One More Bites the Dust

Another violent crime occurred on Broad Street Saturday night on the same block where a daylight murder took place only days ago. I'm not sure if this was a random crime or the result of a dispute, but City leaders need to move aggressively and clear the bad guys out of here. This section of Broad is becoming notorious and lies just between the convention center, Centerstage area and the gallery/restaurant district on West Broad. No hotel manager in their right mind is going to send a customer for a stroll down Broad. For Richmond to be a livable walkable city it is going to have to be safe to do so, both in perception and reality. Right now it is neither. All affected parties, business, restaurants, residents and transit users need to demand the city take action. They know who a lot of these bad guys are. They can't arrest them for just standing around, but they can a must increase their street presence and encourage the bad guys to take their business elsewhere. All the progress that has been made recently downtown stands at risk. The millions of dollars recently invested and the future progress of downtown stand in the balance.