Downtown Columbia businesses, leaders address safety after fatal shooting
Haley Swaino
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Ethan Jones has owned MindRight Wellness in downtown Columbia for five years. He said he came into work Monday with a heavy heart after shooting on Saturday morning left one student dead and injured two others just a few stores down.
“It’s definitely a heavy energy,” Jones said. “It’s emotional, you know.”
He said the downtown he knows and loves is not the same as it once was.
“I read it on all the Facebook comments, ‘Oh, downtown, you’re going to get shot,’ and all this crazy stuff. But now, people obviously would feel that way for a reason or two,” Jones said.
He said when the sun sets and bar open, that’s when it seems crime is the worst downtown.
“I think over time we’re losing that uniqueness of what downtown is and has and what it was,” Jones said. “And the idea of not being able to have families feel like they could come down here and walk around and hang out and just chill for the day and get good food, have some good retail. Because a lot of people don’t want to come.”
ABC 17 News spoke with many downtown businesses Monday after the shooting, but most did not want to comment on-record about the violence.
City leaders, including Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude, and University of Missouri President Mun Choi came together Monday afternoon to address safety. At that table, was the Downtown Community Improvement District.
ABC 17 News spoke with Executive Director for The District Nickie Davis after the meeting, who said conversations were productive.
“I think that some of the issues that we’re seeing is stuff that’s going to be addressed soon,” Davis said.
Downtown CID houses the Columbia Police Department substation and works closely with them on safety needs.
“We knew that we had issues at bar close, so we bought some light poles with special lighting in them that can raise to daylight level whenever CPD needs them,” Davis said.
At Monday’s meeting, a proposal that Downtown CID had been pushing for was discussed.
“We have been trying to get the city and MU to sign for safety ambassadors at night,” Davis said. “It looks like that hopefully will be moving forward.”
Downtown CID is also pushing for the city to bring back a downtown unit of walking patrol officers. Davis says that was cut in recent years due to funding and staffing shortages.
“Adding more police officers isn’t always the answer. We need to figure out what are other steps, which I think is what CPD and the city are doing,” Davis said.
Davis and many other city leaders are headed to a leadership retreat Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina, where she says discussions about safety initiatives will continue. The retreat lasts through Thursday.