SEATTLE — Over the weekend, three businesses at Fishermen’s Terminal were burglarized. One shop had its entire front wall ripped out.
“It’s terrible because its everywhere… We love the store down here, we frequent several of the cafes,” said Linda Schrader.
Dan Blanchard, owner of UnCruise Adventures, says one of his trucks and storage units were hit.
“They got the ignition and they stole some things from the inside…This flatbed was stolen about two months ago to go to commit a crime in South Seattle, and of course, they busted all the windows and that kind of thing, so it’s kind of ironic that the vehicle was busted into during this crime spree,” said Blanchard.
He says this isn’t the first time his property has been damaged.
“We’ve had over 20 crime incidents right here, and that includes three vehicles being stolen, a couple of car prowls in the parking lot, like 12 or 15 almost break-ins. We have a whole bunch of small ships down here as well as our storage units. We’ve been asking for surveillance cameras and extra police protection, none of which the Port has supplied,” said Blanchard.
Many of the business owners have gone out of their way and purchased surveillance cameras.
“All the vendors down here, we kind of consider this the wild west. Every day you come to work and wonder what the heck is going on… We need a full-time security presence here, and we’ve needed it for decades,” said Blanchard.
Blanchard says each time any business is hit, it takes a toll on them physically and financially.
“I’m a small business, I have like 45 employees here, and this damages all of us, and I wish there was more empathy for human belongings and the fact that people need to make a living,” said Blanchard.