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In the News: Teens Attacked by the Battery Park City Ball Fields
••• The New York Times has a long article about Shinola and its rapid expansion. News: “This fall, the company will introduce an audio line of turntables, speakers and, most important, audiophile-quality headphones, rendered in leather and brushed stainless steel, which it intends to sell for $450 to $650. […] A market that potentially is even bigger than headphones, [founder Tom] Kartsotis said, is eyewear, which the company hopes to move into seriously by 2017.” I’d be curious to see Shinola’s balance sheet.
••• Anyone who lives in Battery Park City (or even frequents it) should read this entire article: “Two local 16-year-old boys were beaten last month, one of them robbed and seriously injured, near the Battery Park City ball fields. The attack occurred one day after private security went on duty in the neighborhood, and the victims families’ complaints about how the security workers responded to the incident, only now being publicly reported, may heighten the fervor of residents who opposed the Battery Park City Authority’s hiring decision.” —Tribeca Trib
••• The new condo at 555 Broome (a.k.a. 100 Varick) will be even bigger, because the developer bought an adjacent building. —Commercial Observer
••• In the Tribeca Trib police blotter: Sunglass Hut theft; subway pickpocket nabbed; more.
••• “Tuesday night’s meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 reviewed and then passed a resolution calling upon Governor Andrew Cuomo to appoint residents of the community to the board of the Battery Park City Authority.” —Broadsheet
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re: the BPC incident with the teens.
Not sure the logic behind paying millions of dollars to hire guys that can’t do anything more than what a normal pedestrian can do.
Actually, they’re WORSE than a pedestrian since they’re specifically ordered NOT to intervene.
Horrible decision made by greedy Mehiel.
Are we going to find out the CEO of Allied Barton is a donor to Cuomo?
1. the ballfields are clearly going to require a bit more active patrolling. Kids from all over use this as a hang out spot. If Cuomo’s lackey’s lived in the neighborhood, they would know this.
2. Why would anyone hire a “security” service that can only “call” for help. That is pointless and a waste of money. They give the appearance of providing security, but in reality are legally not allowed to do anything.
3. Why are BPC residents footing the bill for everything related to the ballfields? This is a community resource used equally by residents in Tribeca, FiDi and beyond. BPC residents have already paid for the fields and maintenance through high common charges. Why must they pay for private or PEP services protect everyone?
4. At least 4-5 uniformed NYPD stand in front of Goldman entrances all day long. That is north of half a million (maybe more) annually in tax payer funded policing for a private business. It seems reasonable that they might also help to watch the fields.
“At least 4-5 uniformed NYPD stand in front of Goldman entrances all day long.”
i believe the law perfmits goldman to hire nypd cops in uniform on their off hours.
” Why are BPC residents footing the bill for everything related to the ballfields?”
the ballfields were built as a tradeoff for the residential towers being allowed to excede zoning and add extra floors. as part of that deal, they are responsible for these expenses.
yes, Josh you are right. They can be paid by private corporations while wearing state issued uniforms, and basically pretending to be state supported law enforcement. Its a great deal for corporations. If these cops should engage in any misdeeds while on private assignment, the NYPD will happily indemnify them. Socialize the risk, privatize the gain. Sorry–I know this is off topic..but
re: Teens beaten and robbed.
Doesn’t add up. Why wasn’t this story picked up by other news outlets? A woman is slashed in the face in Chelsea and its all over the news; a BPC teen is beaten unconscious by a gang and the story doesn’t make it out of BPC/Tribeca? What else was going on? Why are the parents keeping it a secret? If there really are gangs of teens from “another neighborhood” attacking our children, don’t we want to inform everyone? Isn’t it selfish to bury the story and remain anonymous when others could be at risk? Where is the outrage? And WHY is everyone so concerned about the security? Why isn’t anyone talking about a child who was beaten unconscious and may have permanent damage to his brain that could last a lifetime?Does anyone actually believe that the PEP would have been more effective in stopping this crime? I have teens who have been the victims of (non-violent) crimes in this neighborhood and the PEP were 100% ineffective- went straight to the NYPD. Also, why didn’t the girls involved IMMEDIATELY call 911? There is WAY more to this story than has been reported.
