ST. LOUIS—Civic and government leaders gathered at Union Station Thursday morning to watch Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe sign a House bill into law that they hope will bring an added sense of security to downtown.
House Bill 199 allows for the creation of a Special Entertainment District in the city, stretching from just off the Arch grounds west to the Downtown West neighborhood. It includes Union Station, Busch Stadium, Enterprise Center, The Dome at America’s Center and Energizer Park.
Working with the city, the district can take an active role in maintaining buildings, sidewalks and streets, and could limit vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
The focus Thursday was on the provision that allows entertainment districts to hire their own peace officers. Despite overall reductions in crime in recent years, the perception of downtown as an unsafe place has been part of the local debate over how to put the region’s best face forward.
“We need to showcase to the rest of the country and the world that we have a safe downtown, that the businesses that have invested in it are behind it and we have a great area here,” said Bob O’Loughlin, CEO of Lodging Hospitality Management, which owns Union Station.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer supports the effort, calling it “Incredibly vital to the revitalization and the changing course of our city and our region.”
The measure had bipartisan support in the General Assembly, with State Senators Karla May (D-St. Louis) and Brian Williams (D-University City), among those joining the Republican Kehoe, and GOP House members Jim Murphy and Brad Christ, both of South St. Louis County, at the event.
The stepped up use of private security services, paid for by neighborhood groups in the city, has in recent years shown the potential disparity when it comes to the presence of public safety in St. Louis. Affluent organizations and neighborhoods have them, while poorer areas don’t. Private security firms have historically hired off-duty St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers at a time when SLMPD has been well below its budgeted strength.
Asked Thursday if the bill incentivizes private security at a time when SLMPD, now under a state-appointed board, is trying to boost its rinks, Kehoe focused on what he called a public-private partnership.
“I think the business community working with law enforcement is a great partnership. We’ve seen it in other counties and communities across the state, I think it just adds to the safety factor and the fact that we want St. Louis to be vibrant again,” Kehoe said.
One of Kehoe’s appointees to the board of police commissioners is Chris Saracino, who is in charge of the daily operations for Campbell Security Group, a firm that works with special business groups and neighborhoods.
In a statement released on his behalf by SLMPD, Saracino said he would recuse himself from votes or matters that may pose a conflict.
House Bill 199 takes effect Aug. 28.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumlocalnews.com ’
