Who’s afraid of the Bay Ridge Courier?
A literacy-loathing larcenist has stolen nine sidewalk boxes containing the renowned local newspaper since the end of April, robbing the Ridge of its only real newspaper.
The no-goodnik hit seven locations between 9 am on April 30 and 7 am on May 2, snatching corner Courier boxes at 88th Street and Fifth Avenue, 85th Street and Sixth Avenue, 69th Street and Third Avenue, 84th Street and Third Avenue, 69th Street and Fifth Avenue, and Ovington Avenue and Fifth Avenue.
The news-napper also jacked a bin at the corner of 78th Street and Fifth Avenue that contained Brooklyn Family magazines — another offering of the Community Newspaper Group, the company that publishes The Brooklyn Paper and Courier Life papers, among others.
The press pilferer struck again overnight on May 8, snatching another two bins from Fifth Avenue at the corners of 86th and 88th streets.
Boxes for other print products were not stolen from any of the locations.
Leaders at the Community Newspaper Group condemned the heists as a crime against the press and people of Bay Ridge.
“We’re deeply disturbed that our boxes in Bay Ridge are disappearing, depriving the neighborhood of local stories that are meaningful to them,” said James Spielman, vice president of marketing and operations. “I hate to think it’s somebody who doesn’t like what we’re putting in our papers.”
This isn’t the first time box burglars have swiped Bay Ridge Courier containers. In fact, the boxes stolen from 88th Street and Fifth Avenue and 69th Street and Third Avenue were replacements for bins poached last year, when 13 Courier boxes vanished overnight on Oct. 1 — making a total of 22 missing Courier containers in eight months.
Police said they closed the investigation into the April 30–May 2 disappearances after not being able to track down any video footage of the news-napper in action. The investigation into the most recent pair of purloined periodical dispensers remains open.
We ask that anyone with any information about the disappearance or present whereabouts of our boxes please contact Will Bredderman at (718) 260–4507, wbredderman@cnglocal.com, or via Twitter at twitter.com/WillBredderman.
