I actually did not realize that the Raleigh downtown area, really, the center part if you look at a map, was slowly getting dangerous like so many other Democrat run cities. I rarely go down that way, and, if I do, it’s specifically to someplace during the day. I do not go there to eat or the bars. I haven’t been in that area at night since the early Obama years. Closest I might get is the 42nd St Oyster Bar (very good). Apparently there are issues
‘Something every night’: Raleigh’s downtown has turned scary for visitors and workers
Kirstin Mulqueeny, a bartender in downtown Raleigh, sent us a letter that was more than a comment.
It was a plea.
She wrote, “Raleigh appears cut from the pages of a dystopian post-apocalyptic film, and the people who will be casualties are screaming from the rooftops for help. No one hears us.”
Mulqueeny works at Zenith, a bar on Fayetteville Street in the heart of Raleigh’s business district. The once-booming area has struggled to recover from the loss of office workers and foot traffic since the pandemic hit in early 2020.
With cranes rising over downtown Raleigh as residential high-rises are constructed, the old bustle may yet return. But for now, Mulqueeny said, the street after dark is an unsettling mix of roving youths, homeless people, panhandlers and people selling and using drugs. She said the police are rarely seen.
Mulqueeny, a 38-year-old mother of three who has worked at Raleigh bars for years, said the district feels unsafe as a place to work or visit. Anger and fear moved her to write to the paper.
It’s not quite Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco, and, if the Democratic mayor doesn’t do something she might well find herself gone. She so far hasn’t appeared to be a far-far left crazy like in the other cities, so, we’ll see.
Alexis Himes, 27, quit her bartending job at Zenith’s neighboring bar, The Big Easy, out of frustration with what she called the “sketchy” environment. Groups camp out at the bar’s patio tables and employees are afraid to ask them to leave. One man threatened to stab her. Last week, a group of masked men, at least one of them armed, invaded The Big Easy just after closing time and forced the manager to empty the safe.
What is the city recommending? This is where it gets dumb
“We’ve received a number of complaints from downtown businesses and residents,” mayor Mary Ann Baldwin said. “Many have asked if private security is an option.”
She tells them it is. The city is working with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, a group supported by downtown businesses, to contract with a private security company to provide additional patrols in the district.
They won’t be armed, so, the youths and others will ignore them, and, maybe assault them
Other steps are planned. Street lighting will be added and community organizers will be recruited to give young people an alternative to roaming the district.
Baldwin said mayors across the nation have told her her they’re facing similar problems in downtown districts that have lost activity since the pandemic. But letting the vacuum foster criminal behavior isn’t an option.
“This is all unacceptable and we’ve got to do something about it,” she said.
There should already be lots of street lights. That’s what we pay taxes for. Community organizers? They’ll get beat up. If she wants to do something, well, surge the police. Stop and frisk. Arrest and charge, prosecute. You don’t have to necessarily jail them, but, how about some community service, doing things like cleaning the streets and hard labor? When the youths make accusations against the cops, well, you have the body cams and you can have those community organizers videoing to say “yeah, the youths are lying.”
In fairness, it’s still safer than most Dem run cities, especially ones like Durham.
Meanwhile
Weighing more than 100 pounds, big cats have long reigned over this hot and semi-arid region of Brazil, developing tougher paws for the scorched earth and reaching speeds of 50 miles an hour to bring down wild boar and deer.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced last week that his administration is exploring a city-owned grocery store as a means of promoting “equitable” access to food, though the plan has drawn criticism from skeptics of a government owned and operated store.
California sued some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies on Friday, alleging that they misled consumers for decades about their products’ role in contributing to climate change.
Mykail James has a plan for when payments on her roughly $75,000 in student loans restart next month. She’ll cut back on her “fun budget” — money reserved for travel and concerts — and she expects to limit her holiday spending.
Socialist state lawmakers in New York want tax increases to pay for migrants flooding into New York City as the area struggles to accommodate them.
Pirates are taking over the Oakland Estuary Marinas. Yes, pirates. And local and federal authorities says it’s getting so bad – the U.S. Coast Guard is deploying help to patrol the area.
