ROANOKE, Va. – Safety concerns continue to loom over downtown Roanoke, as local business owners and residents express mixed feelings about improvements and ongoing issues.
While some say there have been positive changes, including a greater police presence, many still feel that more action is needed to address crime and the growing number of people experiencing homelessness.
10 News spoke with several local businesses, many of which have been dealing with safety concerns for the past couple of years. Bob Fetzer, president of Building Specialist Incorporated, shared that while his company has operated downtown for nearly 30 years without major issues, the situation has changed in recent years.
“We did the renovations and the work here almost 30 years ago. We have not, in general, had any major problems, but in the last couple of years, we’ve had shootings into windows and people breaking into the building,” Fetzer said. “It was really out of the norm.”
Parker Midyette, superintendent of Building Specialist Incorporated, moved to Roanoke a little over a year ago but said his experiences nearly prompted him to leave the city.
“I had a guy break into the building when I was in there at night, broke a window downstairs, and came all the way up around 2 a.m. It was pretty nerve-wracking. I was close to moving back home, but the police chief reached out to me and eased all our nerves,” Midyette said. “Since that last incident, it’s been about 8 months since we last had a break-in.”
People downtown said their experiences have made them not want to go downtown. “One time I came down here at night, and one of the homeless people yelled at me with one of their bottles,” the person said. “After that, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m okay.’”
Crime has also impacted some businesses more directly. “We’ve had issues with people taking hammers to our toolboxes, breaking in, and stealing tools,” said Fetzer.
Although the addition of police patrols has helped alleviate some concerns, the business community believes more needs to be done.
Fetzer emphasized that while progress has been made under Police Chief Sam Booth’s leadership, ongoing issues need further attention.
“It’s been great. And the other thing I will say: I know we have a long way to go,” Fetzer said. “We actually put our property here on Day Avenue on the neighborhood watch program to ask for extra police patrols, and we’ve seen some improvements.”