Greensboro City Councilmember Justin Outling, who is running for mayor in 2022, is not a supporter of the proposed Safety Review Board.
The board, which would meet to make recommendations on enhanced security measures for bars and restaurants after a “violent incident,” was first presented to the City Council in a memo last week as something the city staff was in the process of doing without City Council approval.
However, on Monday, Dec. 20, a resolution in support of the Safety Review Board was added to the City Council agenda.
Outling said, “Stakeholders and others in the community are not being given an opportunity to offer their opinions.”
He added, “Even councilmembers that are going to vote on it don’t have sufficient amount of time to talk about it and get questions answered.”
Outling said, “The Safety Review Board process raises legal questions that I would like to talk to staff about.”
Outling said that a business that doesn’t follow the recommendations of the Safety Review Board, even if it was through no fault of their own, could open themselves up to lawsuits that would be difficult and expensive to defend.
He noted that one of the possible recommendations listed in the memo was requiring a bar or restaurant to hire security guards, but that currently there is a shortage of security guards. He said that hiring off-duty police officers was extremely difficult because the Greensboro Police Department is so understaffed that many are working overtime and don’t have time for off-duty work.
Outling said, “You’re not going to be able to hire an armed guard even if you want to and that could expose them to a lot more liability.”
Outling also said that he objected to the proposal because it was reactive instead of proactive.
He said, “The city already has a lot of tools to be reactive and that process works very quickly.”
Outling said, “This policy is lacking in logic and fundamental fairness.”
He explained that it was focusing only on restaurants and bars when those businesses are not the primary locations for violent crimes in the city.
Outling said, “Small business owners are the backbone of our community and we need to support them, not make their jobs harder.”
Hlad to see Outling call BS when necessary. A very wise President Ronald Reagan once said “Government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem.”
Because roads, bridges, police, airports, fire stations, hospitals and schools are just ACHING to be run by profit-making companies.
Even conservative economists like Milton Friedman agreed that certain markets needed intervention. His analysis included several of the items you have mentioned.
Again,Outling has to be the adult in the room.This bunch cannot even enforce the code prohibiting panhandlers and beggars from walking up and down median strips and traffic dividers on busy streets and boulevards.
This action will surely end up in the courts.Who thought this dumbness up?Was that you,Mayor?
Justin Outling deserves the vote of every intelligent Greensboro resident for the position of Mayor in the upcoming election.
He brings sanity to an insane council and clearly thinks more of the people and employers in Greensboro than gaining the power to keep a knee on our necks.
To all those who think they are living underneath the hob-nailed boot of authoritarianism, here’s something you’ll enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYU87QNjPw
These businesses pay taxes for police protection. Some are in a special district where they pay extra taxes for some kind of an extra layer of protection and services from the city that it appears only deliver streetscapes. They shouldn’t have to pay for their own security guards. This should be the city’s responsibility through police protection, law enforcement, enforcement of laws, judicial reform, laws passed. It is also a citizen’s responsibility to elect officials who are pro-business, pro-law enforcement, want cities that are stable. Citizens also need to be responsible, follow laws, get along with others, be respectful, and understand the consequences of their behaviors. There is no need for this policy or review board.
This is nothing more than City Council passing the buck so they can’t be blamed when it doesn’t work.
Outling is the only Council member who has any sense at all. I sure hope he becomes our mayor and we get rid of the others!
I assume Four Seasons Mall is also subject to the Safety Review Board due to the shooting in the parking lot this week.