Metro PCS Employee Describes Harrowing Robbery

Former Wall Street worker shaken, but unbowed, by incident last week.

The distance between the offices of onetime financial giant Bear Stearns and the cash register at the Metro PCS store on Myrtle Avenue isn't one just measured in miles. It's also judged in terms of physical risk—a fact driven home last week for one former financial industry worker-turned-Metro PCS employee. "Anytime you deal with cash in a register, it's dangerous," said the employee, Eddie, whose last name is being withheld for safety reasons. "On Wall Street, you are dealing with paper. And there's no question that paper is safer." Working in computer info technologies, Eddie became one of the first victims of the financial collapse when Bear Stearns—once one of the largest trading firms on Wall Street—became an early casualty of the …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

The Secret Sipper: One-Shot Americano at Red Lantern Bicycles

Getting a caffeine fix and bike tires fixed—all in one place.

The Secret Sipper loves it when essential businesses combine forces; hence, our trip on a balmy Friday afternoon to Red Lantern Bicycles on Myrtle Avenue. It's here that we can get our java infusion and scope out the bikes on sale at the same time, as well as soak in the shop's homey auto body shop-like atmosphere. And according to owner Brian Gluck's wife, Elena, one day visitors will also be able to drink beer while waiting for their bikes to get fixed... just not quite yet. Gluck, formerly of Prospect Heights' Brooklyn Bike and Board, opened this custom-made bike shop last summer in a storefront located in a rapidly gentrifying section of the neighborhood. Red Lantern Bicycles is located at 345 Myrtle Ave. between Carlton Avenue and …

• Photos (1)

You Review: Tell Us What You Think of Connecticut Muffin

Go-to coffee shop for Pratt students on Myrtle gets the spotlight.

You Review: Tell Us What You Think of Barking Brown

Independently owned clothing store a staple of the new Myrtle Avenue.

Community Leaders Hopeful That Red Apple Owner Will Keep Promises

Say success of soon-to-be-opened supermarket will rest on affordability.

The supermarket for which Fort Greene Houses residents have been waiting years may now be only more than a week away. Red Apple Supermarket, located at The Andrea building on Myrtle Avenue, has been given a tentative opening date of Oct. 31, according to a source at the Gristedes organization, which owns the store. While the imminent arrival of Red Apple is good news for residents tired of walking or taking car service trips to the Associated Supermarket at Atlantic Terminal, stakeholders involved in the process still wonder if real estate developer and Gristedes owner John Castimatidis will keep all of his promises to the community. Chief on that list of promises is affordability. "The success or failure of the store is going to come down…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (3)

Red Lantern Bikes Hosts Meet-up

Celebrate the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill biking community with an event held Oct. 4.

CORRECTION: Man Shot Early Sunday Morning in Fort Greene

Victim is in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.

Correction, Sept. 5, 10:30 a.m.: The intersection where the shooting took place was located on N. Portland and Myrtle Avenue, not S. Portland. We regret the error.  An unidentified male was transported to Kings County Hospital in stable conditiion after a shooting early Sunday morning at the corner of N. Portland and Myrtle avenues, according to police. The man was shot in the left buttocks at 4:51 a.m. Sunday, police said.  The victim is listed in stable condition. 

• Photos (1)

VIDEO: Business Owners React to Spate of Robberies on Myrtle Ave.

Concerns raised about public safety in the wake of stick-ups at CVS and Chase Bank this week.

The robbery of a Chase Bank Monday and a CVS on Wednesday have not gone unnoticed by business owners on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene-Clinton Hill this past week.  "I'm very concerned," said Regina Stone, owner of Brooklyn Stone Boutique , a clothing store open for 11 months at 366 Myrtle Ave. "It's very alarming… I’m not sure though if they are going to increase police surveillance now.” Other shop owners were likewise worried by the recent string of robberies, which along with a rise in muggings in Fort Greene Park this summer, contributed to a sense among many along this busy retail corridor that crime was on the rise.  Brian Gluck, owner of Red Lantern Bicycles at 345 Myrtle Ave., said that police needed to beef up their presence in…

• Photos (4)
• Videos (1)

Newly Opened CVS on Myrtle Ave. Robbed At Gunpoint

Convenience store becomes second target for thieves in a week on busy retail corridor.

A recently opened CVS became the second high-profile Myrtle Avenue business in a week to be targeted by thieves after an early-morning stick-up Wednesday morning.  The latest incident occurred at 9:55 a.m. at the store located at 218 Myrtle Ave. between Ashland Place and Prince Street in Fort Greene. A man branished a gun and fled with approximately $100 in cash, according to the office of Councilwoman Letitia James, D-Brooklyn, who sent an alert Wednesday afternoon to business owners about the recent spike in robberies along the busy retail corridor.  The robber was described by James' office as a black male in his 40s standing 5-foot 5-inches tall and wearing a black baseball cap.  The CVS robbery came just two days after a man, …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

5 Things You Need To Know Today

Aug. 16: A Return to Normal?

Stock market rebounds; fairer weather returns later this week.

It's been a bumpy ride so far this August. First there were the long drawn-out negotiations to raise the nation's debt ceiling. Then after a deal came the sudden downgrade of the country's sterling credit rating.  Closer to home, last week brought jitters about the economy and a deluge of almost biblical proportions. Now, with the market back up to where it was when the most recent economic crisis began at the end of trading Monday and with a fairer weather forecast locally—have we already seen the worst of what August has to bring? Only time will tell. Here are your 5 Things for today, Fort Greene-Clinton Hill: 1. It's Tuesday, parents. Time to consider taking those tots to Habana Outpost's Baby Breakfast Playdate, where the kids are kept…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)