Security gratings (or "bars") would have prevented a robbery at the Kwik Mart in Rogers Park last night. The glass of the front door was broken and the store was entered around 9:30 on Tuesday night, March 25.Only tobacco products were taken, the store owner told The Bench. The front door was the only apparent damage to the store.
49th Ward Alderkommisar Joe Moore is trying to get local merchants to remove the gratings. He is using his apparatchiks at DevCorp North to pressure the merchants, insisting that
the gratings make the neighborhood look ugly and dangerous.Here's a news flash for Joe Moore and DevCorp's Rene Camargo: Rogers Park is dangerous, and much of it is ugly. But which looks worse? Security gratings on secure businesses, or flashing blue lights in front of stores with smashed windows? Then there's the aftermath: Days or weeks of boarded up windows, which look a lot worse than the gratings.
Furthermore, if enough damage is done in the course of a robbery, the merchant could be driven out of business.
Suggestion for Joe Moore and his lapdog Rene Camargo: Face reality. The gratings are there for the same reason we all lock our doors or put a seat belt on. It's a simple, efficient preventative measure. Another suggestion: Pony up for damages to merchants whose stores and businesses suffer losses because you pressured them into removing their protective gratings.
