GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro city leaders said Monday they will put together a citywide safety ordinance after talking with bar and restaurant owners.
The Greensboro City Council held their second virtual town hall meeting to discuss the possible ordinance.
When talks of such an ordinance started a few months ago, the focus was on nightlife--bars and restaurants. After two town halls, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said other businesses could be addressed too, but with different rules.
"The ordinance for dine-in consumption will be different from the ordinance for let's just say, a convenience store or gas station," Mayor Vaughan said.
Mayor Vaughan said other town halls will be planned to talk with owners of those types of businesses before a final plan is voted upon.
Almost none of the city's homicides so far in 2021 have happened at a bar or restaurant. However, Mayor Vaughan said some assaults have happened at or outside of those businesses.
"We've seen those numbers escalate pretty much this year," Vaughan said.
Business owners expressed concerns about event promoters. They also worry about overcrowding inside businesses beyond capacity limits.
Mayor Vaughan said she would talk to the Greensboro Fire Department and Guilford County Fire Marshal's Office about enforcing those limits.
One business owner asked whether the Greensboro Police Department could increase its presence in areas like downtown or around Spring Garden Street on busy nights.
Greensboro Police Chief Brian James said his officers are not always available to monitor those areas.
"We do our best to be around those establishments but it is very difficult because those, typically, are our highest volume nights, as far as calls go," Chief James said.
Mayor Vaughan said she does not want the police department to be responsible for security at all businesses.
She said the council is also considering the effectiveness of taking away business permits from those with high police call volumes.
Some business owners worried about how to do that fairly. They do not want to be punished if an incident from customers of a neighboring business carries over to their property.
"The service industry has been decimated by the pandemic and I'm just afraid we're going to put ourselves in a situation where we've overreached and overreacted," one man on the call said.
City Council wants to have the first draft of a safety ordinance in the next 30 days. Then, it will hold another town hall meeting to get feedback.