Saturday night’s alright for smashings…

Another weekend Saturday night and another Prince Rupert business has to buy some plywood, well actually it’s a repeat customer this time around.

The owners of Prince Rupert’s Subway once again have to replace a store front window, this after another night of trouble during the bar crowd hours of early Sunday morning.

The restaurant has been a frequent target of late for this kind of thing, as can be seen by the numerous times that they have had to replace their windows after some incident or another in the downtown area.

They are not alone however in the business district, with a number of local businesses bearing the brunt of vandalism and break and enter incidents over the last few months, a situation that was detailed in a timely manner by a story in Friday’s Daily News.

Merchants count cost of vandalism
Rash of recent broken windows have many looking for solutions
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pages one and two

With even more downtown businesses being vandalized during the past weekend, Prince Rupert business owners are wondering how much more they will have to spend on repairs before a solution is found.

Early Sunday morning both Subway and Homesteader New & Used had their storefront windows smashed, adding another two businesses to a list of more than eight downtown stores that have been vandalized in the past month. The first weekend of April, Loaded Sports, Coast Beer & Wine Store and Movie Gallery all had windows broken and merchandise either damaged or stolen, although following an investigation, Prince Rupert RCMP does have suspects linked to those incidents.

"There's just been so much of it going on," said Matt Kniivila, owner of Homesteader New & Used.

"I know from talking to my neighbour at Subway that he's had his window broken six times in the past year. And it usually never fails that it happens between 2:30 and four in the morning with all the commotion and activity from when the bar crowds get out."

The vandalism problem has deteriorated to the point that business owners on Second and Third Avenues have begun to talk about the possibility of sharing costs for private security, high-resolution outdoor surveillance cameras, or even starting some form of public watch to protect their property during those at-risk early morning weekend hours.

Mark Page, the Owner of Loaded Sports, said that due to the high costs of window insurance claims he doesn't even report most of the incidents and covers the damages himself.

Many business owners are forced to go out of pocket for the cost of boarding up their storefront and purchasing a new window, because if they reported all the vandalism occurring to their building, their insurance rates would skyrocket, or providers may even refuse to insure them since they're considered 'at-risk.'

"The thing about us is that the product for sale in the window can't be sold because of the glass shards in the shoes and clothes," said Page. "I figure I was in business for two months last year just to pay for windows."

"I know the city was saying last year how they would be working with community organizations to reduce the amount of youth vandalism, but I don't think they've talked to anybody at this point, and I've approached the mayor on numerous occasions."

While owners like Kniivila and Page realize it's not a problem with an easy solution, they know that without all the stakeholders coming together to address the issue of vandalism in the downtown area, local businesses will continue to suffer heavy financial losses.