I lived in Brooklyn most of my life. I had never seen a raccoon either ..... UNTIL about fifteen years ago. One night I couldn't sleep so I went out for a late night walk to a 24 hour supermarket. As I was crossing Avenue Z (in Sheepshead Bay) I saw what I first thought was a cat run across the street. I thought it was running a little weirdly until I realized it was a FUCKING RACCOON!!! (When I first moved into the neighborhood in 1955 there were still a lot of farms there but I never saw much "wildlife"). Forty years after that the neighborhood had been completely built up and "citified" and I was ASTOUNDED to see a raccoon.