SCHENECTADY Fed up with crime, store owners want out Burglaries force family back to Brooklyn BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
They filled the back doorway with cement, nailed down the windows and installed iron bars, but still the burglars kept coming. Now, after eight burglaries in three years, the Khemraj family is giving up. They’ve placed their Albany Street building on the market, signed a lease for a new storefront in Brooklyn and plan to move back to New York City as soon as they’ve sold the last of their stock. “It’s not safe here,” said Donald Khemraj. The last straw came Thursday morning, when Funn Electronics and Keys World were burglarized yet again. The burglars started in the back, where they scaled two fences and tried to pull away the plywood that now covers the back window and door. That was a dead-end: Khemraj filled in both spaces with cement after earlier burglaries. So the burglars ripped open a side door, hoping it would lead into the store. It doesn’t. Next, they tried to break in through one of the remaining windows on the first floor. The glass was easy to break, but the window was too high up for an easy entrance. The burglars were undeterred. They snuck up the back steps to the Khemrajs’ porch, stole a chair, and used it to climb in the Keys World store window. As an alarm blared, they grabbed clothing, gold chain necklaces and a laptop. They got away with about $3,500 in goods before Khemraj raced down the stairs to confront them. For Keys World manager Kevin Hawkins, it was the start of just another day. Business went on as usual while his godson came over to fix the window yet again. This time he cemented iron bars into the window space. The metal lattice that he installed last time clearly wasn’t strong enough to withstand a crowbar. Khemraj, who owns the building and runs Funn Electronics, is at the end of his rope. He’s tried everything that the city will legally let him do, he said, and burglars get around all of it. They went through his back window the first time, costing him $1,500 in repairs. He covered the glass with plywood, but they ripped it off. He put it back on with screws. They went through that, too. Then he got his first victory. He grinned sardonically as he described the next burglary attempt. “They tried to use a screwgun to take it [the plywood] out,” he said. “But I damaged the end of every screw. Every one of them, I went with the drill bit until they were ruined.” Unfortunately, the burglars didn’t give up. They went through his back door again and again, despite the plywood that he hung there. Finally he filled in the doorway with cement, but left the plywood on the outside, leaving the burglars to discover the cement on their own. That forced the burglars around to the front of the building, a riskier proposition, but they continued to break in despite the greater chance of being seen. He put in cameras and an alarm system. He reinforced the windows with metal strips. Nothing has worked. “It’s like a war,” Hawkins said. And the store owners are losing. “Whenever we sell what we have here, we’re gone,” said Funn Electronics co-owner Rose Khemraj. “Seven times we replace the glass on the door and the window. It’s $1,400, $1,500 each time. How much can you pay? We need to eat!” The Police Department confirmed the number of break-ins at the store. Rose Khemraj said she has repeatedly asked the city for permission to install a metal gate in front of her business. The gate would cover the entrances and windows whenever the businesses are closed. Many stores in New York City use the device to thwart burglars, and she swears by its efficacy. “In Brooklyn we had two other businesses. Never burglarized in 12 years, never been broken into, because you had gates you pull up and down. Nobody could get into the building,” she said. The gates are not allowed in Schenectady, primarily because of aesthetics. But Khemraj said the city’s decision will lead to buildings that look even worse: vacant, dilapidated and abandoned. She angrily predicted that the city would rather have empty stores than a gate that acknowledges rampant crime. “The city doesn’t want legal business,” she said. “They want everybody to get government payments and sit at home.” The mayor’s office did not immediately return telephone calls from the newspaper for comment. Donald Khemraj was so fed up with the situation last year that he bought a gun to fight off the burglars. In October, he shot one invader in the chest. The man survived, pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to a year in jail. A grand jury cleared Khemraj of any wrongdoing. They don’t think they’re being targeted because of their ethnicity (they are Guyanese) or the shooting. They believe their building is attractive to criminals because some of their goods — cellphones and gold chains — can easily be sold on the street. “I think that’s a quick turnover,” Rose Khemraj said. Her family decided to buy in Schenectady in 2000, after a lease-to-own deal in Brooklyn fell through. Schenectady seemed like a good city and they could afford to buy here, Khemraj said. They moved in 2002. Although they are now about to move back to Brooklyn, Khemraj said she’d still rather stay here. “If we could have gates, I would stay. Of course I would stay. I want to stay,” she said. “We have to have gates. Tell me, how else can you protect your property?”
The gates are not allowed in Schenectady, primarily because of aesthetics. But Khemraj said the city’s decision will lead to buildings that look even worse: vacant, dilapidated and abandoned. She angrily predicted that the city would rather have empty stores than a gate that acknowledges rampant crime. “The city doesn’t want legal business,” she said. “They want everybody to get government payments and sit at home.”
