The State of downtown Greensboro

[citykidd]

On friday and saturday evenings downtown Greensboro is overrun by crowds of young and rowdy individuals, which makes for an intimidating enviroment. I have nothing against people having a good time, but there are far too many people with no constraint in such a small area (I just don't feel safe). I think their far too many clubs and drinking establishments, and not enough cultural attractions for our city center. What is your take on the State of downtown Greensboro, especially during the late evening?

[beyonce245]

On friday and saturday evenings downtown Greensboro is overrun by crowds of young and rowdy individuals, which makes for an intimidating enviroment. I have nothing against people having a good time, but there are far too many people with no constraint in such a small area (I just don't feel safe). I think their far too many clubs and drinking establishments, and not enough cultural attractions for our city center. What is your take on the State of downtown Greensboro, especially during the late evening?

[cityboi]

I will say that im amazed at how many people are in downtown Greensboro on the weekends at night. I see many people crowding the side walks with bumper to bumper traffic on Elm. At the same time there can be 70 to 100 people in center-city park and a few blocks away thousands of people are watching a baseball game. There are always going to be growing pains but I think downtown is headed in the right direction.

[sean]

the way you capitalized "The State of downtown Greensboro", i thought this was going to be one of those juicy secession rant/threads.... bummer.

[citykidd]

the way you capitalized "The State of downtown Greensboro", i thought this was going to be one of those juicy secession rant/threads.... bummer.

[DigitalSky]

On friday and saturday evenings downtown Greensboro is overrun by crowds of young and rowdy individuals, which makes for an intimidating enviroment. I have nothing against people having a good time, but there are far too many people with no constraint in such a small area (I just don't feel safe). I think their far too many clubs and drinking establishments, and not enough cultural attractions for our city center. What is your take on the State of downtown Greensboro, especially during the late evening?

[cityboi]

as Greensboro downtown nightlife continues to grow so does the crime.

In June 2005, the CCRT made 18 arrests in downtown Greensboro. Last month, the team made 122 arrests. The most drastic increase was in arrests for alcohol-related charges.

"There are literally tens of thousands of people on the street in downtown Greensboro."

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.a...28&catid=57

[crowe1856]

"There are literally tens of thousands of people on the street in downtown Greensboro."

Well, let's get some of these people living & working downtown rather than acting like drunk tourists!

After all, the host is rarely the one who trashes the place during a party.

[krazeeboi]

Sounds like Greensboro has its own version of Mardi Gras going on during the weekends, LOL.

[cityboi]

It got serious this morning when a man was shot and killed outside of Club Rain nightclub, which is a hip hop nightclub. There was a stabbing at this same night club a month ago. in this case I imagine it drug related because the shooting happened around 4:00 am this morning when the club was closed. This also happened less than a block away from where the luxury hotel is being proposed. They may have to shut this place down. I see why the city wants to invest in cameras in the downtown area. These are the growing pains Greensboro must face for its downtown. The Greensboro police department should learn from the mistakes of other cities that have vibrant nightlifes.

[Beany]

Hip hop clubs typically do not stay open very long. If the club was closed though when this happened the club shouldn't hold responsibility. That is unless the club had just closed.

Where the club is at though is pretty scary imo. It is at the end of street which isn't more than an alley. It is pretty well secluded.

[beyonce245]

If this club has shown a history of crime-related incidents, I think the city should use the full weight of its authority and power to shut it down.

That goes for any business that is a haven for crime. But I don't think we can say this happened just because it was a hip hop club. The owner of the new Lotus club, which is also geared towards hip hop, is a veteran nightclub promotor and is on record as having staffed his club with the security personnel necessary to make it a safe venue.

IMO, it comes down to who runs the business. And if they don't want to put the money in to make it a safe environment, the city should shut it down without second thoughts.

[Beany]

At 4 a.m. was the club even open? It seems to me unless the club just closed it wouldn't be fair to be too hard on the club owners. If the club owners are leasing the building then it falls more on the responsibility of the property owner for what happens during non-business hours. Either way though the city has shown in the past they will cease a property they deem a nuisance to the community.

[cityboi]

I agree the law should apply to all whether its hip hop or some other kind of nightclub. But there is a culture around hip hop in general that thrives on violence. Its not a black or white thing either so its not about race. There have been a few nightclubs in recent history that had to be shut down by the city and in both cased where incidents occurred, it involved the hip hop culture. This is not the case with all hip hop clubs though. A lot of it has to do with club management and a partnership with the police department. Dress codes help. Also I don't know if this is legal or not but I would set an age limit to a more mature crowd in this case (26 and up?). as the owner I would also limit the type of hip hop thats played. Some hip hop songs promote violence and illegal activities while others don't. There should be ZERO tolerance for trouble in these establishments. But there are challenges when you have a few thousand people at any kind of nightclub., especially when there is a lot of alcohol involved. If this continues to become a problem the city could enact ordinance in the future that would limit the size and capacity of nightclubs. It only takes a few incidents to spoil it for everyone. But in this particular case, the incident happened when the club was closed. I don't think it would have been open on Sunday night but I could be wrong.

[Beany]

I was a little off on the location of this club. I didn't realize it actually does front Lee Street which does put it just a block down from the South Elm redevelopment area.

Apparently the police have been called to this location lots of times in the past year. I don't see it staying open long now that it has drawn media attention.

[cityboi]

I was a little off on the location of this club. I didn't realize it actually does front Lee Street which does put it just a block down from the South Elm redevelopment area.

Apparently the police have been called to this location lots of times in the past year. I don't see it staying open long now that it has drawn media attention.

[Beany]

I agree. It sounds like it should have been shut down a long time ago.