Mayor Kraham Locks Down 314 Prospect St.

Update | Pexels by Anna Tarazevich

By SC New York News Reports

Mar 17, 2023

Mayor Jared M. Kraham on Thursday announced the lockdown of 314 Prospect Street, a problem property in the First Ward that is the first to be shut down under the City’s updated lockdown law.

“314 Prospect Street is the perfect example of how a nuisance property can hurt an entire neighborhood and why restoring the City’s lockdown law was one of my first priorities as mayor,” said Mayor Kraham. “We will continue to use every available resource to shut down these problem properties and keep our neighborhoods safe.”

In a March 13 decision, City Court Judge William C. Pelella granted a permanent injunction closing 314 Prospect Street for up to one year, finding credible evidence to support the City’s petition alleging the property to be a public nuisance. In the decision, Judge Pelella called the situation “a living nightmare for the residents of Prospect Street.”

“314 Prospect Street was the center of ongoing criminal activity,” Judge Pelella writes. “There was constant traffic in and out of 314 Prospect Street consistent with drug activity and prostitution. There was garbage, including needles, creating an unhealthy and unsanitary living conditions for the entire neighborhood. There was violent crime including Assault, Robbery and Attempted Murder. …No one should have to live in such a dangerous and unhealthy environment.”

Last year, Mayor Kraham announced the City would begin enforcing an updated version of its lockdown law following New York State court decisions clarifying how municipalities can apply local nuisance laws.

Commonly known as the “lockdown law,” the City’s Property and Building Nuisance Reform Law allows City officials to assign point values to properties for different types of nuisance activity and take legal action to shut them down.

More serious crimes have higher point values. A building is deemed to be a public nuisance if it accumulates 12 or more points in a six-month period or 18 or more points in a 12-month period, triggering a warning letter from the City to the property owner.

The City issued a lockdown warning letter to the owner of 314 Prospect Street last fall. The letter cited police activity at the property over the previous 12 months and assigned it a total of 22 lockdown points: