Another armed robbery at Willows market Another armed robbery at Willows market (April 20, 2005)

** Residents to ask city to outlaw check-cashing in markets near residential areas.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

With armed robbers striking again at the La Hacienda Market in Menlo Park -- this time at 10 a.m. Saturday -- fearful neighbors are calling for action from city officials.

The April 16 incident, in which four men with handguns and dark fabric masks reportedly took an undisclosed amount of money from two cash register clerks, is the fifth armed robbery at the market at 1933 Menalto Ave. since September 2003, according to police.

Residents of the Willows neighborhood are worried, and discussion on an online newsgroup has grown heated.

Most concerns are centering on the market's check-cashing counter, which residents say is attracting the violence.

"This market is a target and it will continue to be a target," one wrote in a newsgroup message, citing the large amounts of cash involved in a check-cashing business.

Others urged Willows residents to attend the April 19 City Council meeting en masse and ask the council to pass an ordinance to ban check-cashing from stores under 10,000 square feet and within 1,000 square feet of a residential community.

Such a move, though, would not affect existing check-cashing counters; they would simply be grandfathered in as "legal nonconforming" operations, City Attorney Bill McClure said. Banning an existing use would be a dramatic step and would require the city to financially compensate the business for lost revenue, he said.

In another approach, city officials have been working with market owners to improve security. The owners have said they're taking steps such as upgrading video surveillance systems and outside lighting.

Some residents have supported those efforts, saying that the market, which provides a wide array of Mexican foods, is an asset to the neighborhood. Others would like to see the market gone altogether.

Meanwhile, Menlo Park police have said there has been a series of recent robberies in markets where checks are cashed. For instance, the Mi Rancho Supermarket at 812 Willow Road in Menlo Park was also robbed, on March 25.

In Saturday's robbery at La Hacienda, the four suspects were described as dark-skinned men wearing dark hooded sweatshirts and dark pants, Menlo Park Police Sgt. Van Trask said in a press release.

After taking the cash, the four men left through the front door and ran through the parking lot toward the rear of the market, Sgt. Trask said. No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the police department at 330-6300 or the department's anonymous tip line at 330-6395.

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