Results tagged “inwood”

In the market for an arch? Who isn't. And now the historic Seaman-Drake arch at 5035 Broadway in Inwood is for rent. The Manhattan Times reports that the marble arch has been partially buried behind storefronts, but it was once the gateway to a hilltop estate owned by the well-to-do Seaman then Drake families in the 19th Century. The Inwood Journal provides some more history:

Travel up to the northernmost neighborhoods of Manhattan these days and you might catch a whiff of more than just gentrification in the air—now skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights as well! The area where the only skunk smell formerly found was from the weed sold along Dyckman Street is now crawling with the unwanted pests. The Parks Department's chief naturalist says, “It really seems like the population has gone from zero to many. I’m not sure why."

During his final days as he suffered from pneumonia and hep C, Jim Carroll had returned home to the same Inwood apartment where he was raised and detailed in his classic, Carroll went back to Inwood to save money and work on his first novel (which he finished!) in the apartment now decorated simply with a poetry event poster and a photo-triptych of Kurt Cobain. A friend of his tells the Times, “There’s a lot of the poetic there, of coming full circle."

The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum has been burgled! The NY Post reports that 43 artifacts were stolen when the Parks Department was renovating it, which was reported back in 2007. "City records obtained yesterday reveal an alarming list of period pieces, lavish décor and jewelry stolen when the Parks Department and the nonprofit Historic House Trust hauled belongings out of the Inwood museum for an interior renovation." Some items date back to 1800, some made gold, some adorned with diamonds... and even a family cradle was swiped! The case has now been closed, and the "inconclusive investigation revealed several questionable decisions by the Parks Department, such as giving keys to Dyckman to 'a lot of Parks staffers and personnel over the years' and failing to always lock up." The original home was destroyed during the Revolutionary War, so, we suppose, this too shall pass.

Police have identified a subway mugger who has pulled off a total of 13 robberies, including ones in each of the four boroughs the trains run in. Police are hunting for Rasheen Wallace (pictured), a career criminal who has 18 prior arrests for petit larceny, trespass, possession of marijuana and served 8 years for robbery. Police describe him as "a smooth operator" who isolates his victims, sometimes targeting them in the last car and near the end of the line. Ten of the thirteen robberies in the spree that began early this year have targeted women, including one in Inwood where Wallace punched a woman the face when she refused to give up her purse. Another 27-year-old woman robbed in Washington Heights tells the News, "It was just me and another guy in the car. The next thing I know, there was a knife in my stomach...I don't feel safe. I'm thinking of taking a karate class." The Post has a map of the robbery locations and describes Wallace as wearing a Boston Red Sox cap.

The FBI is investigating a number of hateful letters sent to the Hispanic owners of business in Washington Heights and Inwood. NY1 reports that the "barrage of hate mail" contains "threats such as 'Stop wrecking my USA,' 'Speak english' and 'We don't want you in our community.'" Jesus Hernandez, who owns Mama Sushi, told WCBS 2, "I don't have just Latin people coming here. I have black, I have white I have all kinds of people as customers so I can't point out anybody who would do such a thing." Hispanics Across America's Fernando Mateo is worried the letter writer may act out, which is why he has given the letters to the FBI, "That somebody may come with a machine gun and shoot-up the area, shoot-up the patrons, you know? We don't want to wait until it escalates into gunfire."

The first City Council member to resign as a result of a slush fund scandal wasted no time settling matters with the US Attorney's office. Today former Councilman Miguel Martinez pleaded guilty to money laundering and mail fraud, stealing in total over $100,000 intended for non-profit groups. In court today, Martinez said, "I received the money as a direct result of the conspiracy. I engaged in this scheme as a New York City Council member. I was able to engage in these schemes because I was a New York City councilman." Martinez copped a plea deal with prosecutors who recommended he be sentenced to around 4 to 6 years for charges that usually warrant up to 20, but the federal judge today noted that the court did not have to comply with that advice. The Times says Martinez had a "once-promising political career" while representing Washington Heights and Inwood, a seat that NY1 says will not have a special election because it would fall too close to September primaries.

