September 7, 2007
Barrage of Billyburg Muggings
Last month women were being attacked in Williamsburg, and now it's being reported the number of muggings have gone up significantly in the area as well (though muggings are not uncommon in the area).
The Brooklyn Paper reports that the victims all seem to be...drunk hipsters (though they use the phrasing: slightly tipsy pub-crawlers and late-night subway commuters). Whatever you want to call these particular locals, Williamsburg's 90th Precinct officers say that this demographic is becoming "increasingly targeted".
Last week there were 14 in muggings in 7 days, a number that has doubled since the same week last year. Most of them are occurring "in the hip areas around Meserole Street and Montrose Avenue, and the intersection of Lorimer Street and Broadway." Deputy Inspector John Corbisiero stated “They’re trying to rob people who are intoxicated, frankly. They come up from behind and hit them.” In the cases mentioned, each victim was attacked from behind, punched in the face, and then had their wallets and pockets emptied. One woman at the Marcy JMZ station was surrounded by two men at 10pm but witnesses detained them.
The police recommend walking in groups, not flashing money, cell phones or anything of value, and calling 911 immediately if you are mugged or attacked. As for them, they have arranged to have more officers on the streets from midnight to 8 am.
Photo via jmzz25's Flickr.
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do people really call it "billyburg"??
Sounds like Bourbon Street at 4AM with the locals mugging the drunk tourists. Like roaches coming out at night. Easy prey for the opportunist!
That note's not passive-aggressive as hell or anything. Might as well just put up an angry entry on his/her blog. In fact, they probably did.
Here's a tip, Billyburgers: when coming home from a round of $7 PBRs, hide the white earbuds. Hide the cell phone. Appear less conspicuous and eschew whatever gaudy fashions are the now hip.
don't get stupid drunk,
opportunist or not, don't get stupid drunk.
I recommend watching out when you see somebody punching you in the face.
I have no objections to smashing a hipster over the head. But to take their money? How gauche.
Whenever you're alone at night anywhere in this city you should be ultra careful, and always be paying attention. Too many people take it for granted that it's not as bad as it used to be.
If I were desperate for easy cash, I would mug a fall down drunk. Ever see a person so drunk at a bar that they can't even stand?
I hate hipsters as well. I hate thugs and muggers more. How about describing the perpetrators? I didn't think so...
I could just basically read that sign...
Are hipster douchebags calling North 10th and Driggs Williamsburg nowadays? Cuz it used to be Greenpoint. And what's the point of that sign? "I got a good look at you." So what? If they run into the mugger again, what are they going to do... throw their skinny jeans at them?
So what's a hipster nowadays anyway?
An unwashed scruff-faced vegan artist living in Williamsburg? Or a tight-pants fashionista cokehead living on the Lower East Side? They seem to be quite different in cultures, styles, tastes (and aromas).
DCFist and all of the other sheep posters on Gothamist, here's a tip: take you glib, patronizing, poorly-worded, totally predictable comments and cram them in all available orifices. You losers have nothing better to do than to use a story about innocent people getting mugged as a lame-ass punchline. If anyone you care about ever gets punched in the face and robbed, I hope you maintain your snarky attitudes and continue to dispense the horrible attempts at sarcasm. Haha, I hate hipsters, I have no objections to smash them over the head. Tee hee, I used the word "gauche". How fucking clever.
did you say something rulebook?
the reason why there are so many muggings in this area is because of the naivete of the hipsters who move to nyc. they try so hard to look and act urban and edgy but they're just a bunch of softees so they're easy targets plain and simple.
use common sense folks. this is still nyc.
Lesson here isn't just to hipsters, it's to everyone in their early twenties (or others) who treat NYC like an extension of their college town. In college the only thing you have to worry about is getting picked up by the campus police. I should know, I went to school in Williamsburg VA, a much safer place to get drunk than Williamsburg BK.
I think the point here is DON'T GET SMASHED and walk home down dark streets. Muggings happen everywhere, to people both sober and drunk of course, but this seems to be more of a problem in nightlife neighborhoods that are close to low income areas. The side streets of Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights in DC and the Mission in SF are both muggers paradises.
