Dear Editor:
For the past year I have witnessed extreme acts of vandalism on my street in Hoboken. I live on Park Avenue between Sixth and Seventh Streets, and each afternoon between the hours of two and three, some of the children leaving the Hudson School seem to have absolutely no regard for personal property.
I live on the top floor of a three-story building. One afternoon I was making lunch in the kitchen when all of a sudden I heard a loud bang and the sounds of kids laughing and running down the street. When I looked off my porch to see what had happened, I realized that one of the kids had jumped off the bottom porch onto my landlord’s car in the driveway, completely denting in the roof and the trunk.
Each and every day I witness acts like this as they walk down my street. They kick cars as if they’re nothing and throw book bags and branches at the windshields. When cars are driving by they throw rocks or whatever they have at them. They have no regard for pedestrians or the elderly on our block; practically bumping into them as they walk by. The kids also dodge in and out of traffic, and one day, God forbid, I know someone is going to get hurt.
I am writing this letter in response to a recent Police Beat report in the Hoboken Reporter titled “Darn kids throwing rocks.” This is a major problem on our streets in the surrounding area of the Hudson School. It’s not an all-day, all-night problem, but between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, when school lets out. Reading that article made me aware that this was not only happening on Park Avenue but on other streets as well.
I was no angel in middle school myself, but those kids are really out of hand. And they do these things because they know they can get away with it. Most people that live on this block never get to witness what happens during the day to their car or residency because they’re at work. My only suggestion to prevent these acts of vandalism from occurring would be to have police or security guards patrolling the area between the hours of two and three in the afternoon. I hope more people respond to this letter and to this situation at hand. And if you’re not around during the day to witness what happens on these streets to your property, well, I guess you’re probably lucky.
John Jodzio