Ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls of Gerritsen Beach,
All of theSeba Avenue Park vandalism has touched a nerve with our community and especially our councilman who is responsible for the funding to build our park.
On Monday, there was a major meeting convined at Lew Fidler request at his office with: Brooklyn South, the 61st and 63rd Precinct’s, the GB Property Owners and GBCares. During that meeting battle plans were drawn up discussed on what kind of enforcement by the police would be taken.
In short, there will be arrests with possible jail sentences, and criminal court summonses for anyone caught in the park after dusk, vandalizing, dealing, etc. More importantly, the police may be bringing in kids for interrogations, to lead to an arrest for the fires, vandalism, etc.
Here is what was read at the last property owners meeting a letter from Lew Fidler:
On Monday, together with your President, John Douglas as President of GB Cares, and with representatives of all our elected officials (Assemblyman Maisel, Senator Golden,. Congressman Weiner), and our Community Board (Terri Scavo) I convened a meeting with the NYPD Both the 61st and 63rd Precincts were represented by their Commanding officers, DI Cangiarella and Captain Mastrokostas. Brooklyn South was represented by Lt. Jimmy Woods. The Parks Department was represented by both outgoing Parks District Manager Alex Mezzatesta, and incoming District Manager Larry Major.
We made it crystal clear to the police officials present that the culture that allows vandalism to this community’s packs must be changed, and changed measurably before
more of our tax dollars are poured into improving our park. Clearly, the mere fact that we had asked for this meeting rattled a few cages. Both precincts reported stepped up efforts and patrols along Gerritsen, including the issuance of 4 summonses by the 63rd for people being in the park when they shouldn’t have been. George confirmed this, having spoken to two of the youngsters who got the summonses.I indicated that the proof will be in the pudding…that we as a community expect results. And let me be clear; by results I mean arrests and possible jail sentences…. or a long term period when there is no vandalism. No park benches destroyed. No fires in our skate packs. No arson in the weeds. No bus shelters being smashed in for sport.
All agreed that a cooperative short must be launched with the community and the police. NYPD agreed to send Community Affairs officers to the schools, and to GB’s faternal organizations like the Knights and the Cort Club to get the message out and to increase presence. All agreed to cooperate in that effort
As always, time will tell. Results will or will not speak for themselves. I do have the assurance from Chief Fox that if this doesn’t work and more needs to be done, it will be
done. I remind each and ecery one of you: whether or not you personally use this park or not, it IS your tax money.I think Gerritsen Beach is entitled to a first class park for use by and for the Gerritsen Beach community For the past 8 years, I have dedicated time and resources to get this accomplished. I know that together we can make this happen.
The Gerritsen Beach Property Owners, took the position of  ”in no way are you going to arrest our kids”. Which was sorta echoed by the police at the meeting who said something to the effect of “Gerritsen Beach is a tight knit community and there is no way they are going to give up there own”. (I don’t know if I should be proud or embarrassed by that statement.)
The position that the GBPOA is taking is the right one, and they are taking action instead of sitting back. They are going to spread the word that the shenagians at the park are no longer tolerated and to at least warn our kids. At the same time, they are organizing kids events at Kiddie Beach, and talking with local businesses to arrange other kids nights, to “start getting them off the streets”.
Lew Fidler is also in the right. It’s his job responsibility to make sure the police are doing their jobs in his communities and to make sure the money he is brining in to build Seba Park isn’t going to literally “burn up“. The threat of arrest’s, if they happen, are also just. That park has had a bad year, and when you couple that with bus shelters – those two are our community’s major quality of life issues and it’s been that way for years and it needs to end.
Spread the word, use the park as it’s intended, and don’t be in there at night.
about time!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Well then tell your kids to stop vandalizing and cut the "not my child routine"…I will call the police if I see ANYONE destroying our community.
