Neighborhood meeting with Inspector Rodriguez

Summary of last night's meeting with Inspector Rodriguez and Vincent Gentile at the 68 Precinct. (Man, could Inspector Rodriguez do double work for Joe Pesci or what? He even SOUNDS like him.)

The meeting was intended to be about the Owls Head Park gang situation, primarily about the shooting two weeks ago, but it touched on a lot of park issues, from illegal barbecuing to large groups of 25 and more taking over big chunks of the park for private parties without permits.

On the shooting deal, here's what Rodriguez said. The two gangs in question are YFL (Yemeni For Life), an Arab group from Eastern Parkway, and a Latino, primarily Mexican, gang (whose name I didn't catch) from Sunset Park. A couple of punks from both gangs go to Fort Hamilton HS, where the friction started last year. It's escalated steadily since, resulting in one of the Latino kids getting knifed on 86th St earlier this year. Two YFL were arrested but the Mexican kids wouldn't cooperate with police nor the DA so the assailants went free.

After that YFL started to increase its presence in Bay Ridge. A few of the YFL were at a hooka bar on 69th St and saw some of the Mexican kids. They got bats and followed them to Owls Head Park. A brawl began and one of the Mexicans pulled a gun. At least one wild shot was fired inside the park in close proximity to children playing there.

In response to this, Rodriguez said that the 68 has beefed up its anti-gang unit and appointed a deputy inspector to run it. He said the gang issue has gotten problematic because these kids used to hang out in groups of 5 and 10 so all the cops had to do is break them up and send them in opposite directions. But now they're showing up in groups of 30, 50 even 100. Breaking them up is a bad solution because that just sends several pissed off groups of 10+ into the side streets, making it even harder for cops to keep an eye on them.

While he doesn't think YFL will be a problem this summer (their families usually go back home to Yemen in the summer), Rodriguez isn't confident that this gang problem will go away soon. 3rd Avenue has become the new party street in south Brooklyn and that's attracting trouble from other neighborhoods. There's only so much cops can legally do to deter gangs from congregating in Bay Ridge.

Gentile spoke a little and said that the hooka bars are attracting a negative element to BR but that these establishments are completely unregulated. There's legislation before the city council now to change that. (I'm not sure what relevance that has to the gang issue though).

The meeting got a little steamy as people started griping about how the park was being taken over by the "wrong element"... which for some seemed to be Latino groups from Sunset Park, Hassidic Jews and Arab families. For others, it was too many teenagers attracted to the basketball courts and skate park. Rodriquez said that unless Bay Ridgers started to use their own parks, other people are going to use them instead. He also said that Bernadette Hoban's Friends and Neighbors of Owls Head Park sponsored a "neighborhood day" at Owls Head recently and only four people showed up. (Note: this was my sorry experience trying to organize an Owls Head Dog Run Association as well).

A person from Parks announced that they're going to start sponsoring events like those in the Shore Road parks to pull the neighborhood back into Owls Head -- film events, etc.

There was actually lots more talked about, like the 68 beginning to target certain streets for stepped up enforcement (currently it's 69th St).

One thing I was shocked by though is that there are only four marked cars patrolling Bay Ridge after midnight. I don't know if he meant just Bay Ridge or the entire 4 square miles of the 68 but it explains why in the last five years of post-midnight dog walks I've seen a police car maybe a half dozen times. The 68 won't be getting any new manpower until at least next January either. The current Academy graduating class are all going to Transit.

Clearly, we need to have more cops but, let's not go overboard: Bay Ridge is one of the safest precincts in the city. Incidents like that Owls Head Park shooting grab our attention mostly because they contrast so much with what we take for granted.