According to CityRoom, police believe the same man is behind seven subway robberies since the beginning of the year. After a woman boarded a southbound A train at 207th Street in Inwood on Sunday afternoon: "A man approached her and demanded her property, the authorities said. When she refused, the man struck her, before making off with her bank card at the Dyckman Street station. The woman was cut on the left cheek and had a black eye." The previous incidents, whose victims were four women and two men (the most recent victim was the first to be hurt), occurred on the 1, B and D lines. The suspect is described as "a black man in his early 20s, 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 2 inches tall, with medium build and black hair." Last week, it was reported that a woman was trapped in a high-entrance subway turnstile at a Brooklyn station by a man who threatened and robbed her.

Last week, Inwood resident and schoolteacher Jason Holt was told by the Drug Enforcement Agency that his Inwood apartment was being targeted, so the feds put him up in a hotel for a little while. After that, the NY Times reports, "On Wednesday, the agents told him an arrest had been made and let him go home, but provided no details. At school Thursday morning, Mr. Holt checked the news online and got his answer." A cop, told by a drug dealer that there was $900,000 in the apartment's floor, was arrested for asking someone (who was a police informant) to help him "subdue" Holt with a stun gun and steal the cash. The news also explained why his apartment had been either broken into (the floors were torn up) or attracted odd activities (his lock's cylinder was stolen; a woman with young child said she left something there, etc). Holt, who said of apartment 4D, It seemed like a great find, a great deal," is now looking for a new place.

The insipid melody blaring from Mister Softee ice "cream" trucks has Inwood up in arms. City officials say that so far this year there have been 205 complaints about ice cream trucks in the Community Board 12 district, which includes Inwood. One area by Inwood Hill Park is going particularly mental; a resident tells the Daily News, "It reverberates into the building and sounds like someone is in your apartment with their car stereo blasting. It's almost vindictive." New York City noise code bans the playing of jingles while a food vending vehicle is stationary, but the rule seems to be generally laughed off by the truck drivers.The DEP has sent inspectors to Inwood, and this week police told a community meeting they're looking into it. Another resident says the driver of the truck is simply merciless: "He will say he's going to turn it off, and when you walk away, five or 10 minutes later it's back on. It's the repetition as well as the melody itself. Even with the windows shut and your TV on, you can hear it." For more on the Mister Softee Jingle, here are the lyrics, sheet music, and an mp3.

Arborcide! Not content with the steady stream of stabbing and shooting opportunities the city provides so many of its common criminals, someone has taken to destroying 17 trees in Inwood Hill Park with a machete and possibly an ax as well. Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said: “A methodical serial attack just to kill trees. It’s sad.” While cedars were the primary target of previous attacks in 2006 and 2008, the current crop of victims are tulip trees, pines, sugar maples and hackberries. Local residents were organizing a volunteer patrol and there is a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, which could land someone in jail for up to a year with a $15,000 fine. Benepe told the Times that the tulip trees were just planted in the last 10 years near a spot once occupied by a a 280-year old tulip tree that died in 1938.

Police are looking for the driver of an SUV who left the scene of an accident that killed a 29-year-old woman and injured her 6-year-old son late Friday afternoon in Inwood. Victoria Cuadros was walking her son Nicholas home from school just before 5 p.m. when they were struck by the vehicle turning at what neighbors say is a notoriously bad intersection. Those on the scene say Cuadros was able to speak after she was hit and they believed she would pull through, but she passed away after being helicoptered to Nassau University Medical Center. Her son, who only suffered minor leg pain from the crash, has not yet been told of his mother's death. At Max's Pizza where his father works, a sign was up in the window yesterday that read "Closed for Mourning." Police, along with friends and family of the victim, are pleading for the driver to turn themselves in.

NYC Parks & Recreation is offering a $500 reward to find out who wantonly chopped down a grove of Eastern Red Cedar trees in Inwood Hill Park. The trees were planted in 1996 and were thriving, until visitors to the park discovered that 35 of the Red Cedars had been hacked to death with something like an ax. Surrounding species of trees were left unharmed. Someone out there has a serious problem with Red Cedars. In November 2006, park officials found 28 similarly chopped Red Cedars in a separate section of the park.