County Board members on Saturday acknowledged community concerns about public safety in the shadow of their own headquarters.
“It is deeply concerning to us,” County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said after a member of the public pressed the issue at the Sept. 19 Board meeting.
The speaker, who identified himself as Will, said county officials must address “escalating violence, disorder and open-air drug activity” near the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center at 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
The discussion followed an incident in that vicinity the night of Sept. 11, where one of two people engaged in a verbal dispute near the intersection of 15th Street N. and N. Courthouse Road fired a gun into the air while leaving the scene.
“Every day, people gather here to exchange needles, pills, drink openly and shout threats at neighborhood residents,” Will said.
Nearby, closer to the Courthouse CVS, the speaker alleged that there is an encampment where individuals “defecate openly, brandish knives, shout violent threats and expose themselves, all while children and families walk by.”
He added: “These conditions undermine community safety, burden local businesses with theft and place an unfair strain on county employees and police officers.”
His requests of county leaders? Maintain 24/7 police patrols in the Courthouse area and develop an ordinance that would prohibit overnight encampments while prioritizing access to shelters and services for those who need them.
In response, County Manager Mark Schwartz said that some of the concerns are legitimate, but he disagreed with the speaker’s interpretation of the scope of the problem.
“There have been specific cases” of concern, Schwartz said.
“If people are experiencing something they find troubling, they should go ahead and give [the county government] a call,” he said.
De Ferranti said he wasn’t sure the county government had the authority to create no-encampment zones. But he said community leaders have heard the concerns being raised from numerous sources.
County Board member Maureen Coffey said that calls for more human-services support miss a key reality.
“Our resources have been stretched so thin at this point,” she said.
Coffey suggested avoiding police involvement wherever possible.
“I am not personally in favor of ever criminalizing or penalizing people for poverty,” she said. “I don’t think the right place for anyone who’s struggling economically or with substance abuse and mental health is in a criminal-justice system.”
Coffey urged those with concerns about the situation — in Courthouse or elsewhere — to become engaged with the VHC Health/Lifepoint Health proposal for constructing a behavioral health center on S. Carlin Springs Road.
That future facility should be able to provide alternatives to supporting individuals with mental-health or addiction issues, Coffey said, rather than forcing them out of the local area to obtain services.
“We want to be able to help them here, and this facility is a part of that,” she said.
