BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Several stores in and
around Downtown Brooklyn
boarded up their windows
Monday, one day ahead of this
year’s presidential election.
About half a dozen stores
along the outdoor retail strip
between Flatbush Avenue and
Jay Street had their windows
covered in sheets of wood, and
one contractor said his company
was covering up shoe
stores that were hit during
previous protests this summer.
“We’re boarding them up
because they’re worried about
the civil unrest that will follow
the election,” said Peter,
a worker with the locksmith
fi rm I Lock New York, who
was boarding up a Kids Foot
Locker between Hoyt Street
and Elm Place. “They were hit
really hard with the protest,
the looting.”
COURIER L 12 IFE, NOV. 6-12, 2020
The Macy’s department
store a block away had all of
its large storefronts windows
fi lled in with black-painted
wood sheets, while a small Verizon
outpost across the street
was completely covered in
timber.
One manager of a smaller
clothing and jewelry shop
across the street said that police
had advised him a few
weeks ago to take extra precautions
around the election
and protests and he said it
made sense that other businesses
weren’t taking any
chances.
“They have to be safe and
they have to do the best they
can,” said Ali Abbas, who
manages Fulton Island between
Bridge and Lawrence
streets.
He added that he would
not board up his shopfront because
it was well enough protected
with metal shutters after
closing time.
Over on Atlantic Avenue
— the site of chaotic clashes
between protesters and police
just last week — PM Pediatrics
set up the wooden protections
with a note attached near the
entrance that read, “Excuse
the appearance. We are open.”
Crafts store Michaels and
health and beauty boutique
Face Values near Boerum
Place also covered their street
frontage in protective plywood.
Cops collared some 30 protesters
in the area on the night
of Oct. 27 who were out demonstrating
against the police
killing of Walter Wallace Jr.
in Philadelphia.
Some of the protesters vandalized
police vehicles and
smashed windows of businesses,
including banks,
chain stores, a nail salon, and
GOING UP: Workers board up a Kids Foot Locker on the Fulton Mall on
Nov. 2. Photo by Kevin Duggan
beloved gourmet grocer Sahadi’s,
Bklyner reported.
Business owners in commercial
areas on the distant
isle of Manhattan have been
boarding up left, right, and
center over the weekend, following
warnings by police of
potential unrest around the
election, the Post reported.
The Police Department did
not reply to a request for comment
seeking confi rmation
of those advisories to businesses.
Well-heeled residents in
the Big Apple have apparently
also hired armed guards, including
off duty cops, to beef
up security around their
luxury homes, that paper reported.
Additional reporting by
Rose Adams
PLAYING SAFE
Downtown Brooklyn stores board up amid
fears of 2020 election protests
Little White Dress
COMMUNION
FLOWER GIRL
Trunk Show
NOVEMBER
13,14,15
Appointments
347-909-0529
Designers: Christie Helene,
Joan Calabrese for Mon Cheri
Macis Design, Nan and Jan, Piccolo Bacio
6177 Strickland Ave,
Brooklyn,NY