DUMBO Residents Afraid of 'Beggars'
Peas & Pickles, DUMBO's biggest grocery, is having a problem, the Brooklyn Paper reports. It's "beggars," loitering outside and asking for change! You know, panhandlers, the kind that exist in every urban setting. Apparently, said beggars have rattled the "rapidly gentrifying" neighborhood's residents and grocery-store patrons. Some have even stopped shopping there! Oh, meow. Have New Yorkers completely lost their ability to engage with reality?
"We've heard from more than half our customers that they've been harassed by panhandlers in front of the store," said Maik Fawzy, the manager of Peas & Pickles, the neighborhood's largest supermarket. "We've actually had loyal customers who stopped coming here because of it."
Given the anti-panhandling attitude in DUMBO, it's no surprise that at least one of the mendicants had a strong opinion about the new Peas & Pickles sign. "That sign can kiss my ass — and so can you," he told a Brooklyn Paper reporter on Friday. [Brooklyn Paper]