[Guest Post] Why Did You Slash My Tire?

Longtime FIPS reader, Jon, wrote in to tell us of something that happened to him this weekend: 

I live near the Barclays Center. I don’t write that in a bad or negative way. As a matter of fact, when folks ask me my opinion I universally say “I like it.” While I was nervous about it prior to and when it first opened up, in the end, it hasn’t been a hassle and it’s led to what I consider to be a general brightening up (dare I say “improvement”) of the neighborhood. Parking hasn’t even proven to be a big problem unless I tend to time thing pretty poorly on event nights but I’ve only gotten 2 tickets in 2 years and feel pretty fortunate about it.

Until Saturday… 

I was getting back to my place at about 7:45 pm Saturday night. The sun was starting to go down and a “Best of the 90s Salsa Concert” was getting ready to kick off at 8. There was no parking in sight. This was exacerbated by a block party that had the block adjacent to mine — Park Place between 6th & 7th Ave — closed to traffic and parking for the day.

Thankfully, the block party had seemingly come to a close, so I took it upon myself to move a cone, slip my car onto the block and then start to walk home. That’s when I was greeted by a skinny Park Slope mom with young daughter in tow who angrily asked “did you just move that cone?” 

I explained my situation. I live on the next block. The big Barclays event made parking impossible. It looked to me as thought the block party was done and there were a number of cars already parked on the block. I was about to move the cone back. As a neighbor, I thought she’d be understanding.  I’ve had testier exchanges in my time (I’ve lived in New York for 30+ years) and we parted ways with what I thought was a mutual understanding/détente.

This morning when I went to drive my car, one of my back tires had been slashed. Presumably, the mom who was all about safety took it upon herself to act like a vigilante. I was hoping for a bit more in the way of community/neighborhood spirit. I guess it just wasn’t in the air.