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Halloween this year was fun for all of the trick or treater in the neighborhood. There were many small to large groups of family and friends who made their way from door to door filling their bags with candy.

I spent most of my time in the “New Section” due in part to my love for sidewalks and also there are more groups in the area.

Halloween 2008 Photo Gallery - The Good

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Gerritsen Beach once again lived up to it’s reputation as one of the worst Halloween Mischief neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Although there was a stronger police presence this year than in years past, it was not strong enough to prevent dozens of teens from vandalizing the avenue with eggs and shaving cream.

The mischief started in the old section with older “kids”(17+) gathering at Big Al’s early in the afternoon, which is where they started their egging. The police showed up and took the “I’m your friend approach,” and told them to move on. Which they did, to Victoria’s, but started egging again as soon as the cops pulled away.

Eventually everyone in the area made their way to Victoria’s (Everett and Gerritsen), which quickly turned into a very large group. They egged and threw bottles at any marked car or bus.

The police didn’t respond very well to this group. They pulled up, talked to the kids and pulled away. On top of that, every single time a patrol car would drive by or pull up everyone would run into Ice Cream U Scream and Victoria’s. Since when did Ice Cream U Scream and Victoria’s allow these troubled kids safe harbor? As far as I’m concerned, Ice Cream U Scream and Victoria’s enabled this horrible behavior by allowing them to hide in their stores, and by allowing them to hang out in front of their stores.

Eventually a store owner on Gerritsen Avenue confronted the group for hitting a school bus with eggs but found himself retaliated against for doing so, forcing him to close early. One “kid” was taken into custody as a result of the retaliation.

Although there was no SkyWatch watch tower like the 4th of July, the patrol size was decent. It peaked at maybe four marked patrol cars at any given time, and the Captain himself made a few visits. The captain was even walking around back weeds at one point behind the little league field containers. The police stopped kids on the avenue to confiscate shaving cream & eggs, and also searched bags. They also were patrolling Seba Avenue Park often enough for that not to become a problem.

The buses were not shut down during rush hour, which was a big plus for commuters. However, for some reason the buses stopped running later in the night around 10 pm. I’m not sure why the buses were shut down at that time because Gerritsen Avenue was empty from trouble makers and no buses had to be cleaned.

In the end, the 61st precinct did a decent job controlling the problem, but they could have reached the trouble spots sooner. It was a much more proactive approach than last year.

2008 Halloween Mischief Photo Gallery

Comment Policy: There will be no “outing” of anyone here, no names.

This Friday is D-Day in Gerritsen Beach: Halloween! Halloween is trouble for any car, bus, city worker or delivery driver, and of course, any store front on Gerritsen Avenue. Gerrtisen Beach is so notoriously hazardous on Halloween that the MTA refuses to allow the b31 bus to continue past Ave U through the line of fire.

It was interesting to post about last year’s Halloween Mischief and how the 61st precinct responded. The precinct responded by sending patrol cars down Gerritsen Avenue, which were of course pelted with eggs and shaving cream like any other moving object. Not many were arrested last Halloween for the vandalism, and there was significant upset in the community at how little was done by the police to protect property. The former captain of the 61st precinct, Vincent Stella, tried but not hard enough to stop the rambunctious teens.

The new captain of the 61st precinct, Georgios Mastrokostas, took an unusually proactive approach to 4th of July celebrations this year by putting Sky Watch in the middle of Gerritsen Avenue to monitor illegal fireworks. Although I have no official knowledge of how the 61st will deal with Halloween in Gerrtisen beach under the new captian, I’m going to guess they will be equally proactive. If they aren’t agressive in preventing the “mishchief”, then Gerrtisen Avenue will continue to be a mess on Halloween.

7TH Annual Haunted House
“Vollies Fire department fund raiser”

ASYLUM
Point of No Return.

Set in a jail-broken asylum, believed to be haunted for years by a young girl murdered during the escape of a mass murderer. This Halloween she seeks revenge as she creates havoc about the halls. With each turn, test your luck against serial killers, killer clowns, demons, zombies, and ghost, as you chaotically try to escape the grip of THE ASYLUM.

Friday October 24th, Saturday October 25th
Halloween Night Friday October 31st

The Vollies Fire department
The Blue Star Hall
The corner of Seba Ave and Frank ct. in Gerritsen Beach
Starting 7 p.m. till the last victim is served.

$2 child entry, $4 adult entry.

all proceeds will be donated to the volunteer fire department.

****50/50 RAFFLE****

For questions: in regards of donations or other information write Thomas Di Gerolamo at Firemeadeeasy@yahoo.com, (subject) Haunted.

The Marine Park Halloween Walk presented by the Marine Park Community Association was Saturday October 18th 2008

If you missed it, you missed a great event for the kids. What a better way to spend your Saturday afternoon as a family then by scaring them to tears.

Police Officers, CERT Members, and Volunteers were on hand escorting the crowds into the walk. Which had a variety of spooky scenes and scary ghosts jumping out at you.

If you have never checked out a photo gallery before please, check out Marine Park Halloween Walk.

and if you even more brave, click more or look below and see some of the pictures.

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PS 277 had a pumpkin and cupcake sale, that I headed over to after the concord.

Seemed like loads of fun, most of the grades came out. Its very funny to see the kids try to eat cupcakes while running around trying to get a pumpkin.

Ever tried to round up a dozen first graders, then have them look at a camera? Its fun and you get whats above.

Kid + Cupcakes + Clean Clothes = hysterical

Photo Gallery

Marine Park Haunted Halloween Walk
Saturday, October 18, 2008

1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

Creatures of the night make a daylight appearance for this frightfully fun walk through the park, which is followed by a delightful puppet show for all ages.

Contact Number:
(718) 965-8913

Flyer (See Attachment)

Halloween Festival

SATURDAY, October 25, 2008
Starting 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
(Rain date: November 1, 2008 - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
in the GB Little League area of Larry Veling Field (Gerritsen Avenue off Cyrus Avenue)

Pumpkin Painting, Pony Rides, Haunted Walk, Face Painting, Bounce Houses, Find a Needle in a Hay Stack Contest, Hot Chocolate, Cotton Candy, Spooky Music, Hot dogs, Soda and tricks or treats !!

The rest of the October Events

Update: Hello to the officers of the 61st Precinct who read this!

I attended the 61st Precinct Community Council meeting tonight. It was so much fun! Don’t get me wrong, I hate these meetings. They are long and boring, but this is how things get done and someone has to go.

The precinct didn’t have too much news to report. Captain Vincent G. Stella and his team have kept crime down for the most part; impressively, there was not one assault or stolen car for an entire week. However, purse snatching seems to be the trend during the before-and-after work rush. Women should be careful walking down side streets near busy train and/or bus stops.

After reading all of the responses on this site to the Halloween fiasco, I was expecting to see members of our community at the meeting to discuss/complain/demand answers about the police presence on Halloween. Everyone seemed so concerned about the kids in the neighborhood throwing eggs at the cops, damaging the bus shelters and being rowdy. People were complaining on this website that the cops didn’t do anything to disperse the huge crowd of teenagers or arrest anyone for vandalism. Isn’t anyone curious as to why the police responded the way that they did on Halloween? If we were a more vocal community maybe we would get some answers.

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Halloween this year was fun for all of the trick-or-treaters. Small to large groups of family and friends made their way from house to house filling their buckets and bags with candy.

I spent most of my time in the “New Section” because I like sidewalks and they are family friendly.

Halloween 2007 Flickr Set

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