Montgomery’s District 7 residents voice concerns at a town hall meeting
Montgomery’s District 7 residents gathered at Hilltop Public House Monday night. It was standing room only as dozens of citizens of all ages came to voice their concerns about various issues, including rampant gun violence and recent shootings in Montgomery. District 7 includes the Cloverdale, Garden District, and McGhee Estates neighborhoods.
The meeting began with Acting Police Chief John Hall and seven MPD officers answering questions, about everything from noise ordinances, 911 call time delays, and what the department is doing to recruit new officers. Councilman Andrew Szymanski then talked about the big news that he is working with city leaders on putting together an incentives package that would make the strip of run down buildings next to Huntington in Old Cloverdale more attractive to potential buyers. He also said he is hyper focused on turning the old Floyd school into a green space and having clean up days for the Normandale area. Acting Police Chief Hall also gave a brief update about the investigation into the shooting on Atlanta Highway last week that paralyzed an innocent woman who was sitting in her car at a stop light. “That investigation is still ongoing we have continued to gather evidence. We are following some additional leads in that case, but as far as if there’s a suspect I can’t divulge that as part of the investigation,” said Hall.
District 7 Councilman Andrew Szymanski said he and other council members are cracking down on landlords who are not keeping up their properties. “You have seen us before calling up businesses that are acting outside of their license parameters that are not maintaining their facilities, their buildings, their parking lots and the way that we want them maintained for a beautiful and clean Montgomery,” he said. Cloverdale resident McKinley Durham was happy she attended the town hall. “I’m feeling encouraged I feel like Andrew is really committed to this neighborhood, and I feel like that he brought a lot of people, like the police department and they talked about the programs that they have to reach out to the community. A lot of the solutions they have are going to have incredible impacts in the long-term, and for the short term, it’s really going to rely a lot on the community.”
Acting Police Chief Hall said the city is no longer using the gun shot detection program that they had been using because it was only covering one square mile and it cost one million dollars. They are now relying on the newly expanded Star Watch cameras across the city. Citizens are encouraged to call 911 if they hear gunshots because this can help police narrow down the area where the shots are being fired. To report non-emergencies, call 311.
