San Diego business owners react to passing of Prop 36

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — On Tuesday, California voters overwhelmingly passed Prop 36, which would create harsher penalties for drug and theft crimes.

San Diego business owners say they desperately hoped this proposition would pass.

Walid Alraheb will be the first to tell you that owning and running a business doesn’t come easy.

He owns three businesses on El Cajon Boulevard: ABC Market and Deli, the Cage Smoke Shop, and Cage Three.

“It’s all over; these people are all over town, and they know exactly what the law is,” said Alraheb about thieves who steal from his store.

In addition to running his businesses, he says that in recent years, he and his employees have also had to keep an eye on thieves coming into the store and taking whatever they want.

“There’s a lot of people that they come, and we can’t even see them because we get super busy and we can’t even talk to them, and we know there is missing inventory, and we can’t do nothing about it,” says Alraheb.

When Alraheb heard Prop 36 passed with a 70 to 30 margin on Tuesday, he was thrilled. The proposition allows for felony charges for thefts under $950 for repeat offenders, as well as allowing felony charges for possessing certain drugs.

“Of course, less thieves, we’re going to save a lot of money of people stealing stuff, and we feel with this law that, we can at least call the police,” says Alraheb.

Opponents of the proposition argued passing the measure would lead to more crime, claiming it would waste money on prisons and divert funds from mental health and rehab programs.