UPTOWNflavor

A makeshift memorial set up by residents of 135th Street for David Diaz

On the night of October 13^th a young man by the name of David Diaz had made his way to the roof of 612 West 135^th Street. From the roof he had engaged in a prank that has been an annoying staple of the ‘hood- throwing eggs from the roof. According to reports it seems that one of Mr. Diaz’s victims caught a look at him and decided to come up and confront him. Mr. Diaz in a rush to escape made a fatal attempt to jump to the roof of the adjacent building. Mr. Diaz still had his in arm in a sling from a previous football injury and lost his balance. He fell between the buildings hitting an air conditioner on his way down. According to one neighbor who arrived to his rescue, Mr. Diaz was still alive and with what little strength he had left tried to explain what had occurred. He was taken to St. Luke’s hospital where he was pronounced dead from body and head injuries.

While the story itself was reported by all the major news outlets, not one of the reports mentioned that some years ago another tragedy took place in the exact same building. I happen to live within the complex of buildings called Riverview Apartments, the same buildings where Mr. Diaz took the fatal plunge. I’ve lived there for most of my life. In 1991, a young aspiring actress by the name of Shona Bailey had been coming home late from a birthday party. She lived at 612 West 135^th Street. According to reports Ms. Bailey was attacked either in the lobby or the elevator. She was raped and then strangled to death. Her body was then thrown in the basement. I don’t ever remember meeting Ms. Bailey. At the time I was 11 years old. I lived just a couple buildings down with my grandmother. I knew every corner of the buildings, though, as I was best friends with the super’s son. By extension I was given unlimited access to all the rooms, closets, and offices that all the buildings had. Since most of the buildings connected the entire complex was one giant playground for us. At that time the building had a crack team of security guards. Most of these men looked like they were former police officers, one in his late 50’s and the other in his 40’s.One of them, the more senior guard, carried a fire-arm. Although at my age I was removed from the tragic death of Ms. Bailey I noticed many changes where I lived. The security guards who had been in place were mysteriously replaced. Some other guys who looked much younger came on board. Some years later the street was named after her. You can see it right above the above the street number sign- Shona Bailey Place.

It wasn’t this before doing some research on this article and on Ms. Bailey that I realized that the man who committed those heinous acts against Shona Bailey was actually one of the security guards. He never stood trial either. According to newspaper reports he himself was murdered while trying to rob an old lady in the Bronx in 1992. This new information helped put into context my feelings about how my immediate neighborhood took a change for the worse. Ms. Bailey’s murder had set into motion a chain reaction of events that lead to a decline in our living conditions. It had always bothered me that the building management at that time had done away with the security guards. I had always felt that they were respected by the people who lived there. In my building where mostly seniors live, they would have sign-in sheets for people who came in. I also remember that at that time we had the Mini-club which was a summer program run by the building management where kids would do arts & crafts and go on field trips. I remember going to my first Barnum & Bailey circus show with the Mini-club. After changing security companies there was slow and gradual decay. The new guards weren’t that much older than me. They wore baggy pants with their tucked shirts tucked out. And that was with their uniform. They would simply commingle with the guys who smoked weed on the block to the point that there was no distinction and hence no authority for them to have. These guys would spend the night on their cell phones and simply walk up and down the block never enforcing any building policies. They didn’t what type of shady people made their way into the buildings. In the apartment next to me, my neighbor would constantly bring in crackheads. To make matters worse some of them would hole up in the basement where the fire exit is and shoot up and urinate. Eventually they broke the fire exits and anyone from outside could simply walk into the building. The building management, this time Manhattan North, had installed security cameras. The only problem is that they weren’t turned on. Some years after Ms. Bailey’s death, the Mini-club was also shutdown. The kids would just hang out in the streets. There was a complete lack of respect for the older people who lived there. One night I was walking home with my grandmother and they literally threw eggs at us. Not from the roof but from ground level right in our faces. Like I said…a slow and painful decline.

Just a couple weeks before Mr. Diaz had fallen to his death the building management had eliminated the overnight shift from the security staff. Many of the fire doors in the basements of various buildings still didn’t close shut. The Riverview Apartments is right behind 3333 Broadway and there is a hole in the fence where anyone could commit any type of crime and make a quick getaway to Riverside Avenue. I know this because every night I hear an entourage of punks running behind the buildings and making a mad dash through the hole in the fence. While I do believe Mr. Diaz’s death was nothing more than a tragic accident I can’t shake the feeling that had all these security elements been in place some type of intervention would have been available. The guards could have noticed the kid going to the roof and stopped him. The alarms on the roof doors were not functioning that night either. Had they been working someone would have noticed something weird and called the cops. It is sad that something that started as a prank ended in such a tragedy. It is a reminder, however, that things that we think are not that important when it comes to the security and safety of our buildings can make a big difference.

While I recognize that a small percentage of buildings of Harlem have security guards you should make sure that the security measures that are in place in your building actually work. Make sure the alarm systems are working- smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire alarms, and roof door alarms. Make sure the front doors of your buildings actually lock. Make sure that there is no access to the basements other than by the building employees or tenants from inside the building. Make sure that you have proper gates installed by the windows of your fire escapes. Make sure that there is a drop ladder by the fire escape of the first floor and that it is in the raised position, otherwise people can climb up to your window. If you do have security personnel in your building make sure they are doing their jobs. If not, call the building management company and file a complaint. Then call the security company.

I offer all these admonishments not to somehow capitalize on what happened in my neighborhood, but to take something valuable out what would otherwise be chalked up to another case of “wrong person, wrong place, wrong time”. I believe that tragic events can bring about good change or bad change in our neighborhood. When Ms. Bailey was taken from us the changes that occurred didn’t make our community stronger. It sent things into a spiral of disarray. This time we lost a teenager. It would behoove us to make the kind of change that will help our community. We should get serious about eliminating stupid pranks that have historically led to fights and violent altercations in our streets such as the egg throwing which occurs every October like clockwork. We should get serious about the safety and the living conditions of our buildings. We should once again engage our community. I would also urge everyone to keep the Diaz family in your thoughts and prayers. I did not know Mr. Diaz personally but I was familiar with his family. I can only imagine the pain they are going through. I hope that from this tragedy we could walk away with some important lessons for life.