I. Lelia Vann, DNCL President, called the meeting to order at 6 pm. The recording of this meeting is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/M5cOqy3hVTo

II. A motion to approve the minutes from last month’s meeting was made and seconded. The minutes were approved without change.

III. Financial/Membership Report-- As of July 31, 2022, the DNCL had a balance of $1,515.20, 110 individual members, and 37 business members.

IV. Crime Report – Alan Driskell, CRO, Norfolk Police Dept. Officer Driskell reported that car larcenies continue to be high downtown and across the city. Many cars are left unlocked, but NPD is now seeing some with windows broken. Police advise to keep valuables out of sight and out of your car.

V. Guest Speaker– Michael Goldsmith, Interim Police Chief. Councilwomen Courtney Doyle and Andria McClellan were also in attendance. The Councilwomen thanked Lelia Vann for walking downtown late at night with them and noted that many other Council members have walked downtown late at night in support of the public safety officers and to gain a better understanding of some of the safety issues with late night bars and patrons.

Chief Goldsmith acknowledged the list of questions DNCL members had submitted. Chief Goldsmith presented crime statistics which showed that crime is up in several categories and across the city year to date. He also presented 10-year crime stats. With respect to violent crime, there was a peak in 2016 but a best fit line with the data shows 2021 to be on par with the previous 9 years. Property crime over the 10-year period showed marked declines with an increase again in 2021. Chief Goldsmith expects that property crime for 2022 will also show an increase over previous years. The trend for homicides over 10 years shows increases in 2020 and 2021. As Chief goldsmith explained, this trend is seen nationwide as evidenced by FBI data and data coming from other urban areas. The category that shows the biggest increase in 2021 and year to date in 2022 is stolen vehicles. After looking into the reports of stolen vehicles, over half of them either had keys in the car or were left running.

Some of the things NPD is doing to mitigate the increase in crime is to use police admin people and trainees for 90-day patrol details to fill patrol cars and to do some pro-active patrolling. Additionally, on Wednesday through Saturday nights, extra public safety officers patrol between 7 pm and 3 am. This Patrol Enhancement Strategy allows NPD to respond to incidents very quickly and make arrests on the scene or quickly thereafter. The city is investing heavily in cameras and in the software to tie those cameras together to develop a real-time crime center.

Councilwoman Doyle thanked Chief Goldsmith for his presentation and noted that in addition to the Patrol Enhancement Strategy and other efforts by NPD, the city is increasing their enforcement of city codes, zoning, permitting, and conditional use permits. Councilwoman McClellan noted that she and Councilwoman Doyle receive and read the emails and texts sent to them and welcome that input. Deputy City Manager Pat Roberts gave an update about the Business Compliance Unit. He noted that some of the new hires for the unit are being onboarded while there are a few vacancies left to fill.

Lelia Vann noted that the majority of the DNCL members she’s spoken with are advocating for bars and restaurants to close at midnight—not just the “bad actors” but all the bars and restaurants. She wanted to make sure the Councilwomen and Chief Goldsmith understand where the residents stand on this issue.

Questions submitted through the Zoom chat were also answered:

--Is Norfolk seeing quick release after arrests like other cities are? Chief Goldsmith is working with the court systems to determine if there is some recidivism occurring. He doesn’t have the data currently.

--Where are we with the drone program? Chief Goldsmith noted that there are some state restrictions for implementing drone technology, but they are developing a strategy to use drones.

--Have surveillance cameras helped and if so, in what way? They haven’t helped as a deterrent, but they have helped to close some cases. NPD is looking into some license plate reading cameras across the city to determine what vehicles might be near a crime scene.

--VA law regarding vehicle noise has changed. Do you think this will be effective in reducing noise? NPD is working with the city attorney on all the noise ordinances. City Council will have to approve any changes and then police officers will have to be trained to enforce the new codes.

--Can we close Granby Street to automobile traffic earlier? The problem with closing the street is that a party atmosphere can be created that can be hard to manage. There are other street calming measures that can be employed.

--Can bottle service in the restaurants/nightclubs be banned? City Council is working with the ABC Board to determine the legality of bottle service and what options might be available to curtail it.

--Are police receiving the support they need from prosecutors and judges? NPD works closely with the Commonwealth Attorney’s office and while there are sometimes differences between what the police want and what the attorney’s office wants, it is important for NPD to maintain a good working relationship with the Commonwealth Attorney.

VI. City Planning Commission Projects/ARB – Preston Carraway, DNCL VP.

A. CUP for Mermaid Winery – Jennifer Eichert, Owner. Mermaid Winery is relocating from Ghent to 101 Granby Street. Planned opening is 2023. Jennifer indicated that the restaurant will be closing most nights at 10 pm but are seeking a CUP for extended hours to offer a New Year’s Eve dinner. Additionally, she has requested approval for using a DJ only when their restaurant has a buyout and is closed to the public.

B. Renewal of CUP for Slow Dive Gallery – Charles Burnell, Co-owner. Charles addressed some of the issues that were raised regarding the gallery. Sam Boisseau, Matthew Crowe, and Rachel McCall (representing the NEON District committee) voiced their support for this CUP renewal.

VII. Announcements

A. DNCL August Social: Outside patio at Baxter’s, August 18, 5-7 pm.

B. Downtown Norfolk Community Garden: Fall Kickoff on Sept. 11 at 12:30 pm

C. DNCL September 19th Meeting: Guest Speaker is Ramin Fatehi, Norfolk’s Commonwealth Attorney

VIII. Adjourn – The meeting was adjourned at 7:11 pm.