Oakland business owners fed up after 6 Temescal Alley shops burglarized in 1 night

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Business owners with shops along Oakland's Temescal Alley were greeted by shattered glass and broken store fronts Friday morning.

Overnight, several of the shops in this area were burglarized.

That includes Liz Thayer's leather goods store, where she estimates the thieves got away with over $50,000 in merchandise.

"It means that life sucks. I'm already hustling post-pandemic trying to make it work," Thayer said.

This isn't the first time that stores here in the Alley have been broken into.

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In fact, it's happened about three times just over the past year.

This time around though, they tell us that six out of the 16 shops were hit.

"We call the police so many times. The only thing they do is write notes, make a report, but nothing happens," said Danny Paredes.

Paredes is the property manager for the alley.

He showed us security footage that captured two men breaking into the various storefronts.

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Paredes says the men actually came back and forth at least three different times over the course of the night.

"They don't care. They just walk like they're in their house. They don't care," he said.

Increasing crime in Oakland has been a major cause of concern for local business owners for years.

City Councilmember Dan Kalb, who represents the area, says Oakland officials are taking steps to crack down on criminal activities.

Kalb tells me the results won't be instantaneous.

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"We have to do the things that will tangibly have a positive impact. Not symbolic things, real things," Kalb said.

Those efforts are little comfort to people like Thayer though.

She says after spending most of her life in the East Bay, she's considering moving out.

"The people that you're asking to vote for you are also the people that are impacted by all that's going on here. So you need to listen to the business owners and citizens of your community when they ask for help, because a lot of people feel like they're not getting it," Thayer said.

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