw one of the new rounded-top trash cans on the north-west corner of Nostrand and Empire, what I thought would be the solution to the problem, overflowing with trash. Seems we have a ways to go on our end.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Curious: Those trash cans were purchased through Capital Requests to Tish James. Empire's the edge of her district, that's why they haven't come farther south.

If you want new tapered trash cans, best to call Mathieu Eugene's office. He's likely the only one who can make that happen.

diak said...

<< a little technicality called due process though, that prevents keeping them in the clink for too long>>

Yet meanwhile, most of the victims of Det. Scarcella's bogus "investigations" in the 80s and 90s are still languishing in prison. Maybe the new DA could figure out a swap: our violators for some people truly violated...

The Snob said...

To piggyback on Babs' point, the landlords are indeed the linchpin of the household trash problem. I complained here and to the owners of the building on our corner about the trash blowin' in the wind. No avail. But eventually, new owners installed real trash receptacles and the everyday filth has been cut in half. Complain to the landlords and management companies, building by building.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Diak: I've thought long and hard on this one. Basically, we get rid of the guys when they REALLY screw up. Usually, that means a felony assault with a gun. So I'm not sure I really want to invite THAT on.

There's got to be an alternative to the merry-go-round. These guys need help...serious help. They're high pretty much constantly, and they don't have any prospects at all. I'd love to know that there's something else that can intervene, because it's only a matter of time before something really bad happens to them. Hopefully we'll be standing on the other side of the street when that happens.

diak said...

Mr CF, You are right, of course, about the "bad guys." But not having any useful real-world solutions I'm reduced to just wishing them gone. It wasn't a serious proposal.
I'm just struck by the quirk in our justice system that it bends over backwards with proper procedures and rules of evidence BEFORE conviction, (yeah I know, stop-and-frisk and all that but in general) but AFTER conviction well, too bad, fella, you had your day in court, and if the detective bribed a junkie to say what he was told to say well, your hopelessly overworked public defender should've filed the papers a decade ago. At least Ken Thompson is trying to move things in the right direction, but it seems to be moving very slowly. Imagine how slow it must be for the wrongly convicted...

And please, when the really bad happens hope to be farther away than just across the street... you don't ever want the designation "innocent bystander."

Unknown said...
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Clarkson FlatBed said...

Nope. Those aren't they. The drunks aren't the problem - it's the dealers. 673 is a guns/crack/dope den. The apartment above JJ's, same.

It doesn't help that the drunks give them cover, though. A guy asked me for money the other day. I said it's for a drink, right? I said that's okay, I was just curious. So I gained his confidence. I asked him about the crowd hanging on the stoop. He says he stays away from that scene. He just likes to drink. True story.

I texted Vinnie and Fitzgibbon and they sent someone by. The hoodlums scattered; the drunks stayed.