By Binyomin Wiess, COL New york
Commissioner of the New York City Police Department Raymond Kelly was spotted today (Sunday) near the fish and liqueur shops on Kingston Avenue sporting casual dress.
“I saw him and hurried over,” Noochei Gross, former chairman of the Crown Heights community Council.
“We spoke about the neighborhood and about the improving crime rate – thanks to his efforts.”
Kelly, the hard-nosed cop who served in Vietnam, gleefully watched locals dance a new Torah scroll to the 770 shul at Lubavitch World Headquarters in honor of Yisroel Noach Tzfasman A”H, a bachur who found his death in a subway station this past year.
“If I would know it’s so interesting here, I would come every day,” Kelly joked with a COL reporter before chitchating with Chassidic residents, shaking their hands like a skilled politician.
There was some truth to that as he later revealed in an impromptu meeting with Rabbi Leibel Groner, who served as a secretary to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and holds an office in 770. “I stop by at nights. This is my second visit here in the last 7 days,” Kelly related.
The ad-hoc meeting was attended by Gross and Chanina Sperlin, current member of the local community council. They spoke about enlarging the police patrol during the High Holidays which are packed with foreigners.
