Crispus Attucks Park - Prostitutes, Drug Addicts & Human Feces

James Perry, (above) who once resorted to patrolling Crispus Attucks Park with his Rottweiler, says the gates are always unlocked. Reached on Friday, John Katsos, Friends of Crispus Attucks Park head said "It's one of the most active parks around." He described crack pipes and human feces in the children's play areas; he also said prostitute and drug user clientele from The Prince Lefferts Hotel across the street have often spilled over into the playground. This hotel has been scourge on the community for many years. Mr. Katsos said people are able to get into the playground even when the gate is locked, an issue he and others have been trying to address. And for some reason the police were responsible for locking up the park instead of the Parks Department.

On Friday the Parks Department refused to answer questions relating to the issue including how long or why this park was not being locked at night or if other parks in the district were also not being secured. They also did not answer whether this was a borough-wide issue or if this was related to budget cuts. They also refused to address if it was realistic or wise to rely on PEP to lock the gate considering their extremely limited resources, especially at night.

Brooklyn

A Clinton Hill park is flooded at night with drug addicts, prostitutes and unsavory characters because the city won't lock the gates, angry neighbors are charging, according to the New York Daily News.

For years, neighbors' complaints about the nightly problems at Crispus Attucks Playground on Fulton St. and Classon Ave. have gone nowhere.

"When it's not locked, every crackhead in the city is getting in," said neighborhood resident John Katsos, who heads Friends of Crispus Attucks Park. "There's an area to hop over when it is locked, so it's still penetrable."

Katsos has worked with neighbors, the police, local politicians and the Parks Department to try to cleanup Crispus Attucks. But even as the neighborhood has picked up, the park has remained a problem.

Residents said that for a short time, Parks Department employees locked the park's gates every night, but that stopped more than a year ago because of budget cuts.

"Now it's always unlocked," said area resident James Perry, who at one point locked the gates every night himself and patrolled the park with his Rottweiler to clear out any stragglers.

Neighborhood mom Sarah Brooks said she was startled one day just before Christmas when her 12-year-old son, Vedal Penn, screamed for her to look out the second-floor window: A man and a woman were having sex on the basketball court.

"Don't they realize we can see them?" said Brooks, 43. "I'm so hurt and disappointed my kids were exposed to that stuff in the park where they play basketball. That hurt."

Brooks and many other neighbors whose homes border Crispus Attucks said that in warm weather especially, the park swarms with rowdy and dangerous people.

"I used to leave my window open, but now I'm afraid," said Crystal King, 47, who last summer bought a protective gate for her first-floor window, which overlooks the park. "You can see people smoking crackonthe handball courts."

An NYPD spokeswoman said there were no formal complaints about the park last year, but added that officers from the 88th Precinct check at dusk to make sure noone is inside.

After the Daily News asked about the unlocked gates, a Parks Department spokeswoman said an enforcement patrol would soon be sent out to lock the playground everynight.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries said he just hopes the city takes the neighbors' complaints seriously.

"The Parks Department has expressed a willingness to address the problem, but it's time for their words to be translated into action," said Jeffries (D-Clinton Hill).

Read More:

Locals want Brooklyn problem park, filled with prostitutes and drug addicts, cleaned up

New York Daily News - March 3, 2011 - By Jake Pearson