Sh!t hole? Vagrants, youth use Co-op City as a toilet

By Michael Horowitz

Riverbay Executive General Manager Vernon Cooper, this week, promised action aimed at stopping vandals and vagrants who have been responsible for major messes near the the News office in the Dreiser Loop Shopping Center and in scattered stairwells and hallways throughout Co-op City.

Cooper said that he intended to see if security cameras in the Dreiser Loop Shopping center could be repositioned to cover the lower level of the center, which houses three churches, a synagogue, a health Center, a postal substation, a shoe-repair store, and a lawyer's office, in addition to the News.

The Executive General Manager added that he would be in touch with the Public Safety Department with a view toward increasing night-time patrols in the lower level of the Dreiser Loop Shopping Center.

The lower level of the Section 1 shopping center seems to have become a magnet for young people and vagrants who hang out after the shopping center and its bathroom close.

“We have 600 security cameras in the community, so we are able to track large areas of Co-op City to guard against all kinds of crimes, including quality-of-life crimes,” Cooper said. “We have plans in the works for the installation of 600 more cameras in Co-op City. The additional cameras will markedly improve security in the community, but, of course, all areas of the community will not be covered. It's impossible to have security cameras on every floor of every stairwell in Co-op City.”

Cooper added, “The reality is that we're an open community. Under the circumstances, it's impossible to control everyone who comes into the community. Of course, we're trying to limit quality-of-life crimes, but there's no way that we're going to catch everyone who commits a quality-of-life crimes. As a deterrent, we plan to insist that those caught committing quality-of-life crimes be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Following the recent arrests of youths who were caught urinating on apartment doors in Building 17, Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo stated, “…When there is a complaint that is affecting the quality of life for our cooperators, we will insure that is investigated aggressively by utilizing all the resources that our department has at its disposal. We will not allow the anti-social behavior of a select few to run the quality of life for hundreds of our residents.”