Burgers, Music Quartet Feature at 17th Precinct National Night Out

Throngs of Manhattanites showed up to the annual National Night Out celebration for the NYPD’S 17th Precinct on Tuesday, August 4, gathering near the United Nations at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza to enjoy grilled food and rousing entertainment.

The 17th Precinct covers the Sutton Area, Beekman Place, Kipps Bay, Turtle Bay, Murray Hill, and Rose Hill Community neighborhoods. Of course, it was front and center during the emergency response that followed the buckling of support beams in the former Pfizer Building last month, which caused street closures and evacuations on East 42nd and East 43rd Streets.

Things were a little more low-key on the evening of Aug. 4, as police officers were the ones doing the grilling and the line for grub stretched nearly to Second Avenue. Satisfied customers crammed into the benches that dot the park to enjoy a long-awaited bite of char-broiled burgers.

Other officers chatted up attendees or stood for selfies. A jam band quartet played numbers such as Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” with a gaggle of audience members seated in a row of chairs set up in front of the park’s bandshell.

Elisa, one of the local residents relaxing on a bench, told Our Town that she appreciated the event for “bringing the community together.” She said she believed that the yearly occurrence helps foster a “positive relationship with the police,” noting that curious East Siders could be provided with direct access to the precinct, or topical information on how to reach them later.

Political representatives and local businesses set up a parallel line of booths that bracketed the food line, and were engaging in jovial chatter with local residents. Japan Society, a prominent nonprofit situated across the street that promotes relations between the U.S. and Japan, oversaw one such booth.

Todd Nicholson, a director with the nonprofit, told Our Town that events such as National Night Out are “the best way to directly meet the community in the neighborhood.” Such outreach could build on social media marketing, Nicholson said, which can be more impersonal at times.

Laura Gagliardone, one of the people manning the booth for the Community Council associated with the precinct, echoed Elisa by describing the event as being about giving the police a “personal touch.” That way, she said, there would be “mutual trust” with the community, so that they “feel comfortable reaching out to the police for any need.”

The head of the precinct’s Community Council, Matthew Roberts, told Our Town that the event was about “having a lot of fun.” It helped that there was good weather and “people enjoying the music,” he added.

After a good number of people had settled in to the event, NYPD officers welcomed NYC Department of Building Commissioner Ahmed Tigani to speak.

Tigani was keen on highlighting how the 17th Precinct sprung into action during the recent near-collapse of a faulty office-to-residential conversion project on 235 E. 42nd St., at the former HQ of Pfizer Building. This involved a seven-block “frozen zone” evacuation of surrounding buildings on the front and rear of the damaged building.

The incident required the “full umbrella of the city’s emergency services,” Tigani said: “Every responding agency [had to] come together, and quickly figure out how to diagnose, how to intercede and intervene, how to stabilize and shore, and how to make sure that we were making the safety of this neighborhood our top priority.”

“We could not have done it as effectively, as efficiently and as quickly without the tremendous service of the 17th Precinct,” he added. “We’re lucky to have you as partners in this work.”