Reading Between the Crime Statistics in Hunts Point
By Ashlee Fairey October 14, 2009 —-Dried leaves swirled about Maria Ortiz as she stood sweeping the street outside the Mount Sinai Christian church. During the crisp autumn days, the summer’s sweltering heat and winter’s withering cold, Ortiz has kept the block between Coster and Spofford tidy for many of the 23 years she has been a member of Mount Sinai church in Hunts Point. “I see calm,” she said of the neighborhood. “I always clean out here and I don’t see what I used to: marijuana, needles, condoms. Now I could show you the garbage. I sweep up just what God brings – dried leaves.”
