By COLlive reporter
New York elected officials, community leaders and members of the NYPD gathered in Lincoln Terrace Park in Crown Heights for a pre-Labor Day Parade breakfast on Monday morning.
The annual event kicks off the Caribbean Day Parade which takes place yearly on Labor Day crossing Eastern Parkway. Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed participants.
In attendance were community activists Chanina Sperlin and Eli Cohen representing the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council (CHJCC), as well as Eli Slavin. They spoke with Mayor de Blasio about the recent anti-Semitic violent attacks which have occurred in the neighborhood and discussed measures being taken to ensure residents’ safety.
As reported on COLlive.com, de Blasio has announced on Tuesday the opening of the new Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.
Throughout the day, thousands of police officers were on hand to keep order during the parade and avoid past violence. They kindly provided the Rebbe’s Mazkir, Rabbi Leibel Groner, with a police escort to his home as well.
Please remind all the activists that giving Rabbi Groner an escort does not a absolve them of protecting our community with real policing.
The Only time I saw police presence on the crown heights subway and on the pavements of crown heights blocks- Albany, President, Kingston.. was on labor day. Since then they’ve all disappeared back into whatever habitat they usually occupy. This is probably the only community left in NY where you will not see a single police officer on patrol- except for the ‘meter/ticket maidens’ who are not equipped for and not able to deal with actual crime – and other than the very rare sighting of a police car which is not the same as policeman being physically present, walking… Read more »