Two More Robberies Hit Harvard Square

About $10,000 in cash was stolen from a Harvard Square newsstand and an adjoining restaurant Sunday night, police said, worsening area residents' fears that crime is increasing.

Between 11:50 p.m. Sunday and 5:30 a.m. Monday, an "unknown person" broke into Nini's newsstand, at Mass. Ave. and Brattle St., then moved next door to the Greenhouse Coffee Shop, according to the Cambridge police journal.

"Large safes in both locations were torched and approximately $10,000 in assorted bills [was] taken," the log said.

According to the police report, the burglar entered the building, which houses both businesses, through a back room ceiling. The same site was used to gain entry in a previous burglary, police reported.

The newsstand's manager, Phil Nini, said he would not comment on the incident until this morning. An employee of the Greenhouse cafe said the manager "would probably not want to discuss it."

Attempts to contact the coffee shop manager were unsuccessful.

The break-in comes amid a series of burglaries and robberies in the Square area. Armed robbers have hit three local stores in the last three weeks. Cambridge police report housebreaks are also on the rise.

Burglaries in the residential neigborhood near Cambridge Common have jumped from an average of 10.5 per month in 1988 to 18.5 per month the first half of this year, according to reports in the Cambridge Tab.

The rise has put area residents on the defensive. About 500 local homeowners and renters have formed a neighborhood watch group to combat the Square's crime problem.

Waterhouse St. resident Vera F. Bisell said the group is encouraging people to engrave identification numbers on valuable items and holding meetings on how to protect homes from burglars.

Bisell said it is too early to tell if the group will reduce crime in the area but she said it is unifying the community.

"People are very happy to know each other and help each other should the need arise," she said.

Bisell said she believed the crime situation calls for a response from the Harvard community as well.

"We imagine you feel as uneasy as we do," she said.

Harvard police said yesterday that property crimes on campus are up, while violent crimes have dropped slightly from last year. In response to a rash of dormitory break-ins, the University has stepped up its crime prevention program, a police spokesperson said.

Crime watch advisor Sgt. Lawrence Fenneley said extra posters and flyers have been distributed urging students to keep their doors locked.

Meanwhile, several shooting and near-shooting incidents have occurred in Cambridge over the past five days.

Most recently, a man was shot in the back with a shotgun late Tuesday night at Newtowne Court, a housing project near Kendall Square, the Cambridge police log stated.

The victim, Bryan Gibson, was in intensive care at Beth Israel Hospital, a hospital spokesperson said yesterday.

In addition, four men were arrested near MIT early Saturday after a fight in which a gunshot was fired, an MIT spokesperson said.

The fight erupted after several men were refused entry to an MIT dance, university spokesperson Kenneth D. Campbell said. No students were involved, he said.