‘Something every night’: Raleigh’s downtown has turned scary for visitors and workers
Kirstin Mulqueeny, a bartender in downtown Raleigh, sent us a letter that was more than a comment.
It was a plea.
She wrote, “Raleigh appears cut from the pages of a dystopian post-apocalyptic film, and the people who will be casualties are screaming from the rooftops for help. No one hears us.”
Mulqueeny works at Zenith, a bar on Fayetteville Street in the heart of Raleigh’s business district. The once-booming area has struggled to recover from the loss of office workers and foot traffic since the pandemic hit in early 2020.
With cranes rising over downtown Raleigh as residential high-rises are constructed, the old bustle may yet return. But for now, Mulqueeny said, the street after dark is an unsettling mix of roving youths, homeless people, panhandlers and people selling and using drugs. She said the police are rarely seen.
Mulqueeny, a 38-year-old mother of three who has worked at Raleigh bars for years, said the district feels unsafe as a place to work or visit. Anger and fear moved her to write to the paper.
“I’m sick of it because it’s something every night,” she told me. “It’s people peeing on our building. It’s men rattling our windows at 3 a.m. when it’s just me and one other guy in there. It’s people coming up and beating on the door. It’s trash outside. It’s customers saying they won’t go to our bar past 12.”
Alexis Himes, 27, quit her bartending job at Zenith’s neighboring bar, The Big Easy, out of frustration with what she called the “sketchy” environment. Groups camp out at the bar’s patio tables and employees are afraid to ask them to leave. One man threatened to stab her. Last week, a group of masked men, at least one of them armed, invaded The Big Easy just after closing time and forced the manager to empty the safe.
“Raleigh is such a cool city, it’s sad to see it infested with this amount of crime,” Himes said.
Gilbert Kusler, The Big Easy’s general manager, said part of the problem may stem from the suspension of bus fares and young people coming into downtown through the bus terminal.
“What we’re really experiencing,” he said, “is kids running rampant.”
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin knows there’s a problem in the business district.
“We’ve received a number of complaints from downtown businesses and residents,” she said. “Many have asked if private security is an option.”
She tells them it is. The city is working with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, a group supported by downtown businesses, to contract with a private security company to provide additional patrols in the district.
“This is a supplement to the police,” Baldwin said. “Our (police) chief has added officers downtown, but they can’t be everywhere.”
The security guards will not be armed, she said, “but they will be eyes on the ground.”
Other steps are planned. Street lighting will be added and community organizers will be recruited to give young people an alternative to roaming the district.
Baldwin said mayors across the nation have told her her they’re facing similar problems in downtown districts that have lost activity since the pandemic. But letting the vacuum foster criminal behavior isn’t an option.
“This is all unacceptable and we’ve got to do something about it,” she said.
She added, “If people don’t feel safe, they don’t want to be downtown. We have to change that narrative and change that perspective. We have to arrest people who are breaking the law. It’s as simple as that.”
It’s encouraging that the city and the Downtown Raleigh Alliance are committed to bringing the law back to a district and there are signs of improvement. But it’s regrettable that the conditions declined to the point where a troop of security guards are needed.
The new “eyes on the ground” should include regular walks around the district by City Council members and the police chief. Too much has gone wrong just blocks from City Hall while they were looking elsewhere.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com
