STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – So, is this the perception of crime or actual crime?

Owners of Staten Island restaurants and other business know the difference. They know that crime is real because their establishments have been relentlessly targeted over the last several months.

The latest damage was discovered last Tuesday. Glass doors at three shops in West Brighton were smashed in during the early morning hours.

Among the establishments hit was Nurnberger Bierhaus on Castleton Avenue. A cash register was removed and was later found blocks away.

Nurnberger had the week before closed its doors for good after nearly two decades in operation. A robbery is a sad farewell for this neighborhood mainstay.

Also broken into that morning were Killah Coffee on Castleton Avenue and Northside Coffee on Forest Avenue. Nothing appeared to have been taken from these last two locations although both properties were damaged.

There has been a string of 23 break-ins at Staten Island businesses over the past several months, including restaurants, delis and bagel stores. Many of the establishments hit are in the Forest Avenue area but damage has been seen elsewhere on the North Shore as well.

One area restaurant owner said that they’d been considering getting a gun for protection. That’s real fear about real crime. This is not just a perception that things are bad, as Mayor Eric Adams and others have said. Things actually are bad out there.

During an attempted robbery of Bagels Bread & Butter on Forest Avenue, one of the two accused crooks brandished a machete and threw it at an NYPD lieutenant responding to the scene.

District Attorney Michael E. McMahon sought $300,000 bail on each defendant in that case. But Judge Raja Rajeswari denied the request and set supervised release.

Thanks very much, bail-reform advocates.

If somebody who uses a machete while committing a crime and then throws the machete at a cop isn’t worthy of being locked up, who is? McMahon was right when he said that the case “goes to show just how broken our system is.”

Criminal offenders know that they have little to fear from the justice system even if they’re caught in the act of committing a crime. New York State’s Democratic lawmakers would rather virtue signal and side with criminals than with crime victims, including small-business owners.

Other business owners have blamed neighborhood drug users for some of the crime.

We can also lay that at the feet of New York Democrats, who have not only turned a blind eye toward hard-drug use on the streets, but have actually encouraged it by setting up legal drug-injection sites.

Criminals have gotten a clear message: Do as you please. You won’t be held accountable. We’re all seeing the consequences of that writ large, including here in the safest borough in New York City.

The last couple of years have been tough for Staten Island business owners, particularly those in the restaurant business.

They have struggled to get their businesses and profits back to the levels that were seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve faced ever-rising prices driven by inflation. They’ve suffered serious staff shortages.

Now they have to fear random break-ins and violence.

It wasn’t always like this, of course. There was a time when New York City kept crime at historic lows, a time when even those who’s committed petty crimes suffered at least some consequences.

It seems like a very long time ago indeed.

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