Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

FINAL WORDS
The biggest danger in
downtown Augusta?
The uninformed
I
moved to Augusta 23 years ago.
The vast majority of those years have been
spent working in the downtown area. I have
spent countless evenings – and more than a few
early morning hours – soaking up all the entertainment,
dining and drinking that the central business
district’s establishments have to offer.
I even resided in downtown Augusta for several
months, renting a second-story room in the home
of 510 Greene St. (That, in itself, is a story – but one
best reserved for another time.)
Needless to say, I have driven, biked and walked
through every downtown residential neighborhood
at one time or another, from east Augusta and
Laney-Walker/Bethlehem to Harrisburg and Olde
Town.
And not once during any of those 23 years have
I felt the personal safety of myself or those around
me – including my wife and children – were ever in
jeopardy.
So you can imagine I get a little bristly when I hear
some locals speak of downtown Augusta as if it’s a
lawless wasteland where danger lurks around every
corner.
Ironically, it seems the most vocal area residents
are those who spend little to no time living, working
or playing in the downtown area.
Don't misunderstand me: I'm not saying crime
doesn’t occur in downtown Augusta. I’m saying the
prevalence of criminality is nowhere near the level
that many in this community believe it is. In fact,
crime statistics show downtown Augusta is one of
the city's safer neighborhoods.
So why the bad rep?
Well, for one, dilapidated structures in the urban
DAMON CLINE, EDITOR
core. Few things are as unsettling to a visitor’s
psyche as buildings that appear abandoned. Storefronts
with broken and boarded up windows can cast
a fearful pallor over an entire block. It all goes back
to childhood; the bogeyman dwells in the dark and
empty spaces of this world.
The derelict vibe created by littered streets and
graffiti-tagged walls might as well be a signpost that
reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." To suburbanites
and out-of-town visitors, a city that can’t
appear to handle petty nuisances must be incapable of
dealing with more serious forms of trouble.
Another reason for downtown’s undeserved reputation
is that it is always under a microscope. A serious
crime, such as an aggravated assault, will get much
more media attention if it occurs in the central business
district than if it occurred, say, in a west Augusta shopping
center or a subdivision in Hephzibah.
For that reason, violent crime in downtown
Augusta – though comparatively rare – will always
linger longer in the minds of residents.
What can the community do to change downtown’s
perception? A few things come to mind.
First, we all need to have realistic expectations
when it comes to downtown Augusta. The downtown
of every large and mid-sized metro area is going to
have a certain degree of seediness: aging infrastructure,
buildings in various states of disrepair, panhandlers,
etc. It is unrealistic to expect Augusta – with
its 19th and early 20th century architecture and
infrastructure – to look like Disneyland.
Most people are generally OK with, and actually
prefer, a little grunge in their city center – it adds
character. The problem occurs when grunge is the
only thing they notice.
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