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Prior to the meeting at the Councilman's office, a GBPOA Committee, on which 6 of the committee members are parents to children in Gerritsen Beach, held a meeting and developed programs to find outlets for our children. As I mentioned, both at the meeting in Fidler's office and at the property owner's meeting, those of previous generations had PAL programs, regular dances, etc. The programs we will be instituting are "local". For which reason, I am not going to divulge them on this blog. We are taking steps to find positive things for the young people in our community to do. Of course, it's going to require the cooperation of parents as well. No, we don't want our youth arrested, but our "Weeds" is a "Park", not "our weeds" as we embraced for generations. Anyone in the "park" after closing hours is liable to summons. From what we were told, if the time is not posted on a sign, the time is "dusk". We will try to get a firmer time, since no one seemed able to give us that answer. As for the "quads", no one can understand why the NYPD is not making arrests on Gerritsen Ave. when patrol cars have been seen driving by trailers from out of the neighborhood carrying "quads" to be off-loaded.
Ironically, the 61st Precinct report, at our Feb 3rd meeting, included four (4) arrests of "graffitti" vandals, and not one of them was from Gerritsen Beach. We congratulate our new District Park Manager, Larry Major, and suggest he take a look at the garbage left on the ball fields and grass after groups from outside of this community spend their weekly day in the park. Maybe it's time to call back the GBCares volunteers!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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are you kidding me, on one side of the mouth comes the park is being vandalized and you want something done about it on the other side comes out don't arrest the angels, followed by questions about what time is dusk, I'll tell you what no matter what season it is 11 at night is beyond dusk in any season or pointing fingers at someone driving on the street during the day in broadlight with a quad on a trailer. Right the police are going to stop people with trailors to inquire where they are going, you are assuming that every trailor with a quad is coming from outside the area on a public city street to do wrong. Now I don't thing the majority, if any, of the mischief is being done during the day time hours. The park is being used to hang out drink, get high, smoke and whatever else. Years ago many went back weeds or down to the end on the beach to do the hanging out and drinking. The park has made things so much easier for the angels, as has the easy access to getting all their supplies to hang out. I know this, if this headache can't be resolved before the summer what do you think will be happening in warmer weather.
Lew you might want to reconsister and save the City some money and stop wasting it into the creek
BTW the PAL – a great organization, is not open after bedtime and the only dances I've heard of over the last 10 years are called after hours clubs
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Mr. Broadhead is at least trying to come up with ideas for the teens in the area to have something to do besides hang out in the park. Instead of criticsizing, think about it. What's cheaper, to fund PAL & dances for 100 kids or to put 1 kid through the criminal justice system? What does a court appointed lawyer, police, jail add up to ? When we were young we had dances , night center ,etc. "Build it and they will come"
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I applaude the GBPOA & the Councilman for wanting to create social outlets for the children of the Commmunity to utilize, but the fact remains that not having such oulets is in no way an acceptable excuse for the vandalism and destruction that is repeatedly taking place in Gerritsen Beach. It's about time that the NYPD stops worrying about possibly "offending" some parents by rounding up their "little angels"and enforcing the laws on the books. Also, anyone believing all of the damage in the area is being perpetrated only by vandals from outside the community is being unrealistic. One just has to look at the behavior exhibited on Halloween to see that there are teens who are local to the neighborhood who have no problem disrespecting their fellow neighbors and the law. I also find it very implausible that outsiders are traveling just to Gerritsen Beach to destroy bus shelters while leaving those in Marine Park, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, Etc.. virtually untouched. I keep hearing about how kids years ago refrained from such vandalism because they had the likes of the PAL and local clubs to occupy them in their free time, but a big factor in kids behaving back in the day was the fact that their parents would never have tolerated their illegal activities and dealt with it accordingly. Nowadays we have parents who don't hesitate a moment to make counter accusations and excuses for their children even when they are caught by the NYPD in the act of breaking the law. True, our children need proper outlets for recreation and socializing, but parents and society as a whole need to take responsibilty for teaching children right from wrong.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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easy…turn 14, get your working papers, get a job, stay out of trouble!
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You are so right Anonymous. I'm 38 years old & spent my whole life in GB. We never were in PAL or even heard about a dance. [When were these dances I keep hearing about?] We weren't angels but we didn't disrespect adults to their faces or destroy stuff just for fun. On Halloween we egged and shaving creamed each other & other kids who were doing it. And all because we knew the GB news travels and our parents would know exactly what we did even before we got home.