Gothamist has a write-up today, based on A Walk in the Park’s post from yesterday:
—http://gothamist.com/2016/01/08/bpc_teen_beating_security.php
—http://awalkintheparknyc.blogspot.com/2016/01/teens-viciously-attacked-in-battery.html
As I understand it, it happened as reported. There’s not more to the story. The victims are kids, and the parents are quite outraged. Immediate key concern was for their future security and avoiding retaliation for any charges brought so they kept it out of the press intentionally. Think about if it was your kid? Police have been actively working to identify the perpetrators. All the kids were traumatized that night and relied on adults to respond appropriately to help them which didn’t happen on many fronts.
This raises so many questions. Why did it take a month for this to be reported? Why did it take 20 minutes for police and ambulance to arrive to help? Why did they by-pass our brand new pediatric ER at NYU Downtown Hospital? If this happened as reported, the incompetence level of all involved is almost impossible to comprehend.
The recent outpouring of affection for the PEP officers is a remarkable turn of events. Not so long ago, they were vilified as churlish do-nothings who occasionally arose from their golf cart slumbers to rough up the locals.
Now, as their contract expires, they are characterized as a snug security blanket that protected our community from all manner of harm. Right on cue, the public servants who feed off the PEP officer union’s campaign donations have dutifully risen to their defense and denounced the private security force as an unwanted occupation force.
The private security officers may be nothing other than a visible deterrent, but at least they are visible. Seeing a PEP officer actually doing anything is as rare as spotting a whale in the Hudson.
So replacing an ineffective security force with an even less effective security force is the answer? Why is there not more of an NYPD presence in the neighborhood aside from in front of or inside of Brookfield Place and Goldman Sachs.
I have lived in BPC for 12 years and the number of times I have seen a PEP officer during those 12 years i can count on my two hands.
The PEP are/were not a security force nor are Allied Barton. What BPC needs, like every other neighborhood, is ACTUAL POLICE OFFICERS patrolling.
The NYPD patrol during the summer at the marina to ensure that the yachts are safe, but residents are another story entirely. Now that more is opening down here there are many more people coming through, more tourists, more crime. We might not have needed that much security in the past, but we do now.
Until that happens, we are on our own. We need to watch out for each other. I will call 911 if anything happens and will tell my kids to do the same.
I am not sure PEP officers were great or even effective, but hiring contractors who are not allowed to do anything seems asinine. Yes, we need NYPD to cover the ballfields. There was apparently another incident with a group of 276 kids and some kids from another neighborhood in Tear Drop. I was told that PEP and NYPD were involved and that they were questioning kids and parents on the ballfields, but I never saw anything in any press, so assumed maybe nothing really happened. South End Avenue has been congested with buses and even more cars–lots of illegal parking and standing making things a mess. It would be nice to have NYPD give a few tickets or warnings. There are 1000s of more people streaming into the neighborhood daily and more vehicles to bring them and pick them up. A little enforcement of current rules would be nice.
I sent links to the Tribeca Trib article to the Times, Post, News and NY Magazine but have seen nothing in the larger press about this seemingly news-worthy event.
Not sure how different the effectiveness of either security force, but as Brookfield promotes and the area generally becomes even less of a locally-populated resource, it’s obvious that what’s worked before is no longer adequate.
Bad things happen even in surprising places, but this spot by the fields, in the shadow of the movie theater and Shake Shack would have been considered particularly safe. A place where even pre-teens would hang out with friends on their own without concern.
Politicians and police have to hear outrage from the community. It does sound like uniformed NYPD must add a much-increased presence.
NY Daily News Friday http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/cops-hunt-thugs-beat-robbed-teens-battery-park-city-article-1.2489707