HAZLETON -- The Hazleton Shopping Plaza on Broad Street is known to be a busy place in the city. Lately it's been popular not only with shoppers, but also vandals.
"I don't know what has spiked the vandalism in the area. It seems like every time we come here, every day we have to do something that's attributed to somebody else's vandalism," said plaza owner Edward Coss.
Coss owns the plaza, his crews repaired two pillars Wednesday that were recently damaged by vandals. After that they'll be working on replacing windows that vandals shot at with pellet guns.
Some windows in the back of the plaza were blown out completely, while others in the front still have holes in them.
"The integrity of the windows have been damaged, therefore they have to be replaced even if there's only just a small hole."
In just the last two weeks, Coss estimates the total damage at just over $100,000.
"There's just so much vandalism that's going on. We're absorbing it. We are doing our best to be able to keep up with it. Only time will tell on how long we could actually put up with it."
"I mean it's just really sad. Especially for small businesses and anyone who's trying to work hard and do well. For people to take advantage of that is terrible," shopper Michelle Zuchecki said.
Hazleton police are investigating the vandalism, but have no suspects yet.
"When these things occur, they occur at the night time when people aren't around. Unfortunately our patrols found the after effects of it, but haven't had the opportunity to catch the people in place," Hazleton Police Lt. Ken Zipovsky said.
The shopping plaza owner plans to install a new security system with better cameras in hopes of helping police catch and stop the vandals.
