Cleveland business owners call for more video camera surveillance

CLEVELAND - Merchants along the Lorain Road business corridor are hoping for a little video surveillance help from the City of Cleveland, after a series of break-ins and burglaries.

Lorain Road business owners held a meeting last month, hoping they would be the next business district to have video cameras installed by the city.

"You know as soon as summer time comes, bad people come out," said Damper's Automotive Service owner, Rick Dambrosio. "We're stalled, my councilman is working on it, we keep asking for help. I understand he helped the people on Madison Avenue last year."

Dambrosio said he and other Lorain Road business owners can't wait much longer because of a growing number of break-ins. Now they're thinking about ways to install their own private video surveillance systems.

Last week, NewsChannel5 covered a burglary at a Lorain Road business owned by Lisa Carlini and Aaron Pearl. Scrap metal thieves took two brand new furnaces, air conditioning units, several appliances, and even broke into a series of walls, stealing piping and electrical wiring.

Shop owners along Madison Avenue confirm the impact the video cameras have had on their business district. Several small cameras have been installed along a corridor of Madison Avenue, near W. 102nd Street, complete with a series of video surveillance warning signs.

ZaK Chedid, who owns A to Z Wireless & Fits, believes the video cameras have made a difference, steering criminals away from his neighborhood.

"If they are going to do anything, they're looking to do it where the cameras aren't," said Chedid. "I don't think they're invading anybody's privacy, they should really keep doing this and help the community."

NewsChannel5 has contacted Cleveland City Council to determine if there is a plan to wire-up the Lorain Road business district in the near future.

Meanwhile, NewsChannel5 invites residents to take action in preventing crime, and reporting vacant/condemned homes through its NewsChannel5 Building Better Neighborhoods initiative .

Residents are encouraged to send in pictures and information on distressed properties to our Troubleshooter Facebook or Twitter accounts @joeonyourside. Report a home using your smartphone and our free NewsChannel5 app .

NewsChannel5 will bring you a series of reports and updates on the progress made through the Building Better Neighborhoods initiative throughout 2012.