Up until today, if you lived near a certain street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and wanted some pot, you just had to go to the nearby variety store. Or the music store. Or the take-out restaurants. MyFox New York says police “made a sweep of the neighborhood” today and shut down six businesses for selling drugs either in the back or right alongside the regular merchandise. They also arrested 8 people, including a few store owners and employees, and are planning more arrests. Video below. [More]
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This Is How You Debate Health Care Reform, Brooklyn Style!
By 3.21.10
“The Republican Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.” So said Rep. Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn last month in front of Congress. As we move towards a historic vote on health care reform, let’s take a moment to throw some gas on the fire and revisit some of the awesomely incendiary rhetoric of this statesman on revamping our health care system. Now this a healthy health care debate! [More]
Robbers Break Into Bank, Don't Steal Anything
By 3.16.10
Much like the burglars in New Jersey who cut a huge hole in the roof to steal laptops, a crew of crooks in Brooklyn made their way into the safe-deposit room of a Sovereign Bank. But unlike the Best Buy burglary, these thieves didn’t take anything. [More]
Know Your Closing Costs Or Else A Shark Will Eat You
By 10.21.09
Homebuyers looking to save money will try to buy without an agent and deal directly with the seller’s broker, but beware, they feed on your weaknesses, ignorance, fear, and money.
There's A New Ponzi Schemer Under Arrest, And He Has A Mail Order Porn Business
By 9.9.09
The smaller versions of Madoff are still out there, convincing people to hand over their savings for foolproof investments that don’t actually exist, but every once in a while the authorities nab another one. This week it’s Philip G. Barry, a Brooklyn-based guy who operated out of my own neighborhood and happened to run a pornography business.
Brooklyn Judge Rejects Improperly Documented Foreclosure Motions, Shocks Banking Industry
By 8.31.09
There’s a judge in Brooklyn, NY, who has tossed out nearly half of the foreclosure cases brought before him over the past year, because the lenders have such messy paper trails that they can’t prove ownership anymore.
IKEA Sends Mother And Infant To Bathroom To Breastfeed
By 7.23.09
The IKEA in Red Hook, Brooklyn is the latest retail establishment that needs reminding: Yes, women have the right to breastfeed their infants in public. No, you cannot banish them to the restroom. Yes, people will get angry when word gets out.
Rabbis, New Jersey Mayors Arrested In Money Laundering, Kidney Selling Scandal
By 7.23.09
Wanna buy a human kidney? If so, you should have been talking to Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, NY. He’s been charged with conspiring to broker a kidney as part of a crackdown on “a corrupt network of public officials who were all too willing to take cash in exchange for promised official action,” according to the New Jersey AG’s office. Yes, you’re reading this correctly. It’s just really weird.
The Maid Is Stealing Your Checkbook
By 6.9.09
Identity theft is rising in the recession, according to a Brooklyn public defender I talked to at a party this weekend. Most often the crime starts with the perp stealing the victim’s checkbook, he said.
BP Points Out Their Gas Same Price Whether Cash Or Credit
By 6.9.09
Spotted this sign on a Brooklyn BP gas pump last night, taking pains to point out that they are charging customers the same price whether they use cash or credit. Interesting, because last year around this time we ran a few stories about gas stations who doing the opposite. The thing is, credit card companies charge merchants various transaction fees to process the cards. If retailers can’t assess those fees to the customers who actually incur them, the business has to raise prices on everything for everyone.
Investments Are Down – Won't You Hire A Poor Trust-Funder?
By 6.8.09
It’s the end of an era. The parentally-subsidized idle urbanites of New York aren’t getting the fundage they used to, and they have to get paying jobs now. Or move in with their parents. (Here I thought living with my parents after college was too much parental subsidy.) While Gawker’s coverage of this story is not to be missed, let’s look at it through a Consumerist lens, shall we?
IDT Employees Stalking The Streets Of Queens Today
By 4.24.09
Lock your doors, Queens residents! IDT zombies are on the prowl in your borough, and if they catch you they’ll try to eat your ConEd account and replace it with their more expensive offer. Jeff says there’s one outside his building right now, trying to buzz its way in.
New York Asks You To Report IDT Energy
By 4.21.09
The government is starting to listen to the mounting series of complaints about IDT Energy‘s sales rep’s tactics; Brooklyn Council Member Bill De Blasio is asking that you report the following if an ESCO comes to your door:
IDT Accused Of Stealing Reader's Dog
By 3.23.09
Reader Niklas says IDT Energy stole his dog from his house. Niklas says that an IDT Energy rep knocked on his door around 1pm on Friday, March 6, and when he opened it, his 5-year old Yorkshire terrier Milo ran out into the hall. Niklas sent the IDT Energy person on their way, but couldn’t find his dog. Other neighbors later reported…
Warn Others About Energy Company Scams With This Flyer
By 2.25.09
Sick of their neighborhood getting overrun by ESCO Slammers, salesmen who pretend to be from your energy provider and trick people into signing over to their energy resale service, some Brooklyn citizens put together this flyer. The Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights posted it in their ‘hood and put it online for other people to use too. The flyer talks about IDT Energy and Con Ed, but you could edit it to be for your locality if you wanted to, too. Cool to see people banding together to fight the ESCO-slamming scourge.
Video: The Brooklyn Target, "An Abortion Of Retail"
By 1.20.09
Here’s part 2 of FIPS investigation into why the Target at the Brooklyn Atlantic Center is the Worst Target Ever Created. Their video crew probes more into the shelves that are at best, disheveled, and at worst, empty. When we posted the first video, some said Target should get a break, they’re recovering from the holidays. Well, this one was shot 15 days after the holidays. It still looks like crap. It also looked like crap before the holidays too. The real culprit? Management that doesn’t care and poorly trained employees. C’mon, Target Corp, you need to send an attack squad to fix this store. It looks like a freakin’ TJ MAXX. Video inside [NSFW, curseywords].
The Worst Target Ever Created: The One At The Atlantic Center Mall In Brooklyn
By 1.6.09
The FIPS blog, via undercover video (which contains NSFW curse words in textual format), attempts to uncover why the Target at the Atlantic Center Mall in Brooklyn is the absolute worst Target ever created. See, you people in the suburbs, with your nice Targets where products are arranged on the shelves in a sensible matter and the floors are clean and the lights are bright, probably don’t get it. This Target is like a Kmart that got too depressed to be physically able to put its shoes on in the morning. I know of this particular Target and speak from experience. So the FIPs people don’t get anywhere close to finding out why the Target is so bad, but they do approach its pathos. (The girl in the video blames the disarray on “the weekend” and “time of year.” Not true. It’s ALWAYS like that). Video inside…
