SF Mayor Breed's push for barriers to protect Union Square businesses from retail crime
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A little more than 24 hours after suspects crashed a car into the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square in an attempted burglary, Mayor London Breed is looking to make changes to try and benefit safety in the area.
She is pushing for an easier process that would allow businesses to put more bollards and planters in front of their locations.
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If you're not familiar with bollards, they are the long and round things that surround the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. They also surround federal buildings.
Now there is a push to bring those or something similar, along with planters to Union Square. All this in light of another attempted crash and grab at the Louis Vuitton store Monday.
"We just want them to prevent vehicles from ramming into these businesses in order to rob them," Mayor Breed said.
RELATED: Suspects crash car into SF Union Square Louis Vuitton store in apparent attempted burglary: police
She says the city will cut some of the red tape involved in the approval process.
"We appreciate the support from the city to not only to allow us to easily navigate the process for permitting and that sort of thing but also support the financing of this tool," said Marisa Rodriguez, who heads the Union Square Alliance.
It is still unclear how much the city will give out.
RELATED: Thieves smash car into SF Union Square Dior store, steal thousands in merchandise, police say
Rob Reiter, co-founder of the Storefront Safety Council, says bollards have been installed in New York City, Las Vegas, and Chicago. While he applauds the effort here in San Francisco, he has questions and concerns about businesses going through this installment process when the city's infrastructure is a hundred plus years old.
"If the city did it, excuse the expression, 'right,' they would put in the bollards themselves so they would all be continuous and would all look the same and it could be done in phases that made sense," said Reiter.
ABC7 News insider Phil Matier has thoughts on why Union Square is the focus versus other neighborhoods in the city.
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"Let's be honest about it. Yes we have problems in the Mission and other parts of the city, but Union Square is the one that makes it on the TV," Matier said.
It is yet to be determined how fast bollards could be installed in the area and how much money they would cost.
