It hasn't been a good week for Willem Malten, owner of Santa Fe's Cloud Cliff Bakery and Cafe.
Malten announced over the weekend that Cloud Cliff will close after 25 years in business. And Tuesday morning, Malten arrived at his bakery-restaurant to find that every single piece of patio furniture had been stolen. That's about 30 chairs and four tables. A Buddha statue also was taken.
It was the third time Cloud Cliff was hit by thieves in the past few months.
Malten, who has said he's shutting down the Cloud Cliff because of soaring wheat prices and increased personnel costs from Santa Fe's living wage law, was about fed up with the City Different after the Tuesday thefts.
"This is a rinky-dink town that can't take care of its citizens," Malten said.
Around Christmas, burglars broke into Cloud Cliff and stole a safe and the cash inside of it. Three weeks ago, someone apparently walked in one morning during business hours and took money directly from the store register.
"Three robberies in five months," Malten said. "Who can afford that?"
"Vulturism is in," he added.
Malten last week told the Journal that the bakery's last day will be Sunday, when he will hold a farewell brunch for employees.
"It's not a pretty time for me right now," he said Tuesday.
Malten said he is "for the most part not bitter" overall and did say that the weekend car crash that took the life of Tibetan Buddhist scholar Lobsang Lhalungpa— who Malten called his teacher— has put him in a particularly emotional state.
But he did say his frustration with the city's cops and robbers is something that has been boiling since his store first was targeted.
"You feel like you're taking their time," said Malten of Santa Fe police. "I might as well drive around town to see if someone's unpacking some furniture."
Malten said police "never investigated" the incident where money was taken from his register. He also said when interviewed that he had not even bothered to call the police yet to report the missing patio furniture— although he said he probably will end up contacting them.
Deputy Chief Aric Wheeler sympathizes with Malten but rejects the notion that cops aren't doing their jobs.
"I'm sure he's got issues with the city right now," said Wheeler. "But we take all of these crimes very seriously. We try to follow-up on every case to try to solve these crimes."
Wheeler said his department is spread thin and is anxiously awaiting the City Council to approve a proposed plan to put more cops on the streets.
"We're suffering in terms of numbers," Wheeler said. "Our guys are working ourselves to death. We're trying to get more staff members.
"Why wouldn't we want to arrest these people? It alleviates things for us."
