BALTIMORE — Popular restaurant “Terra Café” in Charles village was vandalized after the owner Terence Dickson, who many know as “Chef T”, said a few teenagers tried to break into the establishment.
The destruction was caught on video and shows two teenagers break the front window with a brick trying to get inside.
“ I got a call from my neighbors across the street saying 'hey listen Chef T, someone is trying to break in the restaurant',” Dickson said.
It happened last Monday around 11:30 p.m. and Dickson said his business wasn’t the only one in the Black Wall Street community that’s been hit.
“They threw the brick three, four, five times. They kicked the front windshield four, five, six, seven times. It’s about community and that wasn’t community,” Dickson said.
Chef T said Terra Café has sat at the corner of East 25th and St. Paul street for 15 year and some of the neighboring businesses are no stranger to this frustration.
“There were four or five other businesses that got vandalized also. Kay’s down the street soup on, Subway across the street, black business been here 30 years, they’ve been broken into six times,” Dickson said.
Chef T said vandals have become a nuisance in the community, so much that some of the businesses like the restaurant “Taste This” took security measures into their own hands.
“They put gates in front of their business. Here’s the crazy part about it, if you put a gate in front of your business in this community, you just broke the law. So it’s kind of like you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t,” Dickson said.
He feels if it was a more affluent community, the support and response from city leaders might lead more urgency.
“If this happened in Canton, Federal Hill or Fells Point it would hit different,” Dickson said.
But he had a message for the teens who tried to break into his restaurant and anyone else who is thinking of doing the same.
“ It take's a village so you can’t just blame it on the kids. But come see me, come talk to me, alright. Lets find out what we can do to help you be awesome because breaking in these stores is not it,” Dickson said.
The front window to the establishment has obviously been replaced since last week when it was vandalized. However, Chef T said he’s not mad at the teens or even the parents, he just wants everyone in the community to do their part and rally around the young people to hopefully prevent things like this from happening in the future.
