A firecracker explodes every few seconds. Sometimes just one, but so loud that the windows tremble. Then two, three, four in a row. Sometimes you can see flashes of light and rain of fire. It’s eleven o’clock in the evening in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. And if it stays as it has in the past few weeks, then the bang will only slowly subside in the early morning hours.
It is a phenomenon that has been known for several years. But it should never have been as bad as this year. It is something of a tradition that people in less wealthy working-class neighborhoods stock up on all sorts of rockets and thunderbolts shortly before Independence Day on July 4th, in order to fire them as soon as it is dark, to the great displeasure of the residents.
Crown Heights and two neighboring boroughs in Brooklyn are considered to be the center of the gluttony. But bangs are also reported from the Bronx, parts of Manhattan, some cities along the east coast from Boston down to Washington.
Usually the madness only lasts a few days. This year, however, it started in mid-May. An evaluation of the calls to the complaint number 311 of the city of New York showed that in June alone the number of firecrackers complaints increased by 321 times over the previous year. There have been more than 9,000 such complaints since the beginning of the month. In 2019 there were only 28 in the same period.
So far, it is completely unclear what leads to this enormous increase. There is wild speculation about the question of why. This is all just a misperception, because the cities have become so quiet because of Corona, some say. Others suspect the US fireworks industry could be behind it. She cannot get rid of her goods because of the many corona-related cancellations of public fireworks on July 4th. The most obvious explanation might be: boredom. But that too is just speculation.
City hangs in a New Year’s Eve loop
Anyone who sifts through the many fireworks images from the previous night in the social networks in the morning will not get rid of the impression that the city is stuck in a New Year’s Eve loop. The Chinese firecracker greets you every night. The blasters and rockets are detonated from the street, from roofs of houses, from apartments and cars. Partly run Hordes of people roam the streets, firing batteries of missiles in all directions. Reported on Twitter Ryan Devereaux, Reporter on the investigative side The Intercept, that otherwise rival gangs deliver fireworks battles on the streets. For fun. Sometimes wanderers explode under cars, then their alarm systems start to howl.
