Tuesday’s community meeting may not have gone exactly as planned.
The meeting, worked out between The Princess Theater owner Bart Lawrence and his attorneys, neighborhood watch leader Julie Parker and city police and administration, was meant to hash out ideas for a final solution to improve safety downtown — particularly down the corridor along Fifth Street from Main Street to Columbus Light and Water.
An early-morning shooting on March 19 near The Princess nightclub prompted the meeting. Last week, Lawrence conceded to close The Princess’ theater portion, which cut his business capacity from 488 to 163, and move the business’ closing time to 10 p.m., rather than 1:30 a.m.
While there was some discussion of ideas in the almost two-hour meeting in the second floor Frank P. Phillips YMCA conference room, there was also plenty of finger-pointing at everyone from city officials and police to The Princess.
Citizens at the meeting questioned why the Columbus Police Department is understaffed, asked officials why it took until after March 19’s shooting — in which five vehicles parked downtown were hit but no one was injured — to take action and why crowds couldn’t be dispersed from The Princess. Tyler King, a former worker at The Princess, sharply criticized Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner for what he believed to be a lack of knowledge of his ward — which includes the downtown nightclub — and questioned why the city didn’t do anything after Turner said he noticed sparse police presence downtown long before the incident near The Princess.
One citizen praised the CPD’s presence at The Princess last weekend, but said it felt like “too little, too late.”
Toby Garrard, a local business owner, suggested people be aware of their surroundings and work with law enforcement to help curtail crime. He also asked people to put up “We are watching” Columbus Crime Watch signs, but other citizens quickly shot the suggestion down as ineffective.
Toward the end of the meeting, Mayor Robert Smith asked the crowd of roughly 50 people to try to work together.
“We all can sit here and point the finger,” Smith said. “That’s not going to solve anything. In order to bring some consistency to this, it’s going to take all of us working together for one common goal.”
Proposals
Shane Tompkins, who is representing The Princess along with Mark Jackson, said the club’s problems likely stemmed from too many people converging on the business at once. With the theater portion now closed, Tompkins said Lawrence is hoping the safety concerns that come with big crowds will be reduced or eliminated.
“When you opened up the theater and had those events, there were 300 extra people,” Tompkins said. “Next thing you know there were 400 people there and people out in the street. And honestly, maybe Bart and them didn’t know how to control it because you can’t control it once it gets out on that sidewalk.”
Tompkins suggested the city consider “stair-stepping” the restaurant hours to allow them to gradually move back from the 10 p.m. closing time if there aren’t further problems. For example, if everything goes smoothly after a set period, The Princess could close at 10:30 p.m., then 11 p.m. and so on.
“We’ll close the theater down — we agree to that,” Tompkins said. “We’ll leave the bar open, leave the time like it is, and obviously by closing the theater we hope everybody gets what we want, which is crowd control. Then we look at it in two weeks, then a month, then six weeks and eight weeks.”
Smith, later in the meeting, acknowledged the city council would have the ultimate decision on the matter but suggested he might be open to considering the stair-stepping approach.
“I’m just one person, and when it all comes down to it, it’ll be up to the council,” Smith said. “But I think we need to put a certain time on it. If it’s going to be (10 a.m.-10 p.m.), then let’s say three to six months. If things look better after three to six months, then we’ll look at raising it. That’s just from my standpoint. That’s what I would like to see.”
Jackson said Lawrence and his attorneys will meet with city officials today to try to work out further details on a solution.
Police Chief: Princess’ accountability doesn’t stop at club’s door
Police Chief Oscar Lewis suggested The Princess’ accountability doesn’t necessarily stop at the edge of its property. He also said The Princess needs to turn people away when it’s over capacity, rather than letting crowds build on the street.
“You can have two-member patrols of security officers around just seeing if there’s anything going on, along with our officers doing things up there to see that things are safe,” he said. “Your responsibility, in my opinion, doesn’t just stop after a building. Even though you don’t have arrest powers, you can get on the phone and call us and let us know what you see and what’s going on.”
Tompkins said he’s open to any suggestions, but he expressed concern about creating civil liability for The Princess.
Smith also noted — as he did at the Columbus Rotary Club’s meeting earlier in the day — the city is taking other steps to try to help curtail issues in the area.
He said the city has installed three 400-watt lights at the corner of Fifth Street South and Third Avenue and across from The Princess. Smith said the city will also install two 400-watt bulbs and one 1,000-watt bulb on poles throughout the city’s central business district, which stretches from the CLW building to Franklin Academy and from city hall to the Tennessee Williams welcome center. The city is also working to install security cameras along Fifth Street South from CLW to Main Street.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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