April 8, 2013 By Christian Murray
A new security camera system is being installed inside a Woodside housing project.
The Woodside Houses, where many high-profile crimes have occurred in the past decade, will be receiving 137 closed-circuit cameras, which will be installed in lobbies, entrances and basements. The development, located at 50-51 Broadway, has 20 six-story buildings and 3,442 residents.
The $1.1 million project, funded by the New York City Council, will provide residents with an additional layer of security, according to a statement issued by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. Furthermore, its installation is already underway and will continue until all cameras are installed. The project is scheduled be completed this July.
Many residents have been calling on the city to install the cameras for years.
In 2008, prosecutors charged 41 people, including several members of the Crips street gang, with selling crack and other crimes out of the housing project.
Furthermore, there have been several murders at or near the complex in the past decade. In 2005, there was a double homicide, when two men in their twenties were shot inside the complex. In 2008, a man was shot dead just outside.
Last August, a baby was found abandoned outside the Woodside Houses wrapped in a bloody bed sheet.
