INBOX: A Fundamental Threat To the Security and Future of Crown Heights

From a concerned resident.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon several weeks ago when I went on a walk with my kids In Southern Crown Heights. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining, everything was calm but suddenly out of the midst of the peaceful CH streets I was approaching the intersection of Clarkson Avenue and Albany Avenue the sound of the scene changed rapidly with a screeching aggressive tone of intense large scale construction. Surprised by the heavy noise I looked up at the side when i was shocked to see what’s for coming. It felt really dark to stare at the construction of the biggest homeless shelter in North America right here in front of my eyes in the Crown Heights backyard.

It was concerning and fundamentally alarming to say the least.

As soon as I was able to I did some research on 681 Clarkson Avenue and was horrified to find out what was planned.

It was in impounding 1,081 apartments for mentally ill chemically addicted vagrants, some larger apartments will have multiple beds so it will be thousands of criminals moving into our neighborhood, all this being built at accelerating intense speed (probably violating many NYC 311 construction laws in the process).

Racing thoughts of intense concern for the future of Crown Heights started racing my mind at night.

What will be the future of CH?! Will our neighborhood become the center of homelessness, crime, drug usage, mental illness and poverty in New York City?! Is this what we really want for our future. What I wrote here is only a little note of how horrifying of a reality can come if we don’t take action now. All this is besides for the multiple homeless shelters rapidly expanding, biking Lanes and the soon to be Albany Avenue MTA city bus route directly running through the heart of Crown Heights taking away critical parking at Rapid pace on A scale which we cannot keep up with this rate.

The shocking silence from our local leadership is just as concerning as the future of Southern Crown Heights, but I am optimistic that with a unified community approved plan of action hopefully we can turn things around. I am doing what I can, but I am also calling up on all those that don’t want Southern Crown Heights to be worse than Downtown San Francisco with dozens of dangerous drug addicts loitering 24/7 at every single corner—to get involved as well & do what you can.

This is inherently unfair and strikingly concerning for ch residents.