Gavin Newsom said his office met with retailers over the weekend who asked for more police patrols. It looks very chaotic but it’s actually very well organized,” Dugan said. “Crew bosses organize them, they’ll give him the crowbars, and in some cases even rent them cars, or provide them with escape routes or a list of products to actually go out and steal. Those who do the stealing get paid between $500 and $1,000 to take as much as they can and bring it back to organizers who ship it to other parts of the country. The flash mobs are usually organized by local people who recruit their crews and send them to steal specific merchandise requested by criminal organizations throughout the country, Dugan said. Videos of the chaotic scene posted on social media by witnesses showed police officers dragging one suspect from a waiting car and people running with merchandise in their arms or dragging suitcases. The weekend robberies started in San Francisco Friday around 8 p.m., when packs of people broke into stores including Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Bloomingdale’s in the downtown area and in Union Square, a posh shopping district popular with tourists that was teeming with holiday shoppers.
These are people who go out and do this is for high profit, and for the thrill,” said Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail. “We’re not talking about someone who needs money or needs food. The thefts are ratcheting up as the holiday shopping season gets underway, experts and officials said.
The thefts are believed to be part of sophisticated criminal networks that recruit mainly young people to steal merchandise in stores throughout the country then sell it in online marketplaces. “I really see this money as designed to really help the community post-COVID,” she said.SAN FRANCISCO - Groups of thieves, some carrying crowbars and hammers, smashed glass cases and window displays and ransacked high-end stores throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, stealing jewelry, sunglasses, suitcases and other merchandise before fleeing in waiting cars during a weekend of brazen organized theft that shocked holiday shoppers and prompted concerns about the busy retail season. She also said the funding could be used to supplement businesses providing services and jobs. Thier said one of her priorities is developing infrastructure that provides for high speed and reliable internet access across the town. “A portfolio that benefits the town broadly is the right way to think about it.” “We have to be careful to balance them,” Councilmember Jack Ryan said of the potential allocations. Vice Mayor Jon Welner stressed the need to hire a consultant to evaluate the vulnerability of Main Street in Tiburon to climate change, describing the possibility of disaster in the next “three or four decades” as a “very slow-motion trainwreck.” The town is expected to subsidize losses over the first two years, but some council members expressed a desire to be reimbursed if the project turns a profit.Ĭouncilmember Alice Fredericks also said the funds could be directed to sea level rise, climate change and transitions to electrical energy. The expense might change if the town approves clawbacks from the late-night ferry service funding. The late-night ferry program is pending final approval, though it is expected to be approved by the council in its current form. “We’re all waiting for the final rule to be issued,” he said, adding that it was not likely to restrict the spending further.
The first report is due by April 30.Ĭhanis said the town was operating under interim guidelines, which designated how the funds could be spent.
The town is required to submit annual financial reports detailing its spending. Tiburon is categorized as a non-entitlement unit of government, which Chanis said simplifies the requirements for reporting its expenditures. Tiburon weighs priorities for $1.6M in COVID aid