Local city officials hosted two community forums over the last month in response to Harlem residents' concerns over shootings in and around Morningside Park.
A 16-year-old boy was shot in the face on June 3 on a basketball court in the park, and another man was shot at West 116th Street and Morningside Avenue on June 30. Both shootings took place before sundown while the park's fields were buzzing with locals—including parents and young children, who witnessed the shootings—causing unrest among park users.
An article from this weekend's New York Times details the chain of community response, centered around an online forum called Harlem4Kids. As parents wrote in with stories of their apprehension, Lisa Jones Brown, a writer and founder of Harlem4Kids, phoned the police precincts and community boards:
At Community Board 10, she said, the person who answered the phone was dismissive, saying something like: “This is Harlem. There are shootings in school yards, in front of churches, etc.” Ms. Brown, fuming, posted about this response on Harlem4Kids. ... “The mayor of this city would be up in arms if this shooting had happened in Central Park in front of one of the playgrounds that borders 5th Ave,” she wrote.
