Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The owners of Casa di Pizza are infuriated after another break-in over the weekend. They say they don't understand why anyone would want to be downtown.
The owners posted on Instagram, "Casa Was a Victim of another crackhead breaking the windows and breaking in...So when will something be done downtown is ridiculous ... Buffalo needs to do better.... We work our A**es off to have someone come and do this and its not the 1st time this has to be the 3rd time in a year... And then you wonder why business are closing downtown," says the post.
Buffalo Place's Michael Schmand says it's the first he's head of this. "I feel horrible about it. It sounds like an isolated incident. I haven't heard of any other break ins happening in downtown," says Schmand, who notes he's in downtown all the time. "I feel terrible because it cost the business owner money to repair something that happened randomly."
Schmand says Buffalo Police are on patrol throughout downtown. "If you come downtown, you'll see officers walking around and see officers assigned to the Main Street and Lafayette Square," notes Schmand. He says he hosts a monthly security meeting where the Buffalo Police and the NFTA Police show up and talk with the private sector security. "Obviously, there's more private sector security in downtown than there is public sector because the building owners and stuff, but I can tell you the crime rate's down, and this Buffalo Police take every crime very seriously. And I will talk to the B district captain to find out exactly what they know about what took place," adds Schmand.
Schmand disputes Casa di Pizza's owner's thoughts on doing business downtown. "Shea's is an economic engine for downtown. The Sabres are coming back. We came through the pandemic. We're having more workers come back on a daily basis to downtown. If you come downtown and you take a walk on a beautiful day like today, where the sun is shining and it's warm up, there's hundreds of people walking around Main Street, you try to go into a deli and buy a sandwich, you're going to have to wait in line. So I think there is an uptick that's taking place," says Schmand. He believes downtown Buffalo is starting to come back in the positive direction.
Casa di Pizza owners did not return calls for comment.