Eight thieves experienced quite a mess Thursday morning when they broke into a cannabis shop in Redmond.
Employees at Hashtag Cannabis report that thefts continue to be a daily occurrence in their store, straining their finances and their patience.
“We are so saddened that our company has been the target of another attack, even though we know this could have been avoided,” said Christine Bryant-Darling, an employee at Hashtag Cannabis.
After four burglaries in less than a year, Bryant-Darling has had enough. Employees believe there is a clear solution: bollards to prevent cars from racing into their stores and stealing their products.
“We have stores in Seattle and one in Everett. They are not affected by this type of crime because they have bollards in front of them,” says Bryant-Darling.
She told KIRO 7 they’ve tried working with the city of Redmond to have barriers installed at their own expense. But Bryant-Darling says their permit requests keep getting denied.
A city spokesperson told KIRO 7 there are reasons why bollards are not an option. He wrote, “The city has received a request to install bollards. However, it cannot install them itself and cannot allow Hashtag to do so for two reasons:
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1. There are currently no regulations that allow the City of Redmond to install bollards on public sidewalks because sidewalks must be ADA accessible. Additionally, the corner where the store is located is not large enough to place bollards.
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2. The area where the business is located has power, utility and fiber optic lines running under the sidewalk. Installing bollards there could disrupt power to local businesses.
“ADA access is absolutely critical. We would never want to deny anyone access to the sidewalk or to our store,” Bryant-Darling said in a statement to the city. “But I just have to think – there are trees here, there are poles here. What can we do?”
This spring, the city placed planters in front of Hashtag Cannabis to fill the gap and help local businesses.
But they were no match for Thursday’s thieves. Surveillance video shows the group of criminals working together to roll the planter out of the way so a car could drive onto the sidewalk and through the front of Hashtag Cannabis.
Employees estimate that the thieves then stole nearly $10,000 worth of cannabis products and left thousands of dollars worth of damage behind. Bryant-Darling says this vicious cycle of crime is unsustainable for her business.
“We are fully aware that we are in this industry. There are risks. Our employees are aware that there are risks when we undertake this work. We simply need to work with the city of Redmond to find a solution,” says Bryant-Darling.
A city spokesperson told KIRO 7, “The city spoke with the business owner on the day of the most recent incident, Thursday, August 8, to discuss the matter and remains committed to working with him to find a resolution.”
According to Redmond police, no arrests were made in this incident.
