There have been 7 total ‘possession of illegal weapons’/‘illegally carrying concealed weapons’ charges on Glenwood Ave so far 2024.
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This is the local version of this conversation:
Rising murders in 2020-2021 were a huge news story. The fact that over 100% of that increase has reversed is a non-story in a world dominated by negativity and doomer narratives.
And it’s not just murder, we’ve had a lot of good public health news:
— Traffic fatalities started falling
— Covid deaths are way down
— We’re finally making real progress on obesity!
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You’ll probably have to be more specific about this, as in, share with us your filter.
Everyone, stats have to be real specific and properly cited. For example, I have my Glenwood South crime tracker app that I built years ago. If we’re talking weapons, I see we’re up to 53 incidents year-to-date. That means the incidents reported took place within the capture area that I defined. If you define Glenwood South to be different, you’ll get different numbers.
What’s important, I think anyway, are trends and yes, as stated earlier, the narrative/perception. AFTER the police put us on a good path, how can we change the narrative about GS and Moore Square?
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His stats paint a safer narrative so I’ll just go with those. Not really interested in accuracy or facts.
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I filtered it by “Weapons/Carry Concealed Weapon” and “Weapons/Illegal Possession of Weapon” reported in 2024, on Glenwood between Peace St and Morgan St, give or take a block to each side (using a hand drawn area filter that is not saved).
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Perception is everything. If people don’t feel safe or comfortable they won’t support the downtown and ultimately cause continued ‘max exodus’ as so eloquently described here. We can post metrics and stats all day, but perception is real and it’s what drives people to, and from, downtown.
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I was going to post the same thing but decided to just let it go. It looks like the search was for just Glenwood avenue. I went back and looked at a 2 week period in January and there were 4 in the Glenwood South area.
But the bigger picture is things are apparently improving, which is all that really matters. I know last year there was a huge crackdown on the weekends with a large police presence in that area. I’m hoping that the lower numbers is because there are less people carrying illegal weapons and not just because the crackdown is over.
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Just an fyi, Capital Club 16 isn’t closing due to crime in downtown.
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That’s not what this article leads you to believe…
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I was referring to RaleighSouths comment above the article that they posted.
Right, because news media isn’t known to sensationalize and twist truths and spin stories into emotionally reactive opinion pieces EVER, right? lmao
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I’ll take “Two things that aren’t even remotely related being slapped together for sensationalism” for 500, Alex
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Again, perception that’s being created about downtown, which is driving folks + money to other parts of the city. The owner of Flourish Market, quoted in the article, alluded to the fact that her feedback and needs were not being met downtown and foot traffic had tanked - but now she is seeing the rewards of moving out of downtown…. That’s tough.
Revenue per business is a metric worth reporting on, regardless of how ‘little’ crime we have. Without businesses we would have no downtown. Listen to the folks that have invested in downtown by establishing a business or they will go somewhere else.
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They have decided to take their business in another direction for a multitude of reasons.
To say that downtown doesn’t have a growing problem is laughable when all indicators point to a business community that wants out and crying for help due to decreasing revenue. Crime is just one pillar of continued issues that the City needs to address. It all adds up to a downward spiral. It’s not this, or that… it’s all of the above.
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These numbers are from June 2023. Downtown retail/restaurants have far more openings than closings over this time period. I am willing to bet it will be the same when the report comes out this summer. It’s laughable that you keep saying crime is increasing when RPD just reported a huge decline in crime across the whole city and especially around Glenwood South and Moore Sq.
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He’s not saying crime is increasing, he’s saying people THINK crime is increasing, which is probably true.
And that the perception is leading to lower foot traffic, which is hurting some businesses. Hopefully all of these openings pan out and we can turn the story around!
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I’ll wait for the State of Downtown 2024 numbers to either confirm this perception or to show that is completely blown out of proportion. I believe it will be the latter.
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I don’t think crime is increasing. I think crime is a pillar of issue for downtown that needs to be addressed along with other issues that lead to perceptions keeping the disposable income crowd from support downtown businesses.
The fact that we have to employ a private security brigade downtown with UTVs flying around rolling 3+ officers deep doesn’t create a great sense of safety. Metrics or no metrics.
Would I gamble and invest in downtown Raleigh to start a business given the state of current affairs when there are other options? Not today. I hope that changes.
For the record. I spend most weekends downtown. But the perception is real and impactful.
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Just so that we are aware of how data can be manipulated to fit a narrative, consider the following example
In year 1 there is 1 murder.
In year 2 there are 2 murders.
In year 2 the murder rate is up 100%
In year 3 there is 1 murder.
In year 3 the murder rate is down 50%.
Point is that specific data often doesn’t tell the entire story.
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I definitely hear the death spiral concerns - I just think people are looking for a scapegoat and settling on a crime problem that is blown incredibly out of proportion. My perception is that revenues and foot traffic have never fully recovered from COVID largely due to a decrease in office use and the increasing availability of other mixed use, walkable locations in the Triangle for folks to take their business (I think Flourish is the best example of this. The warehouse district isn’t really mentioned when people talk about crime, and it’s pretty isolated from Fayetteville st in terms of foot traffic - but they probably got a better deal on rent and a pretty generous TIA from Grubb to jump out of a smaller downtown space and lept at the opportunity.
Also agree with Evan’s point above that the lack of foot traffic is only going to be fixed with more residential options in the immediate vicinity and the ability to access different parts of downtown quickly and easily without driving/parking - short of that or real concessions by landlords on annual rent, you’re just rearranging the deck chairs.
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