“It’s a daily issue”: Restaurant says homeless are taking over outdoor patio

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Spinn’s Burger and Beer, near Coors and Montaño, has been grilling up specialty burgers for more than a decade in Albuquerque. It’s something the owner, Michael Spinn, takes pride in. “This is my retirement,” Spinn said.

But he says lately, this isn’t the retirement he pictured. Recently, he’s been dealing with one problem after another. On the inside of the restaurant, it’s business as usual, but the real problems are outside on their patio, where the homeless have taken over.

“It’s a daily issue. Each day we come out here, there’s obviously been homeless people sleeping. We have to clean up the needles. There’s tinfoil out here where they’re heating up their drugs.”

Spinn says the homeless are not only leaving drugs and trash behind but stealing everything in sight, like the light bulbs out of the fixtures. “I bought solar lights in the back because it’s a little dark, and they took those. They take everything.”

Spinn now has his tables locked down and his chairs locked up. He has even had to powerwash some days to clean up after the homeless use the restroom. And Spinn says it’s not just a problem at night. “They’re starting to show up in the middle of the day (and) we have to keep running them off. Yesterday they were out here, a guy was without a shirt. He was higher than a kite.”

Spinn says at this point, they have no other option but to enclose the patio with tall gates and special fencing. A space that brings in big business for the restaurant. “It’s not even so much of the money, while that is a problem, it’s just, man, it just makes you not want to be here. You come in each day, and something’s wrong. Okay, what’s wrong today.”

On top of the homeless issue, the restaurant was broken into a few weeks ago for the fourth time. The suspect or suspects got away with thousands of dollars. Just days after Spinn got the door fixed, three BB gun marks were left on the new door.

Spinn has decided, moving forward, the business will no longer accept or keep cash in the restaurant due to the recent issues. “They don’t care, they’re not afraid of the police, they’re not afraid of me or anybody else, they just do their thing.”