Vandals struck again recently by damaging multiple Old Town businesses, leaving owners to clean up the mess and wonder what can be done to stop the thieves.
“This time, it’s just, you know, here we go again,” Nathan Cowan, manager of Happy Hiker, told KOB 4.
Surveillance video showed a man smashing the door window of Happy Hiker, taking a cash drawer with $2 in it and leaving within 24 seconds. The same business was hit in August when a man busted the door open and got away with a few hundred dollars. There was more damage done this time around.
Multiple businesses have been vandalized in recent weeks with windows smashed and doors damaged.
“I’d say what we’d love from the city is… and APD specifically… is just to work with us,” J.J. Mancini, president of the recently created Historic Old Town Association, told KOB 4. “Potentially get more patrols within the area.”
Mancini understands that handling the rise of crime is a difficult problem for the Albuquerque Police Department.
“I also don’t want to say that they haven’t been doing things,” he said. “They have and we thank the officers and we thank APD for what they’ve done so far. But, of course, we’ll take more.”
Cowan admits he’s concerned the same man will come back and break windows again.
“So do I put bars up?” Cowan asked. “Do I? I don’t want Old Town covered in bars. That’s not the way to go.”
APD has a camera at the Old Town Plaza, the KOB 4 report said. The department has received four vandalism calls and one burglary at Happy Hiker, but they have no suspect information because the burglar was wearing a mask.
