KANSAS CITY, Mo. — City Barrel Pizza + Patio in Waldo is one of several local businesses hit by burglars in recent weeks.
The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council passed a Back to Business Grant Fund at its Thursday meeting that's designed to help small businesses recover costs from repairs after criminals damage their properties.
“Everybody’s getting hit right now,” said Nia Richardson, managing director of KC BizCare.
Richardson said other cities have similar programs.
“When researching other cities, this looks like something they’ve been doing for years," Richardson said. “I’ve researched six other cities that have been doing something or have started something recently.”
Those six cities include San Francisco, Portland, and Hyattsville, Maryland.
City officials say the Back to Business Grant Fund will be closely modeled after the Hyattsville Vandalism Recovery and Prevention Grant Program.
“Creating something like this in our regular budget is probably the responsible way we want to address it long term,” said KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas.
Like programs in the other cities, the fund would require businesses to submit proof of insurance as well as a police report. Nonprofits would not be eligible.
“They’re trying to also hit on a proactive side,” said Joe Giammanco, owner of City Barrel Brewing Company. “Adding additional security cameras, lights, locks, other preventable-style measures.”
Giammanco says those are all things he’d be interested in looking into.
Other cities like San Francisco have seen a decline in crimes against businesses who installed security measures.
While Giammanco understands the need for a program like this, he says he hopes this is just a springboard to further action.
“I appreciate that the mayor and city council have done this, done this action," Giammanco said. "Hopefully, just a temporary triage of what’s going to be a bigger conversation for opportunities for people to grow.”
The application process is expected to open October 7th.
