Businesses 'fed up' with vandalism, theft occurring in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood
Some businesses in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood say they are fed up with constant vandalism and theft occurring in the area.
“This happened the day before yesterday, early in the morning. around 7:10,” Karan Dua, the owner of Thai restaurant Khao San Road on King and Sherbourne Streets, told CTV News Toronto Wednesday, pointing to the boarded up door. The glass of the front door was smashed early that morning, before the business opened.
The culprit was caught on security camera footage looking to steal things, and it wasn’t the first time they’d been at Dua’s business.
“This is crazy because it’s the second time in six months,” he said.
The first incident occured on May 5 at 5 a.m, when a man with a rock in his hand attempted to smash the front window of a business, police said.
“He was unsuccessful and left the area,” a news release issued by TPS states.
“That was just a smash,” Due said. “This time, [..] he took the cash register, it was empty, but he took it, and some food from our fridge.”
Toronto police say a quantity of alcohol was also stolen.
A quick drive around the neighbourhood shows other businesses with smashed windows and doors boarded up.
The owners of Tacorito have just repaired their front door. Security footage viewed by CTV News Toronto shows a man wearing a hoodie, his face covered by a bandana, using a hammer to smash the window, then using his elbow to make a hole in the glass, before walking away as a TTC street car approaches.
The businesses claim the problem worsened with the onset of the pandemic when the City of Toronto converted the local Novotel hotel into a homeless shelter.
“It is the third time in the last couple of years we had our window smashed,” owner Mansi Raturri said. “We had three break-ins before and so many times people have stolen money from our cash register. This is so rampant in this area “
Mayor John Tory said police are aware of the rash of break-ins and vandalism in the area.
“We’ve been in touch with the police [..] and the best thing to do is to increase the police presence there, which [..] they’re going to or have done,” he said. “I think, oftentimes, the presence of the police in areas with this kind of activity causes [it] to stop – I hope that’s the case.”
Communications spokesperson for the City of Toronto Brad Ross said in a statement to CTV News Toronto, "“Ultimately people who live in these shelters, the residents of these shelters, people who are experiencing homeless do have a right to be in the community at the same time.
"It is why we work closely with the police as well in addressing some of these serious concerns," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.