The I-Told-You-So Moment

Burglars agree with the neighborhood association in Harlem:

After residents of the Mount Morris Park Historic District complained they gave the store a “ghetto” look that did not fit into a neighborhood with celebrity residents such as Maya Angelou and $2 million brownstones, he removed the glass and installed see-through gates to comply with city building codes.

Business was good until the early morning hours of March 17. That’s when burglars snipped the gates, drilled a hole in the lock and made off with $4,000 in cash and 180 bottles of Ciroc, Hennessy, Patron and Remy Martin.

Five nights later, the same men broke in again, according to police.

“If I had the other gate [in], this wouldn’t have happened,” said [the owner], referring to the riot gates that angered local residents

. . .

[The] vice president of the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association, which objected to the original design of the store, said his group is upset about what happened to [the owner].

“This is embarrassing,” he said.

“It puts a bad taste in our mouths. We know some people are going to say: ‘I told you so.'”