What did they "crackdown" on during the summer in the park?
There was a big media furore in June when somebody was
shocked, shocked to discover that there was drinking and drugging going on in the park (among other places) and there was much hand wringing and pearl clutching about going back to the "bad old days"
The Post said:
As part of its “quality of life” offensive, the NYPD has installed a “SkyWatch” observation booth in Tompkins Square Park, where The Post recently revealed that hordes of homeless people were ruining the place for everyone else.
“The drinking, the drugs — you name it, it’s out of control,” a summer parks worker said.
Longtime neighborhood resident Normen Coben, 65, called the eyes in the sky a “good idea” to help scare off the junkies who nod off in the East Village park.
“People who’ve been here for a long time see the ebb and flow of the neighborhood and the park. We are on a slippery slope right now,” Coben said.
A 30-year-old resident said she “didn’t want to live in a neighborhood that needed one of those,” but added that she no longer felt safe in the park.
One vagrant maintained that the tower was meant to appease residents paying sky-high rents, but insisted, “They’re never going to get rid of the weirdos and junkies in this neighborhood.”
(
source)
They just moved, of course, and that, essentially temporarily. A lot of them wound up more around Union Square, across 14th street, etc., all the while there being similar histrionics about
certain parts of Midtown West around MSG, all media bullshit really. But it made these areas hot, of course. Now cold copping from junkies of course you can do anywhere and could do worse than going to those areas. Heading uptown, Lou Reed's beloved
Lexington / one two five this summer was all synthetic cannabinoid freakouts, ambulances all day, every day. A bad scene. They've cracked down there, too, permanently placing one of those surveillance towers and mobile command stations there as well.
And BTW, "trusted junkie" is a contradiction in terms (read my most recent post).
Indeed. 'twas said with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Sure I am not telling anything new to anyone here but as someone with a fair bit of experience cold copping off random junkies you get a sense though at which one will at least just moderately tap your bags instead of running off with your money. The unstable couples screaming at each other are perhaps the easiest kind of junkie to find but they are too unstable to work with. Along with the chiller, more righteous type of old heads at the exchanges, hipster semi-junkies which is to say hipsters making the transition to junkiedom, after ceasing to give a fuck about visible track marks and public nods in the park, but before eviction, routine stays in the Tombs, and total degeneracy, are probably the best population to go with. All bets are off though ... while everyone has lost money through dodgy middlemen, all bets are off even with insurance ... I've not had this happen to me, but I've definitely know people who've been left with some random junkie's pack, dog, or even girlfriend while said junkie fucks off with a bundle or two's worth of cash and just doesn't come back. My buddy actually got a sickly crusty dog that way that he nursed back to health. Nobody I know got a girlfriend that way though, even a sickly crusty one. But I digress.