Richmond District diner owner pleads for change after antique cash register stolen

The owner of a beloved diner in San Francisco's Richmond District is calling for changes in the city's leadership after a piece of his restaurant's history was stolen.

"You know, we're not crying for help. We're just asking for change," said Roozbeh Falahati, who owns the restaurant.

After his restaurant, which has been in his family since the 1970s, was broken into over the weekend - the fourth time in the past two years - he put up a sign outside that says the following:

"Another break-in this morning. Stole our antique cash register. Change the leadership in our city. VOTE."

On the other side?

"Vote for a better San Francisco."

Falahati says this break-in was a tipping point for him. Even though the thieves didn't get away with any money, they got away with an item worth an incredible amount of sentimental value: an antique cash register.

"It's been here since 1968 - it hasn't moved from this spot. It's been in our family for the past 50 years. It has sentimental value to us and our customers," said Falahati.

By putting up the sign, he hoped to encourage people to stop, think, and understand that their voices matter when hoping to create change.

San Francisco resident Christen Alqueza weighed in and suggested a solution to be a piece of the city's approach to this complex issue.

"I would say, more social support programs for folks who are on the brink or feel like they have no choice and turn to committing crimes," she said.

"I feel like the break-ins are being used as like, a tool to ask for more law enforcement or more police presence in the area which I don't think will be that helpful."

Falahati believes if the city can address problems in other neighborhoods, it will benefit his neighborhood.

"The drug problem causes these types of thefts to continue. But it also causes police resources to be pulled out of the safer neighborhoods like the Inner Richmond, Outer Richmond, Sunset District, so they can attend to the issues going down in the Tenderloin and surrounding areas," he said.

Since the break-in, Falahati says elected officials and those running for office have reached out to him.

"We don't have any particular opinion of who should run or who should be the next leader or leaders of this city. What we do want is to have political leaders that can work together," he said.

"If you want to have any type of real change, you have to have leadership that can work together. Right now, they can't."

Despite the situation, Falahati doesn't have plans to leave. He says business has been good since he re-opened two years ago.

"We're not a neighborhood that is in crisis. We're a neighborhood that is trying to prevent things from getting worse. We want to keep things on the right track," he said.

"Inner Richmond has been great and remains great. It's the rest of the city that we're concerned about, and we just don't want this to continue to spread."

Crime overall in the Richmond District is down year-over-year, by 44.9%, per SFPD data. However, the data shows burglaries are down about 5% year-over-year.