A San Francisco restaurant owner says something has to change after his store was once again burglarized this week.
David Lee, owner of the Tacorea restaurant, said he was just hit by thieves this week. He shared security video of someone breaking a window and then, coming in and grabbing the cash register and more.
“There wasn’t that much money in there to begin with. But they took our Doordash tablets, our iPad and iPhone, but it was more of the breaking of the window that cost a lot of money,” he said.
Lee had already added a security gate after windows were broken in the past.
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“It’s just frustrating because that’s exactly it. I don’t want to go home having to worry that my window is going to be broken into or I’m going to come to work in the morning and see something happen to my business,” he said.
Lee recently saw a Twitter post about safety and security from San Francisco Mayor London Breed and decided to respond. He tweeted the following:
“I want them to know that we’re a small business that helped the city thrive and at the same time, all these things just kind of go unnoticed,” he said.
NBC Bay Area asked the mayor's office about the incident Thursday. They sent a statement that read, in part, “public safety is a top priority for the mayor, which is why she introduced a $27.6 million budget supplemental.”
They added that “incidents like this are a good example of why it is critical for the board of supervisors to approve the supplemental, so we can sure the police have the funding necessary to continue to investigate and curtail a wide range of criminal activity, to include crimes impacting our small businesses, drug dealing, gun violence and violent crime.”
The city said their office of small business contacted the owner to point him towards support programs.
“Which is really grateful, but it’s just more of just let’s not let it happen. So, I don’t have to apply for these grants you know,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, San Francisco police said they are investigating the incident. They added they have seen an uptick in burglaries in the lower nob hill area, mostly at apartments, but also at some commercial spaces,” he said.
“They have alerted all the watches that are on patrol to be on the lookout for this type of behavior, which are thefts, burglaries, people who are casing different locations,” said Robert Rueca with the San Francisco Police Department.
