All the plants are in bloom, including crime at a popular Bronx parks this summer. NYPD and Parks Department spokespersons are tight lipped about it.
One borough hot-spot, according to park advocates is Crotona Park, which saw 28 felony crimes last year and is once again considered the most dangerous recreational area in The Bronx. It turns out that 64% of last year's incidents occurred during the summer months and just last week, an 18-year-old woman was reported raped inside the park.
This is a 127-acre park with an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts and a three-acre pond, which has already seen one shooting, two robberies so far and the summer season has just begun.
Crotona leads the borough with 102 felony incidents since 2008. That number makes up 40% of all park crimes in the Bronx, according to police statistics. During the same five year period, Pelham Bay Park — the borough's biggest — reported 31 such crimes.
Visit the parks, but be very careful where you go and especially what you do while you are there.