Disturbing the Avenue N Peace

Normally standing in front of the Avenue N strip mall, police officers flocked to a dispute around the corner at Original’s II Pizzeria, on a chilly day in February. Once out of sight, the children piling down the street from local junior high school, Roy H. Mann took it as their cue to release their pent up energy from a seven-hour day. The only problem was, their release meant vandalizing cars in the parking lot, spurring the owner of Ariel’s Hair Shop to run outside in defense of his customers, after dialing 911. From there the problem erupted.
As the cops remained around the corner, the owner reprimanded the children, trying to get them off of the property. Instead of obeying him, they mobbed the owner, injuring him and setting off a ripple effect that had not been seen in four years.
Not only was the 63rd precinct involved, the local councilman and assemblyman whose offices are across the street stepped in. All of the local merchants the line the main avenue cried out for help against the children that harmed their business, customer property and even themselves. The most direct response was a series of meetings set up by the community, police and government officials, discussing the problem and possible solutions.
“For awhile we were receiving calls at 3 p.m. saying, ‘The animals are here,'” said Reeves Eisen, Chief of Staff for Councilman Lew Fidler in the District Office. “After that we would direct them to call 911.”
That day in February, however, calling 911 did not seem sufficient to the owners of Ariel’s Barber Shop and the bagel store a couple of storefronts down. In a rage the owner ran outside to scream at the children, taking out his anger for his customers, as well as the hindrance they were to his business. After being beaten and bloodied, the owners learned they could not approach the children. Charges were not pressed because there was no way to identify the children, grouping together in a large mass and fleeing just as quickly.
Immediately following, the neighborhood took action. Being a quiet, upper scale location in South Brooklyn, Mill Basin rarely has reason to convene or discuss matters. The Mill Basin Civic Association holds monthly meetings, which are a success according to President Paul Curiale and the Councilman’s office, and the local church functions are usually packed with residents. Otherwise, neighbors bump into each other over the weekend or while running errands. There is no need to solve problems together since they are rarely presented.
However after this overdue explosion between after school students and Avenue N business owners, something had to be done. The problem had been ongoing for almost four years and there had been little done, especially since the principals of Roy H. Mann changed two years ago.
“In the beginning store owners would close their gates when 3 p.m. approached,” said Eisen.
But since then, the problem had calmed down. Police activity increased and students walked Avenue N freely with the occasional complaint of noise. Many believe the height of the problem was reached in February because officers were around the corner handling a disturbance and the children took advantage of their opportunity.
Phyllis Marino has been principal of Roy H. Mann since September 2007. According to Curiale, the principal, parent coordinator and the entire school were extremely cooperative after the incident. They held many meetings together and Marino tries as hard as possible to keep the situation under control.
Woods, the principal before Marino, had made it a habit of walking up Avenue N with the students after dismissal.  A tall, powerful looking man with a booming voice, he would stand in line with them at the bagel store buying a Pepsi and the children would make their purchase and go directly to the bus stop. Eisen reasons this is something a school official should not ‘technically be doing’ but it had worked at the time. While Marino’s approach is less involved than Woods and designated to the school grounds, she has taken every measure possible to prevent another outbreak.
The problem is that Avenue N is out of the school’s jurisdiction for any action to be taken or truancy to be sent there, according to Marino. After school she tries to enforce the children to get on the buses in front of the school, rather than walking up Avenue N. While some cooperate others just want to walk.
On a sunny Monday afternoon in May, a time that was expected to be worse than February and March, the children peacefully walked down Avenue N, with the occasional roar of laughter and yells.
When asked if they were apart of the incident that had occurred, their young faces twitched and their heads shook rapidly. Nobody present was responsible, but they knew of people who were. Without their parents, they cannot be named, which leads to another source of the problem recognized by the merchants and officials on Avenue N; without parental or school authority, the children are free to do whatever they please.
But that does not mean they do not want them walking up and down the Avenue. A business owner at the strip mall, who declined to give his name, said it was refreshing to see young faces stroll down the Avenue and as long as everyone remained safe, he understands their need for an afterschool walk.
Most of the other business owners do not see it in that light. The Century 21 Realty office tells their clients to refrain from making appointments at that afterschool hour. When potential homeowners come, seeing a disturbance or possible outbreak could cause them to lose their commission and the purchase of property.
“If that’s what I saw I would reevaluate moving here also,” said Eisen, who will not park on the opposite side of the street due to possibility of vandalism. “It inevitably hurts the economy of the neighborhood.”
Mill Basin is not the only neighborhood to be faced with this problem. In the April 2009 newsletter from the desk of Fidler, he specifically addressed Mill Basin, but reflected on the issue that plagues the outer lying neighborhoods in his district.
“My office has already begun to receive these seasonal complaints. One of the most problematic areas in my district has been the commercial strip along Avenue N in Mill Basin…Merchants along this path reached out to my office as soon as the problem began to escalate, and we’ve been working diligently to nip the situation in the bud.”
The councilman then goes on to discuss what NYPD has been doing to contain the problem and other solutions they are offering. “Situations like the once described are not limited to Avenue N, nor are they perpetuated by only young teens,” Fidler said in the newsletter. “We have had similar experiences near Madison High School, Marine Park Junior High and at other locations.”
The best solution Councilman Fidler and Assemblyman Maisel, on the other side of the conflict grounds, can offer is increased police activity.
Directly following the eruption, Joe Sorrentino, a realtor and lawyer with an office in the strip mall, represented the merchants and sat down with the 63rd precinct and the offices of Maisel and Fidler to discuss the situation. Police force was put on all corners of Avenue N and the children immediately notice the change. The crowds slimmed down, the vandalism ended and the noise decibel even lowered. After many school announcements made by Marino the children realized they were walking on thin ice. Once their dean was spotted in a patty wagon circling the area, the conflict became nonexistent.
Even after the noise, vandalism and amounts of children lessened, merchants and residents expected once the warm weather hit they would be faced with a bigger problem. Maybe it was the large amount of rainy days or possibly the increased amount of blue uniforms lining the streets, but there has yet to be another outburst and the children have remained on their best behavior.
“Some days they are louder and we already know when they are coming up the block,” said Eisen. “Then some days, like today actually, they are quiet. Either way it is tolerable and the environment at 3 p.m. has become pleasant.”