But People don't want to go downtown

"People don't want to go downtown" is what I hear all the time, "I'm afraid I'll be attacked or worse". The violence is not downtown, it's the areas surrounding downtown. My wife and I go to Spirit games all the time, we feel safe, even walking to our car after staying in the Blue Line club for a while and the crowds have dispersed. Well, I have a solution to "they don't feel safe", more police! What? we can't afford more police? Maybe the citizens who complain about their town going to hell should vote that tax cap away so that Saginaw could collect the proper taxes to run the city in the 21st century. Yes, it's hard to run a city on 1972 tax rates especially when the population has decreased significantly.

So what does a few more cops riding in cars around downtown do? Ahh, well that's the problem, they will do nothing in the cars, but put them on horseback and they'll be visible to all. Yes, I said horseback! Why not? New York does it, they can ride year round unlike bicycles, and boy would they be visible! 5 officers on horseback(plus a cleaning crew to follow them around) would make people much more at ease about making the trip downtown.

I don't believe we should give up on things the the Dow Event Center and the Temple theater just because of a received vision of crime on the streets of downtown. We, the people of this community (mind you I live in Bay county and am willing to rally around this) need to take back Saginaw, it needs to be done with a forceful voice and harsh words, words that people may not want to hear, but we have to do something and we need to do it soon!

I have a wonderful vision for downtown, as an architect, I have found numerous uses for the buildings there. Buildings such as the former International center. We'll take a look at that building at a later date. For now, think about what you can do to save a city!