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The Bedford-Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn, New York has been conducting a fascinating study in sociology without even thinking about it. The whole thing started with a fire hydrant which sprang a slow but steady leak. The city obviously ignored it, allowing taxpayer money to trickle away in waste. Since the puddle around it’s base became a permanent little pond, filling the sidewalk tree pit, someone decided it needed goldfish. At least then it would serve some purpose. That started the controversy. Some love it, some hate it. Activists challenge it in court, children steal the fish. Most recently, it’s been vandalized.
Community fish pond
Nobody expected the puddle full of goldfish to divide the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, then escalate to crime and wanton vandalism.
Either the barbarians who did it knew the surveillance camera wasn’t working or didn’t care but they ignored the sign warning it was watched. On Monday night, August 26, someone “tore up the place.”
Locals know it happened around 9 p.m. That’s when the “vandal or vandals took colorful gravel and hand painted stones and tossed around other decorations” from the community puddle-pond. Five fish were reported killed out of 100 inhabiting the pool. Block resident Devang Shah just missed it.
Photos: Goldfish living in a makeshift pond caused by a slow leaking hydrant in Bedford Stuyvesant. The Community loves it. #LloydMitchellPhotography #goldfish #BedfordStuyvesant #odd #Animal #Feature #Photography #Journalism #Feature #Photojournalism #Featurestory #fish pic.twitter.com/bJuiA4fyLG
— Lloyd Mitchell (@Lloydphoto) August 14, 2024
“I just walked by and it was all destroyed. It was really beat up, there were shells all over the place, the broom was broken. it was just a mess.” He thoughtfully “buried the fish that died overnight.”
As soon as the puddle at Tompkins Avenue and Hancock Street was turned into a stylish little aquarium, with help from the general public, it quickly gained interested visitors. Then the activists came unglued.
PETA and Greenpeace didn’t like the idea one bit. Besides “drawing the ire of online activists” a veterinarian called it “animal cruelty.” The community didn’t think so.
A landmark
Mr. Shah has lived on Hancock Street for over a decade. He’s also “an architect working to help expand the pond.” He wants to turn it into a community landmark.
The pond’s “creators are even raising $5,000 through GoFundMe to get a filtration system and ensure the fish can survive in the pond through winter.” That may be a little extreme. Others say fix the leak and relocate the fish.
Veterinarian and Wet Pet Vet founder Ben Rosenbloom threw a snit over it. “Fish in these conditions are going to die one way or another.”
Aug 27, 2024
Brooklyn goldfish pond destroyed overnighthttps://t.co/WrqOMJxokv— Gadea (@Gadea) August 27, 2024
“If nothing else, they have virtually no chance of surviving the winter in water of that depth and volume, not to mention chemical run-off from salting the streets.” He’s also missing the point that a leaking hydrant suddenly became the focus of positive community involvement.
Pond co-creator Hajj Malik-Lovick “isn’t surprised about the vandalism.” It’s been trouble since he came up with the idea. “Neighborhood residents Emily Campbell and Max David ‘rescued‘ about 30 fish from the pond earlier this month, with the intention of finding them a new home with more appropriate living conditions.”
Malik-Lovick “was undeterred by the vandalism, saying he was at the site by daybreak to clean up.” His aunt, who the neighbors all call “Auntie,” was “at the pond by 6 a.m. to rebuild, even adding dirt from her own yard.” She was upset when she saw her decoration work destroyed. “I just decorated here yesterday. I was out here boohooing. I cried, but now it’s time to get busy.” The community is holding a “goldfish adoption” event on September 1. The goal is to raise money for “plexiglass and solar panels to ensure a more permanent structure for the pond in the coming months.” Apparently, nobody is factoring in the possibility the city will fix the leak.
