Putting A Face To The Crime In Our Neighborhood

Following the armed robberies at Lark Café, Ox Cart, Mimi’s Hummus, and a Church Avenue deli, we think it’s incredibly important to tell the stories of our neighbors who were in our local establishments at the time of the crimes – and how what they have gone through impacts us all.

There are the specifics – how there were about nine people in the writing group that was robbed at Lark, 13 to 15 customers and six employees at Ox Cart when that incident occurred, and six employees and two customers in Mimi’s when the restaurant was held up. Laptops were stolen from those at Lark; about $800 was taken from individuals sitting at four to five tables at Ox Cart, as well as from the restaurant itself; and, at Mimi’s, about $200 was stolen from customers and $30 from each of the employees.

But this is about more than just the numbers. This is about neighbors and business owners feeling unsafe in the community they love, about guns, about policing, about crime and the complex reasons it exists.

It is about the fact that, while the commanding officer of the 70th Precinct told neighbors this week that crime is down in our area, our community has been shaken. And, as so many of you have written to us, neighbors want nothing more than to support our community – which we are able to do in so many ways: continuing to go to the amazing businesses that exist here, reaching out to neighbors who are struggling, and having open and honest discussions, with our neighbors, police and elected officials, about what is happening in our community. There is, rightfully, a lot of emotion attached to these conversations, but, let us remember that, while we may have different opinions on crime and policing, all the passionate voices want our neighborhood to be safe for everyone here.

So, we are asking a couple things. One, if you were in the businesses when they were held up, we’d like to talk to you. We of course won’t be printing names if our neighbors don’t want us to, but it’s so important to us to remind those in charge that real people are involved in all of this. You can email us at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.

Two, we want to remind you that there are a couple meetings happening in the near future at which you can speak directly to neighbors about your concerns.

• Equality for Flatbush will meet at the Flatbush Public Library at 22 Linden Boulevard Tuesday, November 18 from 5:30-7:30pm.

• The 70th Precinct Community Council will meet at 175 Lawrence Avenue this Wednesday, November 19, at 7:30pm.

Lastly, we want people to know how much we appreciate all of your emails and communication about everything that has been going on. Yes, we have seen that bad things have happened, but we hope you remember that we live in a neighborhood where people care about one another – and we have seen that in countless comments, emails, phone calls, Facebook messages, and more. So, thank you – thank you for caring, thank you for asking hard questions, thank you for listening to your neighbors. Let us continue to do that.