Nonprofit seeks to replace vandalized tree, nutcrackers
SAN LEANDRO >> A community benefit district said it is raising money to replace multiple holiday decorations damaged by vandals last weekend.
In a statement last week, the Downtown San Leandro Community Benefit District said someone broke into a storage space Oct. 17 that holds its 20-foot Christmas tree and more than 20 6-foot-tall Fiberglas-constructed nutcracker statues.
Fifteen of the nutcrackers, valued at about $16,000, were destroyed, district executive director Morgan Mack-Rose said.
“When I walked in and saw the nutcrackers strewn about the floor, my heart just sank,” Mack-Rose said. “The nutcrackers signal the start of the holiday season here in San Leandro. Families walk or bike all around downtown to find them and if they aren’t there this year, there will be a lot of disappointed kiddos.”
According to the district statement, money raised by letting businesses sponsor nutcracker installations helps cover some yearround event costs.
“Our small businesses have struggled so much over the past 19 months with COVID. We had plans to use the nutcracker funds for a ‘welcome back’ event in the spring,” district Board of Directors President Emily Griego said. “It feels like one step forward, two steps backward.”
Police said an investigator with the department’s property-crimes division began working the case after district staff filed a crime report late Monday morning and that anyone with information may call the department’s administrative assistant bureau at 510-577-0612.
“It is unfortunate that someone would vandalize the nutcrackers knowing the holiday season is upon us,” San Leandro police Lt. Matt Barajas said. “The nutcrackers were a special part of downtown San Leandro and added to the ambiance of the decorations that are used each year to decorate the city of San Leandro.”
A GoFundMe online fundraising campaign set up Wednesday has raised nearly $2,400 toward a hoped-for $16,000 total. The campaign is available at gofundme. com/f/the-grinch-came-early-thisyear.