CLEVELAND — More safety measures have been added in Downtown Cleveland to create an even more welcoming environment for those who live, work and visit the area.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve the cleanliness and safety in downtown, and anytime an incident happens, we take it seriously,” said Downtown Cleveland President and CEO Michael Deemer.
Just recently, Downtown Cleveland opened Perk Station, a new co-deployment center at the intersection of East 12th Street and Chester Avenue, to partner more effectively with the Cleveland Police and better serve the community.
“All the good things that happen in any community really begin with a clean, safe and welcoming environment,” said Deemer.
For out-of-town visitors like Bianca Santos, she told News 5 it’s comforting to know there’s an increased safety presence.
“It sounds wonderful. Cleveland is already a walkable city. There’s so much great infrastructure already, so it’s just leveraging what we already have and making it a place to come visit,” said Santos.
Meanwhile, Downtown Cleveland residents like Bill said he didn’t know these centers existed until News 5 told him during our interview.
“I never heard of it, so even if it was a thing I couldn’t feel any more secure because I didn’t know,” said Bill.
Last year, Downtown Cleveland opened their first co-deployment center at Tower City station.
Now, they’ve expanded their resources to Perk Station, where ambassadors and Cleveland Police will work closely together to provide services to people in need.
“The ambassadors are a uniformed unarmed presence that provides safety and cleanliness service and hospitality services across downtown,” said Deemer.
While Bill is glad to know these services exist, he said more advertisements will be helpful for those who are unaware.
“I think if they want people to feel safer they would. I mean it would only make sense,” said Bill.
Deemer said they don’t have any immediate plans to add an additional co-deployment center, but they are looking toward the future.