Having said that, watch me get mugged tomorrow at 2pm on the Upper East Side.
If you get loaded, take a cab home. It's obviously not safe late at night -- hipster, hedgefunder, fireman or baker.
A hipster friend of mine got mugged about 2 months ago.
But really, what do you expect is going to happen at 5AM when you put a bunch of white posers next to the ghetto?
When he asked the cops what he shoudl do, they told him "MOVE!"
He did so the next day.
#14 - One time I was walking by a bar in the UES (where I live) with a pizza box, and some fratboy jumped in my face, screamed, and batted his hands on the box. I think that's pretty much the UES equivalent of getting mugged.
What's with everyone? The problem here is not the hour, the sobriety, the fashion sense, or the demographic - non of those things warrant any sort offense, verbal or physical - the problem lies with the people who are committing the crime. Plain and simple. It doesn't matter where you live, what you look like or what time of day it is - mugging is fucking wrong. Period. Punish those who are committing the crime, not the person who's doing their own thing.
Thank you rulebook for singling out my post. You made my day.
Although saying it's williamsburg gets more attention, meserole/montrose area is most definitely east williamsburg, practically bushwick. muggings have always been prevalent in this area, even back when i lived there. and the "this week" compared to "last week this year" is probably the most useless statistic ever.
Lorimer and Broadway?? Are these people crazy?!?! There are still rules to this city. I agree with rtd2101 ... this isn't your college town. Watch your back and don't go to areas like Broadway and Lorimer! Geeze. That's dangerous during the DAY.
Umm, this is still New York City and there are rules as to not get mugged.
one is not to get fall down incoherent disoriented drunk at 5am in the morning.
stop it with the criminals blah blah blah.
isn't every note passive agressive?
#21 - Lorimer and Broadway is not dangerous during the day.
The fact is that people who are noticebly intoxicated are going to be easy targets for people looking to mug someone. One simple solution (as opposed to moving) is to take a cab home late at night if you are wasted rather than ride the subway or walk home. Otherwise just use common sense, keep to well lit streets with lots of foot traffic and be aware of your surroundings.
New York's a big city, and while it would be nice if it didn't happen, people get mugged.
Worth mentioning RightRides for Women's Safety here
Serving parts of brooklyn, manhattan and queens:
http://www.rightrides.org/
I love how the people on here love to rag on hipsters, but have no problem soaking up the culture these artists and their friends create (cf. Matt and Kim listing above, art parade, daily arcade fire postings...).
I was recently mugged in Williamsburg and I wasn't even by myself. I was walking with 3 other people, and there were at least 20 others standing outside of nearby bars. It's called bystander apathy and most people have it.
Learn how to fend for yourselves, people.
You know how I know you're gay?
You register the screenname RULEBOOK.
Most of these comments speak to a really sad and careless state of Gothamist readership and humanity in general. This is like an over-educated urban Fox News crowd -- incensed and blinded by strage bigotries that overshadow the importance a cautionary blog entry about neighborhood crime. Someone said it above, too... blaming the victims? It's totally insane. What happened to the tolerant city?
in the old days people would say serves em right for being drunk that late at night. I bet they'll never get drunk like that again.
now it's boo hoo, don't blame the stupid drunk blame the muggers.
what became of this City?
I will say regardless of hipster status, part of the issue here is that we are used to warning women to not come home late and alone regardless of neighborhood. Now that muggers are not discriminating and men are getting mugged more often, everyone is alarmed. Welcome to being a female everyone! You too can be a victim. And yes, that neighborhood is on the edge, I was out near Montrose a few weeks ago and heard gunshots in the early morning hours (I was safe inside but wide awake). Getting mugged sucks no matter who or where, stay sharp people.
yay? crime is coming back to nyc?
maybe there won't be so many shits moving here for the bright lights, big city!
rulebook,
I was once jumped and mugged by four guys because I was exhibiting the very idiotic and naive behavior I warn others against: conspicuously displaying electronics (cell phone) while out late at night (1:30 AM). I'm not being glib, I'm just conveying my hard-learned knowledge.
rulebook:
If, as a woman, you go outside naked, it may not be right that you get raped, but it's a distinct possibility. Is it horrible? Sure. Could it have been avoided? Definitely.
