Lesson Learned, 770 Secured Over Labor Day With Extra Barriers

by CrownHeights.info

Make a mistake one year, fix it the next.

Following a serious oversight last year, which saw the area in front of 770 remain unsecured over labor day, an extra tall barricade was erected yesterday to provide a barrier in front of 770 as millions parade down Eastern Parkway during the annual West Indies Day Parade.

As reported by Crownheights.info last year, the NYPD had historically set up a series of double barricades in front of 770 each year during the Labor Day festivities. This provided safe passage too and from the entrance of the building and ensured that a perimeter was kept to keep the revelers away from the building. This past year, that was missing.

In its place, the NYPD had simply placed a single line of metal barricades that went from the corner of Eastern Parkway and Kingston Ave past the Even Hapina, leaving the entire Kingston Ave steps and ramp to the women’s section wide open to passers-by. Those passers-by took full advantage, sitting on the steps and using the ramp to view the festivities. Thankfully a well-placed set of barricades blocked the top of the steps, containing the revelers to the steps and ramp themselves.

After last year’s debacle, the the mistake was unlikely to be repeated again.

In preparation for the parade, this year extra tall gates were installed directly in front of the main shul of 770, extending the tall barricade around the corner onto Eastern Parkway and providing the regular metal barriers to continue the barricade even further. As of this morning, the barricades were working as intended, with the area in from of 770 remaining clear.