Downtown Public Safety

At a glance

• What: Council concern about safety, open drug use, fighting and sanitation downtown, especially the Patton Avenue corridor, as the leaf and winter seasons approach.
• Where it stands: Discussed at the October 8 briefing; no vote or formal direction. Members asked for visible action steps and a review of past outreach outcomes.
• Next: A council member offered to meet with Council Member Hess and the city manager to develop action items.

Staff actions described

• Police e-bike and bike patrols downtown (not seen since about 2019, per a member), funded in the FY27 budget.
• Crime prevention through environmental design reviews of parks with the police chief; downtown ambassadors trained to report hazards and when to call police.
• The chief answered questions from about 50 business representatives at a business forum the prior Monday.

Requests from council

• Council Member Hess: a city-county partnership, restroom and sanitation stations, reinforcements from other agencies, dedicated mental health and case-management teams along the corridor, and a full accounting of tax dollars spent by nonprofits.
• Council Member Smith: review what has happened when people do not respond to interventions and what the next step is.

Sources

• https://youtube.com/watch?v=5lHSiRrfdpk (Council Agenda Briefing Worksession, 2026-10-08; auto-generated captions)

Discussion time

About 11 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Log

• 2026-10-08 - Council Agenda Briefing Worksession - Council Member Hess urged urgent action; staff described patrols and business outreach; no vote.