Photo by Ellen J. Cohen.

February 4, 2019 Weather: Sunny with a high of 54 degrees.

Notices:
A bar quiz, a meeting for adults with ADD, and more local events are on our calendar.

On Monday night, listen to a special talk on “Growing Up Poor on 105th Street”.

News:
A rescue dog may have deterred the man who tied up and robbed a family on 78th Street on Thursday from entering a different apartment in the building. “An Upper West Side dogwalker credits one of her four-legged clients with lunging between her and a home invader in an Upper West Side stairwell last week — scaring him off moments before the man broke into an apartment upstairs and terrorized a family of three. ‘That dog is big,’ the intruder told Karine Legzim, 31, as they crossed paths in the building on West 78th Street on Thursday. The foul-smelling man had begun to block her way, she alleged, but backed off at the sight of Finn, a large — and loyal — rescue dog from ­Puerto Rico.”

The man charged with the home invasion, Daniel Omolukun, was “conditionally released last August after spending more than two years behind bars for third-degree burglary.”

With Trader Joe’s ending home delivery, the Post quotes people — including a West Side Rag commenter who said “Trader Joe’s stopping delivery is an unspeakable tragedy” — about their reactions. “The decision led some to speculate that the recent rise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour made the service unaffordable. But a Trader Joe’s spokewoman said the minimum-wage increase was not related to the change and instead blamed ‘escalating service costs.'”

Petland Discounts is facing financial trouble. It’s not yet clear what will happen to the chain’s local stores. “Last month, just days after the death of its longtime owner, Petland Discounts announced that it may have to close dozens of its stores and lay off workers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to notices filed with each state’s Department of Labor.”

When someone smelled gas in an unidentified UWS building, it led to a complicated series of decisions, but luckily no explosions. “Workers are now in the painstaking process of locating leaks in a line that runs from the basement to the top floor, while other workers are reconfiguring pipes in the basement to connect with the single master meter. When the job is complete, Berger estimated the cost will be between $200,000 and $250,000, which will probably be drawn from the reserve fund and/or an assessment. That stings, yet Berger and his fellow shareholders prefer to look at the bright side.”