Well said! Although I really don't think that gating the door would have prevented the past break-ins. They would try to get in any possible opening to the building. Soit would have to be gated doors and barred windows. I find it hard to even think that our once beautiful city of Schenectady has turned in the direction it has. It is sometimes heartbreaking when you hear these things.
In a letter to the editor today and in a Gazette story last Friday, members of Schenectady’s relatively new and industrious Guyanese community have expressed frustration over the city police department’s inability or unwillingness to deal with burglaries at their properties. Today’s letter writer goes so far as to suggest that ethnic bias might be behind what she considers the lackadaisical response by city officials, though that seems unlikely: Such complaints about police response are common in Schenectady, and they seem to transcend racial and ethnic boundaries. Still, the message from the Guyanese crime victims ought to be a wake-up call — as if city officials haven’t had enough of those on this subject — that middleclass residents will be leaving Schenectady if police can’t do a better job handling crime. The family who owns the building that houses Funn Electronics and Keys World on Albany Street is halfway out the door already. They say that as soon as they’ve sold off their current inventory, they’ll be moving back to New York City, where they’ve already signed a lease to open a new store. And who can blame them? As Friday’s story detailed, their stores — which sell easily fenced electronics goods and jewelry — have been burglarized not once, not twice, but eight times in the last three years! And this despite some rather extraordinary measures to thwart the burglars — like putting iron bars in the windows; replacing glass with wood, then damaging the screw heads so they couldn’t be removed; cementing over a rear doorway, etc. It’s hard to believe that police couldn’t figure out a way to give this building more attention to stop such a blatant crime spree. It’s also unbelievable that city officials wouldn’t let the Khemraj family do the one thing it hadn’t already done — install metal gates in front of the businesses, covering the entrances and windows when the stores were closed. Such gates may be unattractive, and they acknowledge an unpleasant truth — that crime is rampant in the neighborhood. But if that’s the case, and gates are the best way to stop the crime, then why not allow them? As Mrs. Khemraj says, they’re better than empty, boarded-up buildings, which is what the city will have if it can’t or won’t do more to deter these criminals.
Once again, the Gazette chooses to bash the Police Department rather than addressing the real problem. It seems to me that this is ONE thing they (the Gazette) knows how to do - they do it so often it's become second nature.
The problem isn't with the Police Department - the problem is with the one that controls the purse strings, City Council. The SPD is SEVERELY underfunded and needs working cash to put more officers on the streets (and perhaps get some out from behind desks). The Gazette won't mention that little missing tidbit.
Without funds, administration is doing the best they can, I believe, to keep patrols on the streets.
Sure, there's issues with the old union contracts that allow for unlimited sick time. Sure, there were bad apples - and probably still are one or two - but that isn't the whole problem.
Right now, Schenectady - the City Council - can't guarantee the safety of it's residents 24 hours a day. There, I said it - everyone else, including the Gazette was afraid to. Why? There simply aren't enough street officers or resources on the streets for this to happen.
What will it take? The answer, I believe is two fold.
1. The administration must cut out desk jobs - get desk jockeys out on the street. Put the officers that are on desk duty in a position to watch the security cameras while answering phones, etc. The union needs to offer concessions on this issue as well. No more unlimited sick time, no more "unlimited union business" time and free health care (their members need to start contributing to the rising cost of care). They've had it VERY good in Schenectady for many years, it's time for them to give back a little to Schenectady. (Are you listening Mr Hamilton?)
2. A significant increase in the budget of the Police Department - which only the City Council can arrange. By significant, I mean 70-90% increase. With this, one officer or professional grant writer (or perhaps borrow the services of the county) that can find federal funding sources for new police cruisers and equipment, uniforms, cameras and resources. This new budget needs to be enacted immediately. Will this require an increase in taxes? Yes - there's no doubt about that. But the City Council and Mayor need to sit down, immediately, and trim the pork from other areas of the budget - including outsourced services, early retirements, union concessions, competitive bidding, etc. I'm confident they can find, easily 30-40% of the increase to the PD budget. If they REALLY try, maybe 50-60% can be found in the existing budget. It's called an austerity budget - something the households in this City have had to endure for years of living here. It's time our elected leaders learned the term and practice it. The rest needs to be levied in the second and third years after implementation of the increased funding. The police department (and fire) needs to be funded before anything else in this city. Next, fund the general services. Then fund all the other incidental services.
Before all else, the city needs to (reasonably) guarantee our safety - immediately. There's only one way they can do that ... make immediate budget changes and fund the police department to adequate staffing levels - NOW!
Shame on the City for this one...It seems as if this business did anything and everything to try to stay here! It's bad enough the high taxes are driving people out of Schenectady...this certainly does help matters!!!
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