Downtown crime getting worse?

Editorial | June 24th, 2015

Recent stories have us worried

The recent spate of violence in Fargo, including two murders, has many wondering just what is happening in our fine little city -- which doesn’t seem so small any more. Just as HPR was going to press, I witnessed an unprovoked assault outside a downtown bar in Fargo.

It’s true that with growth come changes. That’s to be expected. But all of this seems a little too much, too soon for all of us. There is so much to be proud of about in downtown Fargo. We hope it doesn’t get thrown away by growing pains and it again becomes a place people are afraid to go at night.

While we don’t want to take a couple consecutive isolated incidents and try to paint a bigger picture, it’s hard not to think something’s up. Those who live and work downtown feel it.

That being said, what do we do about it? It’s important not to overreact. Other cities have reacted to growth in not-so desirable ways. Gentrification is a huge issue in major cities across the land. We don’t want downtown Fargo to become host to a number of national chain stores and restaurants. There’s enough of that by West Acres and we know where to find it if we want it. What makes downtown unique is all of the local stores and restaurants. While Downtown Minneapolis has many assets, it isn’t quite as appealing in that aspect as it was 10 or 20 years ago. It seems like the places everyone wants to be in the Twin Cities are in the individual neighborhoods.

New York City of course underwent a major, highly publicized effort to clean its city of crime in Manhattan and now that is a vastly different place from what it once was in the 1980s. A major issue there was how they dealt with the homeless population. Panhandling and loitering does seem to have grown in downtown Fargo. No doubt, the warmer weather probably exposes it more. It’s important that we remember to treat those less fortunate than us with compassion and try to steer more towards helping them rather than throwing them in jail or making things worse for them. But it does seem like it’s growing to a point where whatever we are doing now is not working.

As far as the issue of crime, no doubt law enforcement will have something to say and do about any increase in any area of crimes that the city faces. But a lot of this is about the people claiming our city back, letting everyone know what we want and don’t want. While we can’t force people to not live here, it is important that we speak out when we see anything that doesn’t feel right or see something wrong. Call anyone out you see doing anything you feel is wrong and detrimental. Don’t blindly accept it, even if you can’t change it. There is so much to be proud of in Fargo. We need to remember to not hang our head about any challenges we might face. But rather take them on with resolve to make this an even better place to live.

Recent stories have us worried

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