{"id":211551,"date":"2026-03-09T13:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211551\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T13:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:10:07","slug":"sacramento-restaurateur-urges-action-after-repeated-break-ins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211551\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento restaurateur urges action after repeated break-ins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restaurateur Ernesto Delgado<\/a> strode to a lectern at a Sacramento City Council meeting and spun a vision for a safe urban core after he said his downtown restaurants suffered repeated break-ins on the night before.<\/p>\n

Delgado\u2019s eateries serve Mexican regional cuisine across California\u2019s capital city and West Sacramento. The theft at Octopus Peru<\/a>, a seafood cevicheria, and Mercado Urbano<\/a>, a lunchtime bodega, prompted frustration for Delgado, who said the incidents happened after staff closed up on Feb. 22 at the restaurants, which are both in the Park Tower building across from Cesar Chavez Plaza.<\/p>\n

So Delgado implored the council to focus on reducing crime at its Feb. 24 meeting.<\/p>\n

But before elected officials could act on the Feb. 24 plea, Delgado\u2019s La Cosecha restaurant, at 917 Ninth St. in Cesar Chavez Plaza, suffered what he called another overnight break-in after closing up on Sunday, March 1.<\/p>\n

He came again to the City Council meeting on Tuesday to speak directly with the city\u2019s leaders. The incidents weigh on his love and enthusiasm for doing business, he said during the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m starting to get very frustrated,\u201d Delgado said in a phone interview, while noting he has not given up on doing business in downtown.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Police Department said officers arrived at the 900 block of Ninth Street to investigate a burglary at about 8 a.m. on Feb. 23, according to a police spokesperson. The spokesperson said officers did not receive a report to investigate the incident at La Cosecha. No arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

Crime in all major categories dropped in 2025 from the year before, according to police data.<\/a><\/p>\n

Delgado has long been an advocate for Cesar Chavez Plaza<\/a>, across from City Hall. Since La Cosecha\u2019s opening in 2017, he envisioned transforming the square, which is just blocks from major downtown landmarks Golden 1 Center, the state Capitol and the Sacramento County Main Jail.<\/p>\n

He said he hoped opening its doors would lead to a welcoming plaza filled with couples stealing a kiss or older residents meandering through. The vision has yet to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Delgado estimated his downtown restaurants suffer break-ins or vandalism about two to three times per year. Thieves shatter windows and snatch cash registers. Vandals deface locally commissioned artwork. A person cleared an entire bar of alcohol at one of Delgado\u2019s restaurants, some of which are known for specialized tequila and agave selections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like it doesn\u2019t matter what I put out there,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cIt gets damaged, vandalized or stolen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incidents affect staff morale and feelings of safety inside his businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

The back-to-back crimes sparked action for Delgado: \u201cWhere effort goes, energy flows.\u201d He said he met with Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, City Manager Maraskeshia Smith and others to brainstorm ways to make the area safer.<\/p>\n

McCarty did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Sacramento\u2019s downtown has faced hardships in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic hollowed out office buildings<\/a>, and protests over police brutality after the murder of George Floyd were followed by vandalism of local businesses<\/a>. The urban core became a refugee for homeless people as an affordability crisis struck. Some owners packed up their businesses and shuttered doors.<\/p>\n

Through it all, Delgado said he kept his businesses open.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people just choose to not do anything, or stay away or ignore,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I am still fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith time and consistency, I hope to see change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Ishani Desai<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Restaurateur Ernesto Delgado strode to a lectern at a Sacramento City Council meeting and spun a vision for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[77010,97297,97299,97298,121,123,122,85930],"class_list":{"0":"post-211551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-cesar-chavez-plaza","9":"tag-downtown-crime","10":"tag-ernesto-delgado","11":"tag-restaurant-burglaries","12":"tag-sacramento","13":"tag-sacramento-headlines","14":"tag-sacramento-news","15":"tag-sacramento-restaurants"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}