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'Bane of the block': Greenwich Village residents terrorized as rowdy teenagers run rampant

According to the residents, the high-schoolers sit outside their homes smoking up, throwing garbage and scaring them using toy guns

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NEW YORK CITY: Greenwich residents are annoyed by high-schoolers who have taken to chilling on the block. Worried locals told New York Post that a group of foul-mouthed, toy gun-waving, pot-smoking high school troublemakers are holding the residents of West 13th off 6th Avenue hostage in their posh homes. These teenagers have been roaming around every day at lunchtime while school is in session for at least a year, getting high, acting out, and tormenting anyone who gets in their way. 

The 53-year-old Michael Figueroa, a superintendent for two buildings, yelled in anger, "They are the bane of the block." He often chases them out of his buildings, cleans up their mess and observes their erratic behavior. The delinquents were seen carrying fake guns that looked like real ones and firing them at terrified bystanders. The fake TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol was cited by neighbors as an impending tragedy. 

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The troublemakers were tracked all the way back to the Harvest Collegiate High School on West 14th Street. The group, according to Figueroa, is opportunistic and given the neighborhood's many ongoing home renovations. He said, "If they see a door open [they go in to smoke their weed]. I see them constantly. It’s the same guys, it’s the same crew."

According to retired attorney Cheryl Schwartzman, "This is their lunchroom and they will use this as their lunchroom until June." She recalled how one of the teenagers once told her, "Suck my d**k!" and spat all over her stoop when she recently them to move if she could enter the building. She added, "My frustration is that this is an ongoing problem and no one is here when the teens congregate."

Schwartzman unsuccessfully called the 6th Precinct and 911. She claimed that although Harvest Collegiate High School administration has been informed of the ongoing issue by local police, the principal has not yet taken any action.

The 6th Precinct, which includes the hip neighborhoods of the West Village and Greenwich Village as well as Washington Square Park is experiencing a significant increase in crime, according to the most recent NYPD statistics. This increase is being fueled in part by shoplifting and grand larcenies. The 6th of the 77 NYPD precincts saw the biggest increase in felony crimes over the same time period in 2021, at 80.2%, as per CBS news.