I hope this email does not fall on deaf ears. Downtown is no longer a safe, family fun environment. I have been an Indians season ticket holder for years but if things don’t change, we may not renew our season tickets for the 2022 season. In the past, we would go to games and visit bars and restaurants afterwards. We no longer enjoy our after game walks on the canal or drinks in bars near Georgia street.

Memories of Georgia street: Even if we wanted to walk on the sidewalks, there are large groups of underaged kids riding scooters on all of the sidewalks, making it difficult to get around. Why are these minor children (some as young as 11) unaccompanied and out after curfew. There seems to be little to no police presence. The last time I tried to go out after a game on July 1st, I was nearly run over several times by a group of scooters riding illegally on the sidewalk. The streets are riddled with foul language and loud, obnoxious behavior. I only saw one police officer on my walk between the ballpark and Georgia street. We could not even drive south on Pennsylvania for all of the people gathered in the streets in the Wholesale district. The only cop was sitting in his car just watching the lawlessness prevail.

My last memory of the canal was the evening we dined at one of the restaurants and on our walk back to the car very late at night, we were greeted by individuals panhandling. We have not been back to the canal since a young woman was shot and killed on the canal last year.

My last memory of Monument Circle was driving around after my son’s graduation dinner at St Elmo’s. We rode around looking at all of the busted out windows in the businesses on and surrounding Monument Circle.

Frankly, I do not feel welcome in any of these spaces in my own city. I don’t even feel safe in my own city. Get the area cleaned up, get the minors inside after curfew, get the scooters off of the sidewalks, get the partiers out of the middle of the street and perhaps I will go back downtown. Until then, No Way!

I am sure this falls on deaf ears because you don’t want to hear the truth. You want to know if police presence makes people not feel welcome to the downtown area. Well, you are WRONG! There are no active police in the area. Lack of laws and enforcement of those laws is driving everyone away.

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