Bronx Neighbors Not Pleased With Liquor Store Guard Camping Out In Tent
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A strange sight has appeared night after night on a Bronx street, as a liquor store has been paying a man to spend the night in a tent right outside its door.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, neighbors have called the situation unusual and irritating.
New York City has more than 1,300 liquor stores, but only one in the Morris Park section of the Bronx is paying a man each night to put up a tent – right on the sidewalk – and spend the night outside their door.
"It's not nice to see in your neighborhood," said Michael Fragola of Morris Park.
"Everyone in the neighborhood is a little bit appalled by it," added Anna Maria Consigli of Morris Park.
"I think it's kind of tacky," added Morris Park business owner Lawrence Occhino. "I think it's unprofessional."
CBS2's Aiello told the man in the tent, Glenn Hearn, that the neighbors were very curious to find out what he was doing there.
"I am security," Hearn said. "I'm watching the store."
Hearn said he has been spending nights on Morris Park Avenue since the store, Bronx Cheers, opened on the July 4 weekend.
He said he stays in the tent all night whether skies are rainy or clear, windy or still.
It turns out Bronx Cheers does not have electronic security. The reason is that it does not have a Con Edison hookup.
The store uses a generator for power during opening hours, and relies on Hearn to keep watch at night.
The store is owned by Shana Sakow. Her father, Walter Sakow, owns the building, which sat empty for 25 years during a nasty Sakow family feud over a contested will.
Neighbors cannot believe the city allowed a store to open with no electric service in place.
"How they're getting away with it, I don't know," Occhino said.
"The owner has turned this place into a third-world refugee camp," said Bill Paredes of Morris Park.
CBS2 has learned police warned the store about a possible ticket for obstructing the sidewalk, but no ticket's been issued yet.
And as for power anytime soon, Con Edison said it inspected the wiring on Tuesday, and it failed.