DOWNTOWN BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Break-ins and thefts have become a common situation many small businesses see here in Bakersfield, especially in the downtown area.
Bonnie Quinonez is one of the partners for the Brickyard in downtown Bakersfield.
On the corner of N and 18th streets stands four small business food trucks, B-Town Burgerz, Sabor Taino, Firewater, and Brickyard Downtown.
All four of them got broken into.
“It’s not going to deter us, we’re here for the long haul, we’re Bakersfield natives, we love downtown, and so we’re not going to let them win,” said Quinonez.
“Even more important for our food truck vendors, this is their livelihood. Now they have to take revenue and profit and things they would put away for savings and retirement, and they have to replace the items that were stolen from them,” she added.
Last Monday, three individuals quickly entered the gated area.
The surveillance video provided by Quinonez shows one of the robbers entering the food truck garden and then pulling out the generator from B-Town Burgerz.
Then, with the help of another person, they began pulling it towards the gate.
“They stole generators, they stole power washers and some ice chests, they knew exactly what they were doing,” Quinonez said.
Brickyard Downtown already received the security grant that the city made available for small businesses to harden their property.
With the security camera included in the grant, they were able to turn the video into Bakersfield police.
Other businesses are grateful that it applied to them as well.
Antonio Ramos, owner of Sabor Taino Smokehouse BBQ, said it’s upsetting having to go home and tell his kids that they won’t celebrate Christmas this year, due to the financial hardships he now has to face.
“It’s a punch in the stomach a little bit, it’s kind of, its a little disturbing because now our peace of mind isn’t where it was,” said Ramos.
“Now we gotta replace those things, you know we gotta purchase our generators again, we need to purchase everything that was taken from us, now we’re here stuck with a hard decision of do we have a Christmas or do we buy the necessities for our business,” he added.
Quinonez said one of the many great things about Bakersfield is the help that’s always given when things like this happen.
“On November 30th, which is this Thursday, please come down and buy from the vendors that are here. We’ll be open from 11 a.m. till 8 p.m., so by lunch or dinner or both, and support these vendors because again, they’re going to have to recoup and pay for the items that were stolen,” Quinonez said.