DC Taco Stand Owner Says He Spends $4K a Week on Private Security Due to Crime Crisis

A DC taco stand owner says he is spending $4,000 a week on private security due to the massive surge in crime.

Bo Blair, who owns the Surfside Taco Stand and several other establishments, said he has spent over $450,000 on security this year.

Blair told Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins that the massive cost is “not sustainable.”

“Hopefully we can get through this crime crisis and we won’t have to do that in the future. The total amount of money we spent on security for this year at all the locations was over $450,000,” he added.

Fox News reports, “Jenkins said Blair owns ten other restaurants in Washington, and that it has not been as easy to pass off security costs to customers as some restaurants were able to do when inflation first reared its head.”

Some of Blair’s establishments are now paying more for security than rent.

DC has had Democrat mayors since Home Rule was established in 1975.

“Carjackings alone have more than doubled over the past year in Washington, with the latest figure for 2023 sitting at 928. Two hundred and fifty-four homicides were also recorded in the District this year, a nearly-one-third increase,” the report noted.

WTOP News reports, “Retail theft is on the rise in the D.C. area and nationwide. Shrink — a term used by retailers to identify inventory loss — accounted for $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation, an association that represents department stores, restaurants, grocery stores and other companies that provide goods and services.”