NORFOLK, Va. – Jeremiah Hunt is in right in the mix of Downtown Norfolk’s nightlife. He works late hours at Domino’s on Granby Street. He said he doesn’t feel safe downtown.
“It’s hard for people to have fun, or make a living, or to just enjoy the nightlife without being able to watch over their shoulders,” said Hunt.
That’s the feeling the Downtown Norfolk Council (DNC) is trying to shake. The DNC is heading an initiative aimed at strengthening business practices ultimately making them and the nightlife safer.
The initiative is still in the early stages and doesn’t have a name yet, according to leaders with the DNC. The program includes more training for businesses through its partnership with Safe Night LLC – a consulting firm that finds ways to make communities safer.
Baxter Simmons owns Baxter’s Sports Bar – a fixture on Granby Street. Baxter’s is one of the three businesses taking part in the test run.
“They’re going to try and figure out if they’ll be security trainings, or if they’ll be any food handling and health trainings and things like that,” Simmons said. “It’ll be additional to what we normally go through.”
The initiative is also meant to strengthen relationships with the city and the police.
“The police department is going to have a good working relationship with a lot of the security staff,” said Simmons. “They’re going to have some consistency with the officers downtown, which will be good because that’ll keep everybody in a rapport that we can all work together.”
The idea started after many high-profile shootings last year, including one outside Chicho’s and Legacy.
Legacy, which reopened on Feb. 10 after it lost its permit to serve alcohol, is the other business taking part in the initiative. Brothers is the third restaurant.
“I think a lot of the violence is alcohol-influenced,” said Crystal Chesley who works downtown and lives in Ocean View. “Some businesses have two, three security guards in there to make sure everything stays cool, calm and collected, so I feel like a lot of the businesses are doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
After rounds of various training, businesses would then be accredited, giving people who want to go there an extra sense of safety.
Jeremiah Hunt is hopeful the initiative will work but believes cutting down on crime takes effort from everyone.
“It’s all on us,” Hunt said. “If we all want to have fun out here, we all need to be able to be responsible and mature enough to be able to see something, say something.”
The city supports the idea.
“If it goes properly, it’ll help the businesses and their workers to identify and rectify issues before they escalate into problems that require calls for services, such as EMS, police, etc.,” said Chris Jones, the director of communications for the city.
The first training for all three businesses is March 23.
