First it was unlicensed food and beer trucks showing up on weekends downtown. Then, it was restaurants not bothering to get the proper credentials to open as a bar, and now we have had a Saints and Festival on the riverfront end in a murder.
We hate to tell you we told you so, but we did warn this would happen.
Years ago, outgoing Planning and Zoning Director Carla Delaney warned that she did not have the staff, nor the budget, to put code enforcement on the streets on the weekends.
The problem with that, especially when you are dealing with food and alcohol vendors selling their wares from vehicles, is you have to go to where the problem is, and the problems occur after hours and on the weekends.
This is not a problem that reared its ugly head overnight. The criminal element always tests the waters to see what it can get away with, and before long, gunplay is involved.
The only way to end the problem and to prove to the public that downtown is safe after dark is for law enforcement and civilian city leaders to work together.
If Planning and Zoning needs more staff, then the Augusta Commission should be able to find the funding in their $1 billion budget to cover a few extra salaries.
We commend Sheriff Brantley and his staff for recognizing the problem, which began long before he made it into office, and committing to training beat cops to ask to see proof of licensure when encountering a “street party” on public land; however, that is not going to be enough.
The city needs to enforce the licensure requirements.
The next murder we hear about may be some child who , while spending a fun day at the riverfront loses their life to an errant bullet meant for someone else.
Yes, that is a warning.
