Business owners along North Monroe Street are raising concerns about the impact of crime and homelessness on their businesses. They met with county officials and representatives of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday to discuss next steps.
Roughly 60 attended the gathering organized by Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor, whose district covers much of the North Monroe corridor. He says while the sheriff and Tallahassee police are making progress in fighting crime there, they need help from the business owners.
“And it’s been a problem for awhile. We’ve got a lot of good investment coming into North Monroe -- that’s exciting,” Minor said. “But we’ve all got to work together. And these business owners are here to work with us, work with the Sheriff’s Office and TPD, to address the problem.”
The merchants listened intently as Captain Jimmy Goodman urged them to communicate more with law enforcement -- and with each other. He asked them to send him a list of their priorities and to meet with him one-on-one on their property. After the meeting, a line of attendees waited to speak with him. Here’s Goodman:
“I think it’s great because we’ve opened up the line of communication. We don’t need to hear the positives. We actually need to address the negatives, and that’s how we get things better,” he said. “Because if everybody says, ‘Oh, it’s great, you’re doing a great job,’ we’re not going to know how to address some of these situations.”
The group also discussed how to reduce human trafficking and homelessness in the area. Attendees included Sheriff Walt McNeil and Property Appraiser Akin Akinyemi.
Goodman can be reached at goodmanj@leoncountyfl.gov and (850) 606-3300.
