Royal India has been serving hungry diners in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter for almost two decades. But an increase in homelessness in the area makes owner Sam Kambol wonder whether safety concerns will drive away customers.
“Things have changed,” said Sam Kambol, owner of Royal India. “There is no control over homeless people. If something happens, there is no protection."
Just this week, a man walked into his patio in broad daylight and attacked one of his vendors. In the surveillance video provided by the restaurant, you see the man violently punch the woman multiple times in the head.
“I check with her every day and she says, ‘Sam, it feels like a train ran over my head,'” said Kambol.
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In the video, you see a good Samaritan jump in to help the woman. The attacker then calmly walks away, naked from the waist down.
The man has since been arrested, but Kambol said what happened wasn’t an isolated incident and he’s calling on the city to take action.
“Eventually San Diego is going to have a bad name," said Kambol. “People won't want to bring their families to San Diego if it's going to be like this."
In January, San Diego police announced they would be increasing patrols in the Gaslamp Quarter following a deadly shooting.
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“There are usually proactive teams that work those areas,” said Lt. Adam Sharki. “And then we're always answering those calls for service. So as people call and report problems, we'll deal with them reactively, but we also try and deal with them proactively.”
“We would like people to call us so that way we can take those reports, conduct those investigations and hold people accountable,” Lt. Sharki added.
But Kambol said that hasn’t helped his business.
“I will not say that the police department is not putting their effort into it but if it is not working, some new strategy has to be put into it otherwise we’re going to end up losing our businesses,” said Kambol.
Amie Zamudio is a strong advocate for San Diego's homeless population and agrees that a new strategy needs to be found.
“We have become incredibly divisive,” said Amie Zamudio. “Everyone is calling everyone out. Everyone wants to blame the last touchpoint -- that a person experiencing homelessness has or that we witness when we have a systemic failure.”
Zamudio says ending homelessness is a shared responsibility, and that no single organization can solve the crisis on its own.
“We don't have coordination,” said Zamudio. “We have a lot of services that don't coordinate with each other.”
She said the only way to help our unsheltered population is by joining efforts so that people receive help the entire way.
Meanwhile, Kambol hopes a solution is found sooner rather than later.
“The biggest fear now is losing my business,” said Kambol.
