Another downtown business owner is voicing concerns over crime and homelessness near his building.
Robert Fragasso has been a financial advisor downtown for over 50 years, and tells the Big K Morning Show he hasn't seen meaningful action to address the increasing issues.
“I hate seeing it because I love the city but I also hate seeing it because I built my business over 50 years and it is being ruined in a very short period of time unfortunately, downtown,” said Fragasso.
He says his clients don’t want to go downtown.
He points to a police department struggling with staffing, and asked for more aggressive efforts to recruit them. He also wants to see a greater partnership between law enforcement and social services.
But he says he has yet to see any meaningful help.
“Action is not being taken, it needs to be nuanced, it needs to segregate the people who are causing the problem and the people who are truly needy versus the criminal element and they need to be dealt with separately, but there’s no action being taken,” said Fragasso.
The city says it has been working to launch a new downtown public safety center and increase staffing to the area.