Pierson says one way to encourage more development on the avenue is to hold farmer’s markets or bring street food vendors here like in downtown. He says that will bring more foot traffic to the area.
“It’s like this. If more numbers come down of solid people and they see the solid people, then it makes them less afraid,” he said.
That’s exactly what a coalition of city agencies and neighborhood groups are trying to achieve. Law enforcement agencies, like the city attorney’s office focuses on prosecuting some of the so-called ‘non-solid’ people.
Martha Holton Demick manages the criminal division of the city attorney’s office. She and her colleagues prosecute so-called livability crimes like public drinking, urination, prostitution, and non-felony drug offenses. Those are the crimes, Demick says, that make people feel unsafe.