Same with these hipsters, moving into the worst neighborhoods and then thinking that just because they are paying the highest rent, that all of the seedier elements should defer to them. Dream on. Criminals are opportunists. Stop tempting them.
BTW, I find it funny that a hipster is calling the rest of us posters "sheep."
don't drink yourself into a coma,
this is not your lily white college town.
drinking yourself comatose may be fun in your dorm but not in NYC.
This is sad, but makes sense. I lived in an overpriced apartment a bit south of Broadway for two years, right in this neighborhood. It got increasingly dangerous as the neighborhood "gentrified" - or fake gentrified, as I called it. It wasn't getting safer, and new stores weren't opening, but big faux-chic apartment buildings were going up to accomodate the market for newbie Brooklynites who thought the nabe was hip. I think there was a sense of resentment from those who have lived in the neighborhood for many years, and when that resentment meets opportunity (wasted, oblivious young people with iphones and fat wallets), we all know what happens.
I say don't use the ipod south of Broadway in Williamsburg after dark. And use Right Rides! They will give you a ride home FOR FREE.
Or just move to Astoria :-)
Thanks for the facile analogy, #34. And can you believe these kids? Moving into the only neighborhoods they can afford and having the nerve to call the cops when they get mugged? Idiots!
These "hipster" types should all get jobs on wall st. and stick to white neighborhoods. Like the LES!
I never released so many bitter squares read gothamist.
It's pretty lame to delight in someone getting hurt in a neighborhood where most people have a better fashion sense than you.
I was mugged once. I was 16 years old and was surrounded by a gang of skinheads and other assorted meatheads who beat me up and took my jacket (and the Bad Brains tickets that were inside, of course). I was stone-cold sober. Thinking back on it now, I should have been with a bunch of other guys instead of two girls, I should have notice them earlier and gotten to a safer place, I should have... I could go on and on, but I don't think I deserved to get mugged. I'm agree that too many people behave as if New York is an extension of a college town. They deserve a talking to, not a mugging. As much as "hipsters" are a blight on all that is New York, career criminals are even more of a blight, and will still be with us long after these latest fashion disasters are forgotten.
Wow, attacking my stupid screen name. That really hits me where it hurts.
Yes, of course you have to be careful. Stumbling down the street in a shady neighborhood late at night with $1,000 worth of electronics hanging out is idiotic. Answer me this though, you vitriolic piss ants- why are you so positive that's what happened? Oh. because it happened in Williamsburg. Oh. You just read "Billyburg" and then your minds stared racing...Williamsburg, Hipsters. Spoiled. iPods. And then you proudly got to typing.
I don't live in WB, and as my wardrobe will attest, I'm no "hipster", although that term gets bandied about way too much here. To paraphrase Chris Rock, there are trendy people, and then there are hipsters. The latter are rarer than you think.
this is not spring break, lay off the alcohol unless you know you'll be somewhere safe.
alone in the streets of NYC and drunk off your ass at night is not safe.
the person was lucky a mugging was all that happened. I've heard of people falling down a flight of stairs in the subway.
Williamsburg has not been an affordable artist neighborhood for over five years...most of the people moving in the neighborhood are young professionals. Also, much of the crowds visiting Williamsburg's nightclubs and bars are from outside the neighborhood. Plus, do not assume that the muggers are from Williamsburg, even muggers know not to rob people in their own hood.
Admit it, Rules, you got scared from all the muggings and have closeted your skinny jeans, and now you feel a little guilty about abandoning your Hipster brethren. Speaking of "piss ants-", maybe you pissed your skinny jeans as a non responsive bystander watching someone getting mugged.
Maybe you saw the "Hipsters Olympics" spoof and felt offended? (I, for one, found it very funny and I think it explains in detail this "Vitriol" you speak of.)
You go way out of your way to defend a group of people that would turn up their nose at you based on your home address, your dress, your choice of music, or any number of things. They've earned their derision, have you?
