Dark hallways, a lack of security cameras and spotty elevator service are par for the course in Brooklyn’s notorious Louis H. Pink Houses, which tenants say is completely neglected by the city.
A simple task like fixing a light bulb went ignored for three weeks before Thursday, when a police officer killed a man in an unlit stairwell.
“Dimly lit stairways and dilapidated conditions create fertile ground for violent crime while the constant presence of illegal firearms creates a dangerous and highly volatile environment for police officers and residents alike,” said Patrick Lynch, a police union president.
“The Pink Houses are among the most dangerous projects in the city, and their stairwells are the most dangerous places in the projects.”
Residents of the complex, at 2724 Linden Blvd. in East New York, were frightened long before the shooting of Akai Gurley, 28.
“The lights are always out, for the past three years,” said Angela Moore, who shakes her keys in the hallway so people can hear her coming. “It’s like a dark tube.”
Veronica Newsome, a seventh-floor tenant said, “I have a 19-year-old grandson, and I’m scared to death.”
Asked about tenant complaints, the New York City Housing Authority issued a vague statement.
“Regarding the tragic shooting at the Pink Houses, NYCHA is cooperating with the NYPD as the investigation proceeds,” it read.
NYCHA would not respond to any other questions.
By mid-afternoon Friday, two workers wheeled a shopping cart filled with new light bulbs into the building.
Their first stop was the stairwell where Gurley was killed.
The Pink Houses are among the most dangerous projects in the city, and their stairwells are the most dangerous places in the projects.
- Pat Lynch, police-union chief
“Work doesn’t get done until someone gets killed,” said Earl Greggs, who lives on the third floor and heard the shooting. “Now they come around here today and put up the lights all over the building.”
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said both cops and residents are affected when housing projects are left in darkness.
“Hallways that don’t have operating lights are a danger to everybody,” he said at an afternoon press conference.
Poor lighting isn’t the only problem plaguing the sprawling complex.
Elevators regularly malfunction, and there are few security cameras in the buildings, where homeless people hang out and drug deals are rampant.
The city Department of Investigation coincidentally issued a report Friday that slams the city for an “inefficient” installation of camera and security improvements in the projects.
It made a series of recommendations to help the city secure funding and move faster to install more security cameras.
“[The] investigation demonstrated that not only is it feasible to expedite the process to fund and install cameras and other security enhancements in public housing, but it is sustainable,” said Mark Peters, the department’s commissioner.
The darkened stairwell where Gurley was shot had no security camera in it, leaving investigators with only lobby footage.
While residents acknowledge the stairwells are dangerous, many say it is impossible to avoid, as elevators are often slow and unreliable.
“Sometimes, the elevators don’t work, and [my son] has to go up the stairs,” said sixth-floor resident Rosanna Rodriguez, who has a 14-year-old son she fears could suffer the same fate as Gurley.
“Shootings are common around here.”
In the past few months, Bratton said there has been a “spike in violence” in the neighborhood, including two homicides, two robberies and four assaults.
A 38-year-old man was shot dead in a second-floor hall of the Pink Houses in the early hours of Oct. 10.
A few months earlier, a young man fatally shot Brandon Burgos, 20, outside the development.
“This building is definitely more dangerous now than it used to be,” said James Esquilin, 25 who lives on the eighth floor with his mother and son.
Esquilin, 25, for all his life. He admitted there were more cops and cameras around but said it didn’t mean it was safer.
“That could have been me,” the father said of Gurley’s shooting.
“That could have been my family, my son.”
Additional reporting by Aaron Feis