The situation has improved greatly since Mr. Dinkins%26#8217;s foray into East New York. Crime has dropped even in places like Cypress Hills, a project of 15 seven-story buildings. In 1991, there were 107 murders recorded in the 75th Precinct, which includes Cypress Hills; last year, there were 33. Residents of Cypress, as many call it, now relish being able to sit on the benches outside their apartment buildings during the day, something that was once unimaginable. But while things are better, Cypress can still be a grim place. When the project appears in the headlines, it is usually bad news: a woman burned to death, a murder on Christmas Eve, or a sweeping drug bust. In 2002, for example, 60 people were arrested in what Cypress residents call the Big Takedown, and another 31 were indicted after a similar sweep last April 25. Besides crime, another constant is the daily struggle of the ordinary people at Cypress Hills. Whether in bad times or in less bad times, in everyday dramas that never make the headlines, the approximately 3,500 residents of the development strive to eke out a living, to raise their children and to steer clear of the cross-fire, both real and metaphorical, in a place where danger may ebb but never vanish. Here are portraits of four regular citizens %26#151; a teenager looking for a job, a retired welder, a mother of five, and a middle-aged worker for the Department of Homeland Security %26#151; who call Cypress Hills home and try to make do, day by day. The Laments of a TeenagerSometimes, when Efrain Garcia is heading home on the A train, he wishes it would roll through his Euclid Avenue stop and deposit him somewhere else. In his fantasy, somewhere else would be a place with large single-family homes, with nice cars in the driveways, and with jobs that are easy to find. %26#8220;Everybody wants to live in a good neighborhood,%26#8221; he said in his soft-spoken way. %26#8220;It%26#8217;s the American Dream.%26#8221; But the train always stops. And Mr. Garcia, a 19-year-old with a heart-shaped mouth who prefers to be called E, must walk down Euclid Avenue past narrow houses with bars on the windows and a gas station, to his home, a friend%26#8217;s couch at Cypress, or his brother%26#8217;s couch in a nearby apartment.The drawbacks to Cypress, he said, include the lack of a movie theater, the predominance of restaurants where all the food is deep-fried, and the difficulty of finding romance. %26#8220;It%26#8217;s hard to get a girl when you live here, to tell a girl you%26#8217;re from East New York and live in the Cypress Hills projects,%26#8221; he said, laughing.Mr. Garcia knows that to move out of the neighborhood, he needs a job. Since he never made it past high school, the prospects have been bleak. Two years ago, he worked as a maintenance man and attendant at a local Laundromat. He then moved to Puerto Rico with his father, and when that did not work out he returned and got a job as a $9-an-hour stock boy in a Manhattan drugstore. But he hated the commute, lasted only a month, and has been unemployed since %26#151; about five months. %26#8220;I don%26#8217;t know why, but I can%26#8217;t get a steady job for nothing,%26#8221; Mr. Garcia said. He knows that many people in the area turn to selling drugs when they%26#8217;re unemployed, and he understands why. %26#8220;Sometimes that%26#8217;s all they can do,%26#8221; he said, shrugging. %26#8220;They might have a record on their case, they got kids to feed, and they can%26#8217;t get a job. They got to make their money.%26#8221;One recent afternoon, he sat on the leather couch in a friend%26#8217;s living room. The nearby TV was lighted with the Xbox game Call of Duty, which he had just been playing with a friend. When asked about the good side of Cypress, he replied: %26#8220;The friendships. When life is hard, people look out for each other here. When you don%26#8217;t got no money, they give you food, they give you shelter.%26#8221; He then motioned to his friend%26#8217;s couch, the one he has slept on many a night.The Slow Lane of Retirement 1 2 3 Next Page %26#x00bb;
Tags: amp, family, gas station, job, money, nock, teenagers
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