Let's forget the hipster moniker for a minute. Let's, instead, call the first 3 victims, unfortunate and the next 20 victims, dumbasses. Better?
There's more than one way to tackle the Billyburg hipster problem:
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/spoofs_satire/do_you_have_hipsters.php
drunk fools with no common sense have been getting mugged in williamsburg for over 10 years now. but i dont think the muggers weren't getting much back then. now that only rich fools can live in williamsburg, mugging must be more lucrative. certainly no one deserves to be mugged. however, drunks with no common sense who seem to think that expensive rent equals safe certainly deserve some kind of reality check.
I used to live right around that area, in what is DEFINITELY Bushwick, about 3 blocks off the Morgan Ave stop. And I got mugged walking home from work at 9pm on a Wednesday in July. Not drunk, not high, and not a hipster. When I moved there I even changed my style of dress, being careful to not wear skirts or high heels if I knew I was going to be walking home. I was even with a tall male friend. But what good are any of those precautions when someone's waving a gun in your face and demanding you hand over your purse?
Yeah, it helps if you're not being stupid, but shit happens, and to blame it on the victim is not a helpful attitude. Getting mugged was not my fault. It doesn't matter what kind of target someone presents. Walking down the street after being out with your friends is not a crime. Beating someone over the head and stealing their wallet is.
Awesome! as long as no one gets killed, I fully support this trend.
The whole attitude of, "Punish the people committing the crime!" shows that you are closeted hippies, or something, moving here from Charlottesville, and you used to listen to DMB but then realized it wasn't cool any more.
GET OVER IT.
You don't make the rules here. The rules were written before you or I were born. Right, crime is terrible, and you're right, the offenders should be punished. BUT THAT DOESN'T HELP PEOPLE BE MORE AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS.
You moved to Morgan Ave. Did NOTHING about that neighborhood, and the fact that aside from the loft buildings, it's essentially deserted at night, while RIGHT on the border of Bushwick, tell you that it MIGHT not be the safest place to live? No, seriously. You're right - you did exercise some common sense, but YOU MOVED TO A NON-GENTRIFIED NEIGHBORHOOD AS A GENTRIFIER. Your presence in the neighborhood is going to make you a target.
You can be blind to that or not.
Bravo. (stands and claps)
Mr. number 48
I'm taking a toke in your honor, that's how you make friends.
the east village used to be a death trap during the 70's but shit loads of hipsters still moved there. eh punk music anyone?
.........sooooooooooo dont think this is going to make anyone leave.
the cops also busted heads in the east village, they didn't care if you were scum or the new transplant.
oh man, i was mugged at gunpoint this june at broadway and lorimer. it was on a sunday, at around 7pm as I was just about to enter the lorimer m, z stop. it was freaking daylight out with a station attendant approximately 10 feet away. a friend of mine was mugged a couple of weeks earlier at the morgan stop. she was choked and held at gunpoint for an hour and a half. she is now traumatized.
anyways, i have since moved out of the area. detectives from that area think it is absolutely absurd that there are so many young girls and hipsters living around there, making themselves easy targets. stupid hipsters try to gain street cred by living in these shitty locations and then cower in fear when they get mugged.
#52 - people moving to neighborhoods to gain street cred? what? are you a total idiot or just some of the time? street cred? ahahahaha.
I used to live in Bed-Stuy (I went to Pratt and didn't want to have to take the subway to class every day) - all the locals treated me like shit for no particular reason. I got attacked by groups of highschool kids just for walking to school. Soon as I graduated I moved to Queens and I don't have that problem anymore. Know your neighborhood, if you don't feel safe, either move or quit your bitchin.
#42 is totally right. I don't know if any of you have searched for apartments lately, but the city's gotten incredibly expensive. I have a 9-5, "professional" job working with computers for a major publisher and the only affordable apartments I've been finding are in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick. I think the increase in muggings is because young professionals (and hipsters) are being increasingly pushed into lower-income neighborhoods. Many people aren't living there for the "street cred" but just because they're aren't many options.
The New York magazine article below offers some more information:
http://nymag.com/realestate/realestatecolumn/35523/
I guess Jersey is always an option, but it's not always that cheap (or crime-free) either.