New Chinese restaurant Taishan Cuisine was broken into and burgled over the weekend.
Taishan Cuisine’s staff discovered Saturday broken lightbulbs, one broken window on the side of the building and roughly $300 in cash missing from the register, according to co-owner Gavin Chak.
Chak, who opened the businesses in January and said he filed a police report, is now having a dawning realization about the neighborhood’s safety.
“We thought this area was safe because of the people coming by,” he said, adding that this incident has been a rude awakening about safety.
Staff at the neighboring bubble tea shop The Fate Teahouse were surprised by the incident, telling The Ingleside Light they hadn’t noticed any recent suspicious activity along the avenue.
“They are the new business here and bring such good traffic to this neighborhood which I appreciate, welcome and respect, but unfortunately they just grand opened and had this happen,” said Tiffany Zhang, owner of Little Panda Preschool and member of the Ocean Avenue Association board of directors.
The association announced the launch of a committee dedicated to public safety matters last year but the committee has yet to meet.
Burglars smashed the window to gain entry to Taishan Cuisine on Saturday. | Anne Marie Kristoff/Ingleside Light
Taraval Police Station Footbeat Officer Drewkai Butler will soon have a fellow officer on the beat, Butler said. The officer speaks Cantonese, which will be useful for many merchants.
Chak said he wants the city to offer more support to small businesses.
Zhang thinks City Hall should help small business owners pay for security cameras. She would also like for nonprofit organizations like the Community Youth Center of San Francisco to create programs for young volunteers to patrol the neighborhood in addition to more police patrols.
District 11 Supervisor Chen and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar told The Ingleside Light in February that they are working to bring more police and ambassador presence to Ingleside’s Ocean Avenue to help deter late-night break-ins.
Chen is partnering with Taraval Police Station to form community outreach and educational safety workshop programs for small business owners.
While the safety programs will be useful, for now leaning on other small business owners will be important.
“I hope that we can watch out for each other,” Chak said.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
