A series of early morning break-ins Monday is forcing Chatham business owners to re-think their security operations and to take collective action.
According to Chicago police, five businesses between the 200 and 500 blocks of East 75th street appear to have been targeted by a small team of burglars Monday morning.
Nadia Wilkins’ beauty salon was one of those businesses.
“It’s heart wrenching and you just feel kinda like violated,” said Wilkins as workers repaired the broken glass window on her storefront.
Her surveillance cameras showed a lone man gaining entry through the window and then shining a flashlight through the space.
He left without taking anything, but the damage the store will run into the thousands.
Arel Israel said his Soul-Veg restaurant has now been targeted four times, and he’s had enough.
“That’s when the alarm went off. When it went from an isolated attack to a large attack on a community,” Israel said.
He hosted an emergency meeting of neighborhood businesses called Tuesday by 6th Ward Ald. William Hall.
Hall told the group that Chicago Police have linked the burglaries in Chatham early Monday morning to a series of break-ins last week in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
“What we saw in Bronzeville, what we saw on 75th street is the breaking of the glass. No significant damage on the inside,” Hall said. “They only got like 80 bucks.”
The alderman said the businesses are looking for supplemental security, someone who can watch over the stores in the hours after employees leave or when shifts change.
“The message we want Chicago to know is we are not scared, we are not going anywhere,” he said.
Wilkins said she likes the collaborative approach to neighborhood security.
“I am really big on together we stand, divided we fall,” she said. “Problems will occur, situations, things happen, but you have to be ready to come up with solutions and strategies to you know try to fix the problem.”
Israel, whose family has operated a restaurant along 75th Street for almost 50 years, said he doesn’t want to put up gates and turn his restaurant into a prison. Instead, he wants to get coaching for his employees to help them deal with situations like this.
When asked if he would ever consider re-locating Soul-Veg, Israel’s answer was quick: “never ever.”
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