QUESTION
What can be done to address the shoplifting crisis impacting local businesses?
0:49:20
·
3 min
Council Member Paladino highlights how rampant shoplifting is causing a local business to potentially close, with only one of its four stores remaining open.
- She provides an example of a CVS store keeping just a single tube of toothpaste locked up due to theft concerns
- Paladino questions how such measures deter customers from visiting brick-and-mortar stores
- She expresses concerns over shoplifting impacting businesses in her district
- SBS Chief of Staff Tian Weinberg states the administration takes the retail theft issue seriously
- Weinberg mentions programs like community partnerships with NYPD and commercial lighting grants that could help address quality of life and safety concerns
Vickie Paladino
0:49:20
We also have a it's actually it's known as Reindeer by me, and he used to have 4 stores.
0:49:28
1 of which was on Long Island, 3 which were in Queens, 2 which were in my district.
0:49:33
So they are really one step away from closing due to this shoplifting crisis that we've got going on.
0:49:45
We've got the largest stores, which is CVS, and our other stores like that Walgreens.
0:49:54
We go into a CVS by me on the corner of my off the block of my office, which is our Francesco's Boulevard, and went into by a tube of toothpaste.
0:50:04
It's, of course, locked up as everything is now, but the the manager of the store will only keep one tube of toothpaste behind the panel with the luck.
0:50:19
It's insanity.
0:50:20
So how and do we attract people to go back to brick and mortar when they're so fearful of the shoplifting epidemic that's going on.
0:50:34
I mean, we've got kids coming in in bicycles and just bike riding through a store and ransacking a store.
0:50:42
And a lot of people think think things like that don't happen in district 19, but they do.
0:50:48
And I wanna know what what kind of what can we do to help these people out?
Tian Weinberg
0:50:54
This is such an important issue, and, you know, this administration takes the retail staff challenged very seriously, which is why the mayor has convened a retail theft task force with local business owners, law enforcement, national retail or as labor, all sorts of folks to share, you know, what's going on in their districts, what new ideas, what new technologies are being implemented.
0:51:18
But council member is specific to your district and and what might be able to help.
0:51:22
You know, SPS is able to help convene community partners in the NYPD through the community link program, which addresses, you know, quality of life issues, public safety issues, Additionally, through our investments in our neighborhood development divisions such as our commercial district lighting grant, we help to actually pilot innovative commercial district lighting programs that help, you know, bring more light into commercial districts that obviously helps to improve quality of life Mhmm.
0:51:52
And make people feel safer, which is a huge part of of addressing this.
Vickie Paladino
0:51:56
I didn't realize I could go through through to do that.
0:52:00
This is great because I know several corridors that could really use the the lighting because people stop going out.
0:52:07
You know, now it's spring it's summer.
0:52:09
It's gonna be late until 8, 9 o'clock at night.
0:52:12
People are out.
0:52:12
They're bustling around.
0:52:13
Right.
0:52:14
But we're talking about literally half a year where people stay home after 4 o'clock because they don't wanna go out.
0:52:20
So that's a good thing.
