Bank robbers drill through NY cleaners
In Brooklyn, robbers burrowed a hole
through a Betty Brite Cleaners in order to walk away with the
contents of six safety deposit boxes from the Banco Popular
bank located next door.
According to investigators, the culprits
broke into the drycleaning plant from its roof some time after
it closed at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening.
They proceeded to drill through a wall
shared by the cleaners and the bank, breaking through 20 inches
of cinder block and a quarter inch of steel plating that housed
the bank vault.
Though the complicated heist sounded like
something out of a Hollywood movie, the payoff may not have
proved worthwhile. Banco Popular officials said in a released
statement: “the loss appears to be limited, as the amount
of customers’ property affected is minimal.”
The break-in was discovered on February 3
when officials of the bank arrived in the morning. Police
temporarily closed down the bank in order to search for
evidence. The hole in the wall was patched by that afternoon.
So far, no arrests have been made.
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Cleaners lobby in NY state for annual
Albany Day march
Drycleaners lobbied together in New York
for the fifth straight year as the Neighborhood
Cleaners Association organized
its annual Albany Day event on Tuesday, February 4.
The day was an opportunity for the
drycleaning industry to voice its concerns with members of the
New York State Legislature.
Some of the issues cleaners addressed at
this year’s Albany Day included:
• A proposed abandoned property bill
that would limit the amount of time drycleaners are legally
responsible for holding customer garments to six months.
• The implementation of a financial
assistance program for New York City cleaners to help them
comply with NYS ECL Part 232 regulatory statutes; currently,
financial aid exists only for cleaners outside the five
boroughs of New York and the final deadline to upgrade or
retrofit current cleaning equipment is June 26, 2003.
• An exemption from the state’s
4% sales tax that would save cleaners thousands of dollars in
the coming years and provide an incentive for plant owners to
continue to invest in pollution reduction technologies.
• A modification of the FAB Program
which already reserves $6 million in financial grants for
cleaners located outside of New York City in order to help them
achieve compliance under Part 232; NCA suggests that the
leftover funds (estimated to be between $1 and $2 million
dollars) be allocated to those who have already been given
benefits but need supplemental assistance, as well as other
deserving applicants of the program who were previously denied
financial aid.
NCA also sought a reduction of the
paperwork requirements imposed by the Department of
Environmental Control under Part 232 for a second straight year
and requested that consistent enforcement of Part 232
requirements occur in all DEC regions. The association believes
that some businesses are dealt with more severely than others
on compliance infractions based only on their location.
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