Yosemite Falls broken into on Blackstone Ave, business owners frustrated with crime
FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Blackstone ave. strikes again having another small business vandalized.
Yosemite Falls Cafe was broken into around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, one of its front glass windows was shattered with a larger rock.
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The spike in crime for businesses on Blackstone has business owners wondering if Fresno City is going to do anything about it.
"It's a serious problem," said Manny Perales the Yosemite Falls Cafe Owner. "You can't just allow it to keep happening and nobody gets arrested, nobody gets prosecuted. You know it's just an open market for the vandals and the people that want to break in and do damage to homes as well as small businesses."
Yosemite Falls Cafe was broken into around 2 a.m. Sunday, one of its front glass windows was shattered with a large rock.
"I've got to say probably 5, 6 times (they have been broken into) and it's not the amount of times it happens it's the cost of the damages," said Perales.
Earlier in the year, Yosemite falls cafe had to shut down its original location on Ashlan and freeway 99 because of too much vandalism.
Perales said his insurance has paid over $200,000 this year alone just from his Blackstone location.
"We just got dropped in October for this upcoming year and so you go to bid with all the other insurance companies and the price doubled," he said "Doubled! You know I mean it's just ridiculous."
Many small business owners are frustrated with law enforcement and the district attorney's office for not taking crimes happening on Blackstone Ave. as seriously as they would like.
There's an old saying in our business when we are having problems," said Perales. "If you always do what you always did, you're always going to get what you always got, and right now the city and the officials and the police department and the district attorney their doing what they always did so they're going to always get what they always got, do something about it.
Perales says about 30% of the time Fresno Police show up and write a report, but most of the time no one comes and he said he has to write a report online.
His solution to the problem...
"Stop the drugs," said Perales. "Stop the sale of drugs to the homeless so we can help them," said Perales. "We can't help them if we just allow the free flow of fentanyl, heroin, meth... If we're allowing the drugs to go into their blood and their systems, how are we going to stop that problem? We're not."
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Perales has tried to put extra lights and security cameras around his Blackstone ave location, but people constantly steal the light bulbs or spray paint the cameras.
He said he already struggled enough closing his original location on Ashlan and is hoping to not have to come to that with his location on Blackstone.