Candidate gets first-hand experience in need for public safety

At a candidates' forum in West Roxbury tonight, pretty much all the candidates for mayor and city council named public safety as one of their top priorities.

Ramon Soto, running for an at-large seat on the City Council, had a rather immediate reason to do so: He was late for the forum because his wallet had been stolen while he was at dinner before the forum.

Soto said he was having dinner at a South Boston restaurant when he felt something. "I should have turned around," he said. But he didn't, at least, not until he reached for his wallet to pay for dinner and discovered it was missing.

Soto said he looked around the restaurant exterior on the hopes the pickpocket had at least dropped the wallet there. But he found nothing, so he had to call to cancel his credit and bank cards and then file a report with police. He praised C-6's quick response and said the restaurant has surveillance cameras, so he's optimistic the thief will be caught.