UPDATE:
After doing repairs to their new Main Street patio on Thursday because of vandalism, a Penticton restaurant was victim of more damage.
"We had our contractor repair our fence on Thursday for our inspection on Friday and thought we were good to go," said Sharat Chawla, co-owner of Spice Magic. "Last night someone deliberately took four screws out of the base of one of the patio poles and broke two of the screws."
In addition, Chawla said someone spray painted graffitti tags on their windows and appeared to have kicked their front door.
"The paint was scratched on the front door and it looked like they kicked it a few times. This was not at random, no drunk person has the mind or tools to just remove those screws from the post. All this damage is a liability issue for our business and we want to warn other businesses that this is happening," said Chawla.
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A Penticton business owner said he is discouraged after his patio was vandalized on Wednesday evening.
Sharat Chawla, co-owner of Spice Magic located on Main Street, said they were preparing for an inspection of their new patio area when it was destroyed after business hours.
“I’m getting very discouraged at doing anything here. I moved my family, my brother and his family from Toronto because I heard really good things about Penticton and that there was a lot of community support,” said Chawla. “I never expected this to happen to my business, especially when I am trying to make downtown more vibrant. I’m deflated.”
Chawla said he believes someone must have been watching their restaurant as they normally close up around 8 p.m. On Wednesday, because they were getting ready for a patio inspection on Friday, he was there until around 11 p.m. When he arrived on Thursday to continue working, their wooden patio fence was damaged. One of the supporting beams, that is secured with a metal footing and a four, four-inch screws, was pulled out and part of the fence was leaning.
“It would have taken at least two people to pull this off. I really feel this is a targeted act of vandalism because there are so many patios out there. Why is the only restaurant new to town damaged?” said Chawla, who immediately reported the incident to RCMP.
The restauranteur said he wants to bring it to the public’s attention because Penticton is coming up to tourist season and he wants more awareness brought to the vandalism around the city. He hopes maybe someone saw the perpetrators and will report it.