43rd Street (btwn. Skillman and 43rd Avenues) Photo: QueensPost
May 30, 2013 By Christian Murray
The tire and rim bandits are back.
The owner of a car parked on 43rd Street (btw. 43rd Ave and Skillman Ave) woke up to discover that his/her four tires and rims were missing yesterday.
In the past 28 days, there have been four such incidents of this type in Maspeth, according to police. However, this is the first to occur in Sunnyside for some time.
At the beginning of last year, there were several tire & rim thefts in Sunnyside. However, the activity ceased.
To decrease the chances of being targeted, the police recommend that residents cut their front wheels toward the curb when they park.
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Eh, such is life driving in the city – nicks, dings, stolen tires. Just as bad are the morons (and there are many in Sunnyside) who can’t be bothered to look before parking our pulling out, smashing into cars behind or in front of them.
I almost raged on an old couple the other day. I shudder whenever my car isn’t parked in the garage.
This sucks. It’s for reasons like this that I am happy & grateful that we have a parking space for our car. The 108 needs to step up their patrols between 1am-4am. Growing up here, 43rd Street was always the hardest hit block, from the handball courts down to Barnett Avenue.
Turn the wheel to it’s max, and get wheel locks (30 bucks from Amazon). At least TRY to protect your car. The 108 doesn’t care, and Sunnyside is getting more and more degraded as time goes by. It’s the truth, just walk around.
One thing I have noticed about many of these tire thefts is that they tend to happen in spots where there are buildings w/ people DIRECTLY across the street, but NONE directly in front of the side where the car is. Less eyes, less likely to get caught: see the picture above (playground/parking lot near car) and the ones that happen along the park on Skillman and 43rd St.
RD
Thanks, Krissi and Candidate Morehead??, but I have no desire to run for office. Jimmy Van Bramer is doing a great job and has my whole-hearted support. The numerous photos are part of running for office and he even joked about them at an event earlier this year. More importantly, he never fails to give his staff credit for the work they do on behalf of his constituents. Pat, bringing back Block Watchers is a great idea but it’s not up to “them”, it’s up to us. A safe, clean community is our right and our responsibility.
where’s the pic of Jimmy VB behind the vehicle looking concerned?
Oh come on admin, we can’t zing ol’ JVB?
This place is no fun.
Maybe they should bring back the “Block Watchers” …..
Dorothy Morehead should run against Jimmy!!!
But she will have to get her photo in the paper more.
Dorothy Morehead for Sunnyside President 🙂
Sunnyside has always been considered to have a low crime rate, especially relative to the whole city. There was a time (25 +/- years ago?) when there was a spike in crime. We started a neighborhood patrol and drove around and walked local streets in the evenings. My son and I caught a flasher, got his license plate number when he stopped his car and tried to call a little girl over, and he was arrrested and prosecuted (he pled guilty to indecent exposure). With a concerted effort, and for many years, crime has been low. As a result, it is rare to see a patrol car. Crime now seems to be on the upswing and it will take a concerted effort to combat it. A motion-activated security camera system with up to 6 cameras is only $1,200 installed. Since the crimes seem to be committed in the middle of the night, cameras would be a more efficient deterrent than patrols either by police or volunteers. And keeping an eye out for our neighbors.
Perhaps the citizens of Sunnyside and Woodsids should put together a crime watch team? Patrol the streets in shifts or if “you see something, say something” approach. Many like to blog about it… But it’s just as easy to call 311.
I wonder if Rispoli (sp) who was walking late at night caught sight of these people and was killed.
… If they were brazen why’d they leave the rest if da car?
108 Cops, when’s this comedy coming to FOX?
I first noticed this tire stealing back in late 98, actually one of the first times I came to the area. I remember seeing it on the south side, on my friends block, near 41st and Greenpoint. This isn’t a new crime, or because ‘yuppies’ & ‘hipsters’ have invaded.
RD
Ruben, many of the originals from SUDS are born and bred Sunnysiders, or have been here for a long time. The group started back in ’01 and started to organize to get a space w/i the park in late ’03. This isn’t something that just popped up w/ gentrification. We’re just as much a part of the fabric of the neighborhood as you are.
Is there a younger crowd, the one you seem to be so displeased with? Yes, indeed. That’s what good community groups do, they grow.
