Break-ins plague Armstrong Garden
Robert Chacon
With a large portion of its lot unfenced, Armstrong Garden Center is
a conspicuous target for burglars and vandals, and lately it has been
treated as such.
Since February, employees at the garden center, 1515 Foothill
Blvd., have been exasperated by break-ins and burglaries costing the
company about $15,000 in damage. During an April incident, vandals
spray-painted racial epithets on garden furniture and toolsheds,
turned over plants, slashed sacks of manure and smashed plaster
figurines, costing the company more than $11,000.
“There have been so many break-ins, I’ve lost count,” store
manager Katerina Morris said. “I’m getting tired of having to clean
up.”
The store rarely experienced break-ins before February, said Joe
Ward, regional manager for the Glendora-based company. Both Morris
and Ward speculated that the culprits enter the property by climbing
an iron fence around the store.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies from the
Crescenta Valley Station told him that patrols around the area have
been increased, Ward said.
Officials at the Crescenta Valley Station were unavailable for
comment Friday. Morris doubts the increased patrols have been enough
to deter the break-ins.
“We get broken into one day, we call the police, and the next day
it happens again,” she said. “I think it’s probably the same group of
people.”
Part of the problem is that the store occupies three parcels of
property, one of which is licensed from Southern California Edison,
company officials said. The lot is used to store small trees and
large potted plants, but is unfenced on the north side, so anyone can
walk onto Armstrong’s property. The lot is fenced on the side facing
Foothill Boulevard and topped with barbed wire.
“We would be very amenable to putting a fence up on the north side
of the property if the company requested that from us,” Edison
spokeswoman Christy McLeod said.
In the meantime, cameras, motion sensors and lights will be
installed at the store, Ward said.
The city will consider any request the company submits to the
planning department to install fencing on the property, city analyst
Robert Stanley said.