GREENSBORO, N.C. — WFMY News 2 is following renewed safety concerns about the Interactive Resource Center in Greensboro.
Guilford County Chairman Skip Alston held a special meeting Monday to talk about solutions.
Tuesday, several concerned citizens voiced their concerns about those using the center at a Greensboro City Council Meeting.
Alston said city and county leaders were getting enough complaints about the IRC - that it was time to do something about it.
The IRC serves as a safe space for the city's homeless community.
Residents in Greensboro said they don't want the IRC to close. They just want to feel safe while living and working nearby.
Recently, Chairman Alston said there have been several complaints flooding his inbox, with a lot of them about the IRC.
He said the most alarming complaint on his radar was that Guilford County EMS is reluctant to respond to calls in the area due to the safety of first responders.
"They did not want to go over to the IRC without a police escort," Chairman Alston said.
It's not just paramedics who are worried about their safety. People living in the area say concerns about the IRC are inching closer and closer to nearby streets of homes and businesses.
"They want to be able to go to work. They want to be able to get out of their car without somebody coming up to them," Chairman Alston said.
The issue was a topic at Tuesday's city council meeting. Several of the people who spoke own property near the IRC.
"I've witnessed drugs, violence, stabbings," Kim Grimsley Ritchy said.
"We have people who park their cars and sleep on the property," Lynch Hunt said.
"We do not have good leadership at the IRC," Andy Zimmerman said.
"For eight years, we've tried to work with them and things have not worked," Phillip Marsh said.
"The trash is terrible but it's the last thing that this conversation is about," Ritchy said.
Chairman Alston shared some solutions, one of them being amped-up security.
He said both Greensboro Police and the Guilford County Sheriff's Office may eventually hire off-duty law enforcement officers.
"[Both agencies said] let's look at that budget and see how we might be in a position to put together a plan, based on what you have to spend and based on my manpower being able to provide service to the IRC," Chairman Alston.
He said other solutions consist of changing how the IRC does safe parking, a service offered where people can park their car and sleep in the parking lot at the IRC. Alston said leaders will be looking for other safe parking places.
Some of those who spoke during Tuesday's city council meeting mentioned some possible solutions as well -- solutions that may come down the road such as a larger facility for the IRC and a more centralized location if possible.