The neighborhood needed that park to get re-done, it was in horrible shape. Now we’ll have a park to be proud of. I hope to see you enjoying it one day:)
RD
@skillmanite – Same m/o used on the car yesterday on 43rd St., the car was propped up with Belgian block from nearby tree. Owners of late model Hondas should be advised accordingly. I thought it was odd the crooks left behind the fancy looking lug nuts from yesterday’s theft.
Webley is on the $. Just make sure the tires are NEW and have PHAT rims.
RD
I’m curious to know if the 108th has developed a pattern for these thefts, i.e., what streets are most ‘popular’?
My guess: 1. 43rd St from 43rd Ave all the way toward N Blvd. and 2. Along the park on Skillman.
This has been going on for years in Sunnyside. They seem to hit an area hard and then don’t come back for a few weeks/months to stay one step ahead of the 5-0.
The tire slashers are another menace.
Maybe the 108th should set up a sting @ 3-5am when these things are probably going down, or keep an eye out for any suspicious vans, as it wouldn’t be as easy to fill a regular car up with tires and 2-4 perps.
RD
Webley. I’m saying its a SYSTEM , all the yuppies that have come in and focused their attention on one side of Sunnyside, have put all their funds into fixing the part of Sunnyside with the money while the other side of the boulevard gets ignored, You’re gonna have things even out somehow, thats how the system works.
You put millions into a park when there’s a bunch of things an entire neighborhood needs and you neglect them just to appease the people with money through their disgusting dogs. so , you don’t help them out they help themselves…to your tires.
This is so easy to fix, just leave some random cars with GPS or Cell signal in the rims (cellular homing devices cost less than $10 for law enforcement, with cell service), they will definitely grab those and then they track them.
SunnysidePostHatesMe14, you deserve to be hated. I would trade a hipster for someone in your mentality any day. It could be your car one day. There is no karma in this, it could be any one of our cars.
Reuben – Hipsters ride bicycles.
To decrease the chances of being targeted, the police recommend that residents take their wheels home with them after they park.
@Queen Bee—————— You’ll probably find that it is the tire shops and chop shops that give a shopping list to these punks in the first place. If it has been quiet for a while it’s probably because our little greasy wrench monkey was doing a stint in Rikers.
As for leaving a cheap jack for a gift, a few years back they stripped the wheels off of a car on 41st and propped it up with the Belguim blocks from the nearby tree plant box. Being by a school and opposite a large building, surely in this day of big bro watching us all there is some footage of this theft.
beginning of last year? I saw a few cars that had their tires lifted last month. Going down to the Library I saw at least 3 cars, all had tires taken the same way. A cheap jack left under the car as a gift.
This is Sunnyside’s way of balancing out the flood of hipsters that have caused the rise in cost of everything in Sunnside. A sort of ,,,,Karma.
You guys will be getting more Homeless too , cuz you keep feeding the change bum.
“Good work boys!” Police Chief Clancy Wiggum
Clearly, more NYPD award ceremonies are needed.
@ webley
Turning the wheels in prevents them from pulling them out of the wheel well
I’ve noticed the occasional Sunnysider toking while taking a stroll as well, actually quite amusing and pretty harmless IMO
Can someone tell me what difference does turning wheels in make?
The only protection is wheel locks. It does not completely eliminate the situation but at least it deters them since it would take longer for them to steel the wheels.
I took a stroll in sunnyside last night around 9:30pm, and I was shocked to see so many thug types walking around in packs, smoking weed, being loud, etc on both sides of the blvd. Also during my stroll of sunnyside gardens, I noticed strong weed smell from very specific spots. Suprisingly there weren’t as much dog shit on sidewalks, perhaps they were all washed away by the recent rains, but even with that it used to be a hopping ordeal to get through sidewalk because all the dog shit. Is it possible that the -dog cleaning up after himself- poster worked?
One more thing I noticed, how many cars double park, not even pulling all the way to the side, frustrating everyone who is trying to pass by. If you look down any street you can see multiple cars double parked on each block, traffic enforcements needs to drive by those areas more often and ticket the ones without drivers in them.
Police or people should inquire at the local “chop shops” tire/service places in the local area to see if someone is trying to sell used tires to them. Or if their specific model of tires are up on the wall for sale.
Did any police officer get an award for that recommendation?