These kids all go to school? Join a club, a team…
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Bookem Danno, enough get taken in and the mommy's or daddy's have to go visit the precinct someone will sing
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I agree, It's about time. I bet you'll see it's a hand full of kids doing the damage.
Remove them from the area and let the rest of the kids enjoy their park.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Agreed, there is no excuse for vandalism, or any criminal acts. No one disagrees with that premise. What is taking place in our community is not unique to us. If it were, there would not be a division of NYPD responsible for making arrests for graffiti–throughout the city. My point about the recent 4 arrests in Gerritsen Beach for graffiti on Channel Ave. and elsewhere in the beach, was not to say our children do not engage in the act. Left unsaid, the report would have been assumed to mean it was more vandalism on the part of the children in the beach, when the officer made clear, the arrested 'perps' were from outside of the beach. Yes, we are all agreed, that the parental role leaves a lot to be desired. We can all talk, write and condemn, but, apart from an often heard, admonition, that the teens get a job, and the parents be held responsible, the only solution anyone seems to offer is "arrest". It's a lot easier to criticize than it is to try to do something about the problem. We are taking the first step towards doing something about the problem: We want to hire young local people as lifeguards at our beach. We already have a list of teens to fill the jobs. In response to the 38 year old who asked about the dances… You'll have to forgive my references to the way things were long before you were born. There used to be Confraternity dances at Resurrection, PAL with boxing, dances, and free tickets to attend baseball, hockey and football games. There were dances at locations all over Brooklyn, and they were heavily attended. Two major roller rinks: Empire and Park Circle. These aren't coming back, but there are alternatives. The Skatepark being an alternative. (When is someone going to give up the person responsible for burning that, at a cost of nearly $ 100,000?). There was a time too, when only the father went to work, and most people went to church, as did their children. We are going to TRY to do whatever it takes to create opportunity for the youth in our community. Everything negative that anyone may offer up on this blog, cannot be argued. How about joining with us to do something positive!
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George as you may know there are some people down here that are trying to help . You, guys are not alone . keep up the good work .
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Oh leave the kids alone, lets work on a senior center already. Youth is so wasted on the young.
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With a community filled with Police and firefighters you would think things like bus shelters be broken and fires being started someone would get caught ( not saying anything bad about each just that you would think they could put on extra presure to catch these vandils).Also if more people open there eyes i'm sure they would see someone doing this . Gb has always known everything that goes on .i,m sure someone knows .As far as kids not doing things like this in the past thats bull they just didn't have such fanscy things to break or burn .
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Many of the so called kids in the park are adults in their 20's. When are the people in this area going to stop blaming their problems on the outsiders. Much of the trouble caused by "the adults" hanging out is ignored by the police and us. We have come to accept their behavior. "The adults" need to take responsibility for their actions. It will be great for the younger kids and teens to have somewhere to go and activities geared towards them. The "adults" in the park need to grow up get jobs or go back to school and be held accountable for their own actions.
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every time that there is a posting of any kind that might connect back to the vandalism in Gerritsen beach , we hear the same things , Get a job , put them in jail , its not my kid , its outsiders and my favorite these angels deserve nothing . I can't disagree with these statements because there maybe some merit to most of them . But what about the good kids in the beach . don't you think they should have somewhere to go > wouldn't it be nice if they could go to a dance or hear a good DJ play . see a baseball game or just go have fun ? How nice would it be if one Saturday morning your children walked up to Gerritsen Ave with their friends , got on a bus with people you trust and went to great adventure or some other places like that . wouldn't that be great for then ? and you .
for argument sake lets group all the bad children in Gerritsen beach and combine them into a kid named Joe . I like the name Joe . He's the kid that does everything wrong, He's the one that gets other kids to do it to . Now say he never go's on a trip , to a dance , marches in a parade in fact he never does anything but continues to be a vandal . That a same , its a waste of life . but why should the rest of the children of Gerritsen beach suffer because of him . Hasn't he taken enough away from us ? George its a good thing your doing for the teens of Gerritsen Beach , I hope you get the support you need ,
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Too much said. You are an ass. Lew Fidler represents us very well & comments like this cannot help, only hurt. If you don't like Lew talk about his record, not your biased nonsense.
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