SAN ANTONIO — A popular raspa shop on the city's north side is scaling back their business hours to weekends only out of safety concerns for their employees. Owner Ana Fernandez does not expect a major financial hit on their business since Saturday’s and Sunday’s are typically their busiest days.
In the last six months, the shop has been hit with multiple thefts and break ins. First breaking a window, stealing a generator, an AC unit, breaking into their food truck, and most recently, breaking into the shop and stealing money from the cash register and tip jar. “Each insurance claim has a deductible, so that’s about $1,000 per incident,” Fernandez said.
To date, Fernandez said she has spent thousands of dollars on security cameras, locks, chains, and even a cage for the AC unit on her roof. While police have always responded to each incident and patrolled on more occasions, Fernandez does not have a clear solution.
“Possibly Hildebrand may need more streetlights just to start,” she said. Her shop is on a business strip with little streetlights once the sun goes down. She believes more street lights could potentially deter future incidents.
That’s a concern District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo says he hears often.
“The city just completed a study on where are the lighting gaps in our city,” Bravo said. “I’m really excited to see that and see how we can make sure that this 2023 budget that we’re gonna be voting on soon, we’re gonna make sure that we have funding in there too address those lighting gaps.”
Fernandez also said police have begun patrolling the area since she’s called in each incident, which seem to occur between 2 a.m. – 4 a.m.
“Maybe even a few more police just kind of patrolling the area, I know they’re trying their best, but because of the amount of theft we’ve had, it’s pretty ridiculous in six months,” she said.