SALT LAKE CITY — It was only three months ago when Adam Tageldin opened ‘9th Street Coffee and Donuts’ in Salt Lake City.
“I actually just live two houses over, so when this place became available, I was super excited to open a donut shop," he said. “People get excited when they get a donut; it changes how they feel. They're happy, they're excited.”
Two weeks ago, Tageldin's neighbors around the corner on Washington Street woke up and found their pride flags cut from their homes and in ashes on the sidewalk.
This week, a similar incident happened again.
“I check my camera and saw just a single piece of white ribbing hanging down, and I can see the flag on the ground," said Allen Thacker.
The neighborhood is right off of Harvey Milk Boulevard: the street named after the gay rights activist who was shot and killed in the late 70s. Many consider it Salt Lake City’s unofficial LGBTQ plus district.
“It's really about being open-minded," said Tageldin. "It's turned into a very fun neighborhood. There's a lot of nightlife around here and restaurants.”
The mayor’s office came and replaced the pride flags, on both occasions, but Thacker still feels violated, he said.
“Pretty disheartening seeing someone just come through and not really care about people's personal property," he said.
Police still haven’t identified a correlation between the hate crime two weeks ago and this week’s vandalism, but it feels like the neighborhood is being targeted, said Thacker.
“I wish something would be done to actually stop it from occurring at all," he said. "I'm worried about maybe something more happening next time or, you know, it escalating. I just kind of want us to be left alone for a while.”
