The 120th Precinct, which covers the area, has seen overall violence drop dramatically since the 1990s, according to Police Department data<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, New York City has become the center of the e-commerce boom<\/a>. UPS, a publicly traded company, has in recent years handled about<\/a> 25 percent of all packages that are shipped daily across the United States.<\/p>\n A lawsuit claiming that the way UPS delivers packages to the two apartment complexes is illegal and discriminatory has been working its way through the Federal District Court in Brooklyn for more than a year.<\/p>\n UPS has said that it does not serve everyone in the same way. But Andrew Wilson, a partner with one of the firms that brought the suit, said his team has not been able to find details on any other communities served this particular way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that the case brings about change,\u201d said Mr. Wilson, with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel.<\/p>\n Mitch Polikoff, head of media relations at UPS, did not answer questions about how long the practice had been in place, why it was instituted or whether it was in use anywhere else. He said he could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n In a statement in 2024, before the lawsuit, Mr. Polikoff said, \u201cOur top priority is the safety of our people, and we continually evaluate delivery methods to provide top-notch service while ensuring the well-being of our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n To Fatima Camara, who has lived in the Park Hill complex for about 15 years, the policy feels unfair. In early April, she came to the pickup location with her injured right arm in a brace but was told her package was not there yet and to return another day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not right because for me, I\u2019m in pain,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to come all the way here to come pick it up.\u201d<\/p>\n The policy isn\u2019t officially written or communicated, residents say.<\/p>\n When a new resident moves in and sees a delivery notice from UPS but no package, they begin their search. Confused, they ask their neighbors, building management and the local UPS offices. They\u2019re told to find the truck outside of 240 Park Hill.<\/p>\n On a warm morning in August 2024, nearly two dozen people stood on the sidewalk at the drop-off location.<\/p>\n Among them was Antoinette Moore, who had moved to the neighborhood about two years before. She said she had stopped in the middle of her job braiding hair to pick up a package. She had missed the delivery window for three days, she said, until she found a client willing to wait with her. Ms. Moore pointed to a woman nearby with a bright pink bonnet tied around her half-braided hair.<\/p>\n \u201cI would love if I didn\u2019t have to leave work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But for people who grew up in the neighborhood, known for being the birthplace of the Wu-Tang Clan<\/a>, the line is the only way of life they know.<\/p>\n Some longtime residents, who saw the violence their neighborhood weathered<\/a> in past decades and is still experiencing<\/a>, don\u2019t fault carriers for not wanting to enter the buildings for their safety. Getting the packages directly from the truck at least guaranteed they wouldn\u2019t be stolen from the lobbies, some residents said.<\/p>\n Keenen Hill, who has lived at Park Hill for about 30 years, and now works as a super in the complex, said he\u2019s never heard any complaints. The driver has been the same for about the past eight years and has become like \u201can extended family member,\u201d said Mr. Hill, who lived through the bout of violence cited by UPS.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody knows him,\u201d Mr. Hill, 53, said. \u201cIt\u2019s never been a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The driver directed questions to UPS.<\/p>\n Others have begun to question if the practice is unfair, even discriminatory.<\/p>\n Sharon McLennon Wier, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, said the policy goes beyond an inconvenience and is \u201cextreme.\u201d It highlights a \u201chuge disparity based on class and race and disability status,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The area has become home to a growing African immigrant community over the past few decades. The pickup location is now by the corner of Little Liberia Way<\/a> and Park Hill Avenue.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it was a white neighborhood, and someone had a disability in that white neighborhood, their package is going to come straight to their apartment,\u201d Ms. McLennon Wier said.<\/p>\n Gordon Flowers has lived in the Fox Hill complex since about 2011, but it wasn\u2019t until an injury that made it hard for him to walk four years later that he learned about the UPS practice. Needing a walker to get around, Mr. Flowers said he became more dependent on deliveries to get medications and other necessities.<\/p>\n Several years ago, he began circulating a petition<\/a> in the hopes of pressuring the company to reverse its policy, but a hot summer hampered his efforts and he got only about 175 signatures. He contacted local lawmakers, rights advocacy groups and UPS to no avail, he said.<\/p>\n At his wits\u2019 end, Mr. Flowers reached out to lawyers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be treated like everybody else,\u201d Mr. Flowers said, adding: \u201cWe\u2019re paying money, but we\u2019re not getting the full service and I think that\u2019s unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n In October 2024, Mr. Flowers became the main plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn, which claims that UPS\u2019s practice discriminates against residents of the buildings, 99 percent of whom the suit says are not white. The company delivers to other similarly sized apartment buildings in northeastern Staten Island with higher proportions of white residents, according to the filing, violating state and city laws.<\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks compensation and that UPS provide the same services that it gives to other multifamily buildings on the island.<\/p>\n In 2006, a UPS spokesman, Norman Black, denied that the practice was related to race or \u201ca neighborhood not looking nice.\u201d Precautions \u201ctailored to a specific situation and building\u201d were not limited to the Staten Island neighborhoods or New York City, he told City Limits.<\/p>\n
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