By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producers
MIDTOWN — A month after complaints that aggressive panhandlers had put Penn Station neighbors under siege, business owners in the area are celebrating a turnaround.
Instead of beggars roaming Eighth Avenue, between West 30th and 31st streets, harassing people for change, round-the-clock police patrols have become a common sight.
Their presence has changed the area in just a few weeks, according to the people who work there.
"It looks like a new street," said Molly Wee Pub owner Paddy O'Reilly, who thanked police at a Midtown South Precinct community council meeting Thursday night.
Last month, business owners had pleaded with police for help dealing with the panhandlers.
As DNAinfo reported, workers at the Gardenia Deli said they were terrorized by people who would steal from the store and start fights.
At the Blarney Stone bar, staff described groups of men staring menacingly at customers through windows for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
But after the complaints, police descended in force. Residents now report seeing between two to four officers on the block nearly 24 hours a day.
"They were really amazing. Police started staying here and they [the troublemakers] just vanished," said Azer Baghirov, 24, a doorman on the block.
While a few pandhandlers still roam the area, police are quick to move them on.
"We just don't want to see you here drinking beers," one officer told a middle-aged man they stopped recently on Eighth Avenue with a bottle in his hand.
"We've hit that area very hard," said a police source, who estimated police have made more than 200 arrests in the area for various crimes.
Hassan Alborati, 48, the owner of the Gardenia, said he'd seen a complete change from last month, when two men were arrested after allegedly robbing the deli and leaving a worker with a bloody nose.
Panhandlers still come in, and they still try to steal, business owners said.
But now, instead of waiting hours for police to respond, Alborati said he has some ammunition: "I say, 'a cop's outside,' and they leave."
And while most fear the problem will return as soon as the police leave, for now, Alborati's just grateful to be left in peace.
"So far, so good," he said.
