More finds along the Ave

These just showed up yesterday. Happy hunting.

Fight in front of 437 Delaware Ave

Following is an excerpt from email I sent to Chief Tuffey and Officer Montesano.

Unfortunately, I’m writing this email to report on my interaction with the police this afternoon. Let me set the stage:

At 3:40pm on Thursday the 29^th, I left my house to walk my dogs and happened to bring my camera with me. Just as I got to the sidewalk I witnessed a group of kids attack two other kids. My first reaction was to try and stop the fight, but with my dogs and the quick escalation, I had to settle for taking a couple of pictures. One of the victims was hit in the face (closed fist). He went down to the ground immediately and 4-5 other youths starting hitting and kicking him. After intervention by some passerby’s and my neighbor, the victim was able to walk away with a bruised face and what appeared to me to be the beginning of a black eye.

The same thug that threw the knock-down punch threatened my neighbor for breaking up the fight and said he would ‘take him out.’

I called 911 and kept an eye on the victims who were too scared to continue walking down the street. They took refuge in CVS and the hardware store.

I relayed my story to the responding officers, and showed the pictured I had taken. The first officer said he recognized the kid who threw the punch. The officers then went and spoke with the victims. When the officers returned to their cars, I asked what was going to be done. They said nothing was going to be done because the victim wants to handle it through school. I asked what else we (the residents who witnessed the fight) could do and the officer became very defensive and accused me of taking an ungracious tone with him. I assured him it was not my intent to question him, but was eager to know what I can do to make sure some consequence come down on the main perpetrator.

Here’s the problem: Aside from the kid who was attacked, there were other victims.

1. The street was busy with people walking home from their bus stop after work.
2. The fight jeopardized the safety of a good number of people.
3. The incident will have a lasting affect on residents who will no longer feel safe walking the street.
4. Residents of the street were threatened.
5. I did my duty as a citizen. Called in the fight and got an unreasonable attitude from the responding officers.

Here’s what should have happened:

1. Even if it is the case that the officer could not do anything, it would have been in the best interest of the police department to follow up with me (i.e. keep the residents informed). Instead of me having to ask the officer for more information. Just as you mentioned, it’s important for officers to get to know the residents. Had the officer treated me like a fellow human being instead of just “one of those Delaware Ave residents” he would understand that there are sincere residents of the neighborhood who want to work with the police and help turn our neighborhood around.
2. The officer should have said that he’d drive down Delaware and look for the perpetrator.
3. The officers should have thanked those residents who stayed afterwards and should have told us to keep up the good work.

Please understand that most of my interactions with the police do not happen this way. Most of the officers I speak to are courteous and quick to offer more information on what residents can and should do in future situations.

I can’t remember the name of the main officer that I spoke with, but the second officer on the scene was C. Young.

I hope that you can follow up on this. I fear for the safety of the victims and the residents of Delaware Ave.

I have attached the pictures of the fight.

Picture1:

Victim – red hoody and blue jeans.

Perpetrator1 – kid in the black hoody being held by a kid in the stripped shirt.

Perpetrator2 – kid with black jacket and white t-shirt seen putting his jacket back on.

Note the large group of residents waiting at the bus stop

Picture2:

Perpetrator1 – standing behind the man in the white shirt

Picture3:

Perpetrator1 – threatening my neighbor.

Eye of the beholder?

Some new public art appeard at the 4 Ten Eyke building. I personally like it... big improvement to the building. What do people think? Is this bad graffiti, or good graffiti/public art.




Detail

If the images didn't show up in your email, you can visit http://barclaystreet.blogspot.com/

Reminder: NW Meeting on Monday the 20th

Just a reminder that our next Neighborhood Watch meeting is this Monday the 20th from 6:30 - 7:30pm at 431 Delaware Ave.

Following is the tentative agenda:

- Introductions
- Officer Montesano to speak about the APD's stragegy for policing.
- Recap of how the Neighborhood Watch works
- Questions and Answers

A neighboring meeting of interest

South End Qualityof Life Committee
Meeting

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006
6:00pm—8:00 p m
Schuyler Mansion

Agenda will feature:
• Discussion of City’s Weed N Seed Application for the South End
• Upcoming Public Workshops: Dec. 11 &12

Everyone is Welcome!

Nieghborhood Watch Meeting - Monday 11/20

The next neighborhood watch meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 20th from 6:30 - 7:30pm at 431 Delaware Ave (Perry and Laura's place).

We have asked Officer Matt Montesano to speak with us about the APD's stragegy for policing.

If there are specific questions that you would like to ask, please forward them to gallerydriver@gmail.com by Monday the 13th. I'll send all questions to Matt so that he can be prepared to answer.

Interesting Facts

I ran across these items while researching something else. Since they sounded like some of the recent posts I thought I would share them. They are from the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce Web Site:


Business
Forbes ranked Albany as the 34th best city in the nation - and tops in New York state - for business and careers.

Inc. Magazine listed Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the 25th best place in the country for doing business.

Entrepenuer Magazine named Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the 4th best midsize city in the East for entrepeneurs.

Expansion Management Magazine ranked Albany-Schenectady-Troy 15th out of 331 cities for "High-Value" labor and named it a "Five-Star Knowledge Worker Metro" - its highest ranking.

Expanison Management Magazine also listed Albany-Schenectady-Troy a "Five-Star Logistics Community" - its highest ranking - as one of the most logistics friendly metros in the United States.

Education
Forbes ranked the Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the third "Best Place with the Best Education" in the nation. The ranking is based on factors such as local school funding, the mix of private and public schools, and student-to-teacher ratio.

Newsweek placed three Albany-area schools - Bouton (Voorheesville), Bethlehem Central and Shaker (Latham) - in its rankings of the top 1,000 U.S. schools.

Business Development Outlook Magazine named Albany as the ninth most-educated city in the country.

Albany County has 13 public school systems with an average pupil-to-teacher ratio of 14:1. The average percentage of students continuing on to college is estimated at 80.4%. The county also boasts a number of fine private schools that provide education at the K-12 levels.

**All statistics provided by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission unless otherwise noted.**

Neighborhood Works Annual Conference

NeighborhoodsWork 7
Saturday
November 18, 2006
9:00 am —1 pm
Free & Open to the
Public / Continental Breakfast

First Lutheran Church Hall
646 State St.
Albany
(at the junction of Cortland & State Streets below Quail & Western)

Presenters:
• John Egan, Renaissance Corporation,Re-Capitalize Albany (RA)
• Mark Sullivan, College of St. Rose, RA
• Michael Tucker, Harriman Research & Tech Park
• Joe Rabito– Albany Development Commissioner
• Michael Yevoli, Albany Planning Director
• Barbara Smith, Albany Common Council
• Eileen Murray—CANA/Code Enforcement
• Tom McPheeters, ARISE
• Noelene Smith, Albany School Parent Advocate