A rash of car break-ins at and around Ohio City and the West Side Market have become more frequent since the non-profit removed its parking gates in June.
The most recent slew of break-ins impacted newlyweds and guests at a wedding reception at Pins Mechanical in Ohio City on Friday. When everyone left the party, guests found their cars broken into, amounting to thousands of dollars worth of damages, said the groom, Jonathan Sprouse.
“These petty crimes could lead to violent crimes,” said Sprouse. “It’s a domino effect and I don't want to see that happen. It's not something you want to happen on a night like that where you're celebrating a marriage and there's all that joy in the air just for it to be kind of squandered.”
Back in April, the Cleveland Public Market Corporation took over management of the West Side Market from the city.
RELATED:Vendors at Cleveland's historic West Side Market are embracing this change
The non-profit then switched parking enforcement to a lightning pay mode, where visitors pay for parking on their phones. The market said the decision to remove the parking gates was to also help with heavy traffic flow on busy days.
"Particularly during the holidays there would be terrible traffic jams getting in the lot and out of the lot," said Cleveland Public Market Corporation Executive Director Rosemary Modry. "Especially with the light, only one or two cars would get through. We would have people wrapping around so it was really frustrating for customers."
At just 18 years old, Emma Miller has already fallen victim to Cleveland's bedeviled car theft issues.
“We parked right by Edna Coffee Roasters,” said Miller. “There’s this little parking place and we just got out. We were having a fun. A couple hours rolled by and we were walking back and we realized my car wasn’t there.”
Miller is one of at least seven who had her car stolen near or at the West Side Market parking lot on West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue over the summer. According to Cleveland police records obtained by New 5, the rash of thefts began in early June, which is days after the West Side Market removed its parking gates.
News 5 found there were only three car thefts over the same time period the year before, but Modry told News 5 she doesn't see a correlation.
“If you are willing to steal a car, you are also willing to break the gate or willing to go over the curb, so we have not seen a correlation in that although there were several thefts in August,” Modry said. “Typically in the year, we are in the city right, there’s always a handful of thefts.”
Miller said after her car was stolen, she sat stranded in Ohio City. Her parents eventually drove from Medina to help relocate her car, using an air tag Miller left in the backseat.
“At this point this is going four or five hours with no help from the cops at all,” Miller said. “We are still on our solo mission.”
It pinged at Mulberry's bar, about five minutes away from where her car was originally parked on Lorain Avenue.
“I get in the car and this is traumatic for me,” said Miller. “This was all torn apart, this was bent, everything was thrown to pieces, dirt everywhere and it smelled really bad.”
Modry added the parking gates were always a money maker and nothing more.
“They were put up as a means for collecting revenue not as a deterrent for theft,” said Modry.
With parking gates removed nearby or not, Miller said the incident was enough for her to stay away. She said she hasn’t been back since.
“No, unless I am with a group of guys there’s no way I will be going back,” said Miller.
The West Side Market said when incidents like this happen in their parking lot nearby, they try to be vigilant to ramp up security and surveillance, adding there is an Ohio City beat cop who has been patrolling the area more frequently.
According to Cleveland police, when reporting on a stolen vehicle, other crimes like shootings, stabbings or burglaries take precedence. Police point out there are three ways to file a stolen car report: wait for an officer, go to the district or file a police report online.
News 5 has reached out to Cleveland Police for a comment on this story and the department has not responded.
