Matt Lesman

I agree this thread did take a turn off the rails. I was not implying anything about noise as the major issue. As I mentioned, I live downtown and I can count at least 15 times over the last 3 months where I have had someone puke, urinate, put cigarettes out on the front door entrance, vandalized, found needles on the sidewalk, etc. I have contacted the police department at least half of those times with nothing done other than a “nightly patrol” for a few nights then it is back to same ol story. And for those that do not know, just about two months ago there was a stabbing (yes a stabbing) at Cigar Lounge (above Reys). We were eating at Trio’s and watched it unfold, watched an ambulance come along with about 15 police cars. Do you think the media (newspaper, tv, etc) reported this? Absolutely not. Just like I know first hand that the city council and county council have been told to not speak under any circumstance about the homeless situation downtown.

I think it is a mixture of Sip, Ink & Ivy, Vine, Society, DT’s, Rey’s, Cigar Lounge, etc all being within a 2 block radius of one another. I have lived downtown on Main St for over 10 years and have had my business located in several of the larger office towers downtown for about the same amount of time and I am telling you I have never seen the clientele that I have seen recently. It reminds me of the area around Falls Park that got so bad with the same type of people that they had to implement a curfew after 11pm. Maybe the new restaurants (Scoundrel, Bricktops, etc) and the Kiyatec redevelopment will change the scenery some but I have never been more disturbed downtown. This is coming from someone that is downtown 300+ days/nights of the year and have been for many years.

What has happened to downtown Greenville? We were downtown around Trio at 11pm tonight and I have never seen such a different crowd in my life. There were cars with bass blasting all down Main Street, fights in the road, screaming, etc. It seems like Main St is now for only 25 and under and thugs