'Band-Aid on a much bigger issue' -- business owners react to city grant program to cover vandalism damage

Yvonne Stokes, the owner of Grey Dog Trading in Old Town, sat in her empty store in front of a rack of folded Navajo rugs on Friday afternoon.

Shade covered her face because the turquoise window frame next to her was covered with a slab of plywood to block the shattered window that had cracks running across it.

“There’s a lot of anger and hate that just gets bandied about, and I’m sure that some people just, they just feel the need to take it out on something, and big windows like this are an attractive target,” Stokes said.

Stokes is used to this, though. She has had to replace six windows in six years, and she is not the only business owner in Albuquerque — and especially in Old Town — to be faced with this dilemma.

On Tuesday, the city of Albuquerque’s $200,000 grant program called “Window to Opportunity” is being pessimistically welcomed by members of the small business community.

The city announced the grant program and partnership with the Albuquerque Police Department in a news release, vowing to repair the windows of vandalized businesses.

“It must be close to election” Stokes said of the program, noting she hasn’t been reimbursed for the cost of damages the other five times her windows have been shattered.

“We created this grant to provide relief to business owners, kind of allowing them to refocus on running their business rather than worrying about unexpected expenses,” said Frankie Hermosillo, senior economic developer for the city.

Hermosillo said the timing of the grant is a coincidence and not due to the public pressure and media coverage of a spree of vandalism in Old Town in August.

“We have been planning this for many months, going back to the new July fiscal year,” Hermosillo said.

“It had honestly nothing to do with those reports. ... We at the Small Business Office said, ‘What can we do? How do we get support around to businesses to let them know that we’re here, we’re listening to them, we’re trying to help in some way,’” she added.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 10 businesses had applied for the grant, according to Hermosillo. Businesses can qualify for up to $5,000 for repairs and an extra $1,000 is available for businesses that use “sustainable ‘green’ glass or security glass into their repairs.”

Hermosillo said the funding for the grant was coming from APD.

To qualify, incidents must have occurred on or after Sept. 1, and the businesses must have documentation, including a police report and time-stamped photos of the damaged and repaired windows. Businesses that were vandalized from July 1 through Aug. 31 are eligible to apply if they enroll in APD’s Business Crime Prevention Survey, according to the release.

The process is tedious, according to Stokes.

“They’re making it difficult, because one thing I have to give them is time-stamped photos of the damage. I live in Corrales. It takes me 40 minutes to get here,” Stokes said. “By the time I heard about the damage, they’d already been boarded up. So everybody in Old Town has been out taking photos and videos, but I do not have the photos I need to send in for the grant.”

Additionally, according to an invoice provided to the Journal, the cost to replace Stokes’ windows is $4,578.84, almost the maximum amount the city allocates to each business, which is $5,000.

“The type of windows that they are, they’re double glazed, they’re Pella, and they’re a special design, which I don’t have any control over,” Stokes said. “I can’t just replace the glass, right? Have to replace the whole thing. That’s the architecture that the owner of the building chose.”

Stokes said that she has noticed an increase in vandalism over recent years, adding that she hasn’t seen police patrols around lately. She thinks the rising number of people experiencing homelessness in the area has caused the increase in crime and vandalism.

Laura Kuehn of APD’s Crime Prevention Unit said the department is part of the grant program by surveying businesses and giving recommendations to deter crime. Money for the program is from APD’s budget.

Kuehn said APD has seen an increase in vandalism to Albuquerque businesses recently, but not as bad as during the pandemic. In July 2020, the city did a similar initiative — with the same name — aimed at replacing the shattered windows of businesses Downtown. The program now applies to businesses throughout the city.

Kuehn said that some of the changes the department could recommend might be difficult to implement in Old Town because of the historic nature of buildings and preservation efforts of business owners in the area.

Owner of Outpost 1706 and former New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said he was notified about the grant program a couple of weeks before the city’s announcement.

“I think this is a perfect example of how the city and, for that matter, government, can ... complement what the business community is in need of,” Kassetas said.

Kassetas also said he was pleased and surprised that the city was offering “something tangible” to address the issue faced by himself and other small business owners.

Fellow Old Town small business owner Nael Ali, who heads The Shop at Old Town, said he was also surprised the city was offering assistance. However, because his shop was affected by a fire and didn’t experience window damage, Ali won’t qualify for the grant.

Ali called the grant a “Band-Aid on a much bigger issue.”

“It’s indicative of a bigger problem that we’re having and needs to be addressed properly. Most of this vandalism that’s been happening is not even covered by insurances, and falls on the mom-and-pop operations,” Ali said. “So when you have two or three broken windows and couple items missing, and you talk about $1,000, $2,000 every month, for some businesses, that’s more money that they can afford to even think about.”

Stokes echoed the sentiment, stating that she “can’t make a profit” in Old Town.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, penned a letter to the APD chief in August asking for a plan to address the vandalism spree in Old Town. He said Tuesday he thought the grant was a good initiative, calling it “a support for our small businesses that are impacted by crime issues.”

He also reacted to the impact the grant and increased patrols would have on his constituents.

“Old Town, being one of our prides and joys, has suffered attacks over the last couple of weeks, and I’m glad APD showed up and installed the cameras and has increased patrols,” Martínez said. “I requested Chief (Harold) Medina, and I’m grateful that they delivered almost immediately.”

Step in the right direction

While Martínez, Ali and Kassetas are glad the city and the police department are embarking on the program, they don’t think it solves the underlying issues that caused the property crimes.

“I think the issue of public safety is a much more nuanced problem to be addressed, for sure, but this is a step in the right direction,” Martínez said.

Ali said he believes the issues are occurring because different community entities are pinning the blame on each other.

“They are running lawless, and so that’s one of the biggest issues. Nobody is held accountable for their actions,” Ali said. “It’s the Wild West all over again, so having cameras and catching people really doesn’t do anything.”

Kassetas shared that sentiment and hopes that the partnership between the city and the police department will lead to changes.

He said he remains skeptical.

“I guess it’s a deterrent, in a way,” Kassetas said. “It can be a deterrent, but ultimately, will it stop it? No.”