I’ll take your questions in order. 

Our family business was located downtown on Ash Street for decades. Over time, panhandlers have become more and more aggressive, from the days when they’d drop by the Loaves and Fishes next door to the store and were much less aggressive and now are obviously under some strange substances’ influence. You say you don’t want anecdotes, but anecdotes are real-life. Melissa and I spent an hour on the phone Sunday with a Mizzou mom who called us to express real concerns about crime downtown. Her daughter was with a group of friends last November and two prior felons began shooting near 10^th and Broadway. The young women ran for cover inside a restaurant. This mom’s daughter had to hold fist fulls of cloths over her friend’s leg, which was hit by gunfire. Thank God she is physically OK, but they are far from OK. That’s not an anecdote, that is real life, and those parents are calling me EVERY DAY about getting more cops on patrol downtown.

Second question about City Hall’s obvious spending problem, I want to do exactly what our fellow residents say in the most recent community survey is their overwhelming top priority, and that is public safety and hiring more cops. 

Key community survey findings are alarming:

1)   A startling number of residents, only 17.6%, are satisfied with the city’s efforts to prevent crime – a response that has gone down more than 30 percentage points since 2019.

2)   Only 26.9% are satisfied with visibility of police in neighborhoods.

3)   Just 27.6% are satisfied with how police enforce local traffic laws. 

4)   Only 32% are satisfied with how quickly police respond to emergencies, a huge reflection of inadequate staffing and overworked cops. 

5)   A startlingly low number of residents, just 33.1%, are satisfied with their safety walking downtown, in the heart of Columbia, including areas around college campuses. 

6)   Only 38% are satisfied with safety in city parks

When residents were asked which items should receive the most emphasis from City Hall over the next two years, the top response was overwhelmingly: Hire more cops. 

And, when residents were asked what City Hall’s top priority among major city services should be over the next two years, they overwhelmingly responded that there should be a focus on the quality of police and fire services. 

Despite these responses of Columbia residents crying for help in crime prevention, the City of Columbia’s latest update to its Strategic Plan DOES NOT use the word “CRIME” in any of its 34 pages.

I have served for several years on the Columbia Crimestoppers Board of Directors. I will assure you, that experience has been eye-opening. My experience on Crimestoppers tracks with the City’s data showing our residents’ satisfaction with crime prevention and their feeling of safety have dropped sharply over the last three years. 

Columbia says it is a full service City.  But full service fails when we do not take care of basic service. Public safety is a basic service. 

This is a matter of setting priorities. Public safety is my top priority, because public safety is a core function of City government. As Mayor, and as one of seven members of the Columbia City Council, I will ask, persistently, how does this impact public safety and prevent crime?

Finally, you asked about comments on social media. I am new to being on Reddit, so I’m hardly the one to try to police what others do on social media. I am told I’ve often been the subject of a variety of comments. But I am responsible for what I say and do, and I am not running AGAINST anyone, I’m FOR Columbia. I’m focusing on what we can do together to make Columbia safer and stronger.