Notes From The Community Council Meeting

Although not as well attended as February’s meeting last night’s 94th Precinct Community Council Q & A session once again proved to be full house. As was the case last month the Production Lounge (and the numerous quality of life issues it has posed for its neighbors) was the primary— but not necessarily exclusive— topic of the evening. Follows are a few other points/factoids I found of interest:

1. Burglaries and grand larceny are up from last year.
2. There is one burglar at large whose activity has increased in the last two weeks. His M.O. is to strike during business hours. He is particularly interested in lap top computers.
3. Robbery and felony assaults are down.
4. There are 68 bars in the 94th Precinct.

Something I observed at this meeting which I found interesting was the very visible presence of local business owners. Establishments such as the Shayz Lounge( whose owner, an incredibly cute man named Seamus— who some might remember had the front window of his bar punched in last month— brought up the subject of local bar owners putting their heads together regarding some of the problems eating and drinking establishments have recently posed for the community of late), the Black Rabbit, Dalaga and Papasitos, were among those presence. Conversely, it should be noted that no one from the Production Lounge was present at this meeting.

On that note and without further ado follow are some selections from the evening’s meeting. For the sake of brevity (there was much redundancy with both the questions posed by the attendees and answers tendered by Deputy Inspector Fulton) and my own sanity I have done a great deal of editing so please consider these movies as highlights or “Cliff Notes” of what came to pass. On with the show!

SEGMENT 1: This primarily deals with minutes from the previous meeting and Deputy Inspector Fulton giving us a rundown of current crime trends.

SEGMENT 2: In this segment D.I. Fulton gives us more information regarding the two recent homicides in Greenpoint as well as a drunk driving fatality. He begins to take questions. Not surprisingly it kicks off with neighbors of the Production Lounge airing their frustration.

SEGMENT 3: The owner of Shayz Lounge speaks & much ado about the Production Lounge.

SEGMENT 4: Mixed bag: more ado about the Production Lounge, car break-ins and a bartendress raises her concern about a uptick in muggings at the Bedford Avenue stop of the L.

In conclusion I suppose what I found most compelling was that a woman present finally mustered the nerve to say what was undoubtedly on the minds of a great many people in the room.

Miss Heather