CINCINNATI — Mayor Aftab Pureval invited Over-the-Rhine business owners on and near Main Street to a roundtable discussion on how to improve safety in the area after nine people were shot on Sunday.
Business owners said they felt like the meeting was productive.
"I think the meeting was constructive," said Christy Wulfson, owner of Saeso and Indio Design. "I think it’s important for people to feel heard and make sure that all of the issues are aired before solutions are put in place and so we did a mix of that today as well as proposing some solutions."
The meeting lasted longer than an hour as business owners voiced their concerns and expressed ideas on how to solve some of the issues.
“The mayor, and the police chief, and the District 1 captain seem to have a plan they’re going to put in place,” said Tim Fuller of Tim’s Picks. “Long-term ideas were addressed, some were surveillance issues and more cameras. The focus from the mayor and police were on short-term issues."
Wulfson and Fuller said they feel confident the police have a plan in place to address safety concerns. Wulfson said she felt like it was clear everyone at the meeting cared about Main Street.
“I think Main Street is a really great and also complicated place,” she said. "It’s an urban and a developing environment that I think that we’re really lucky to have in Cincinnati that played a really important role in what Cincinnati as a city has to offer."
Fuller said his shop has been open on Main Street for years and he doesn’t plan to leave.
“Being on Main Street there’s no other street I would want to live on and I’ll be here through thick and thin,” he said.
Others, though, have spoken about wanting to stay away from the area following the shooting. Wulfson said it’s now even more important to support the businesses on Main Street and noted no business owner is responsible for what happens outside their business.
“I also do think it’s important to recognize that a lot of the violence that’s happened isn’t associated with any specific business at all and it’s an unfortunate side effect sometimes of reporting that a name gets attached or one business gets attached to something that’s happened,” Wulfson said.
Business owners said the mayor plans to be on Main Street Friday and Saturday between midnight and 2:30 a.m., around the time Sunday's shooting took place, too see what happens in the area firsthand.
