Slower streets, better lighting may be used to combat gun violence

Mayor: Measures may look similar to techniques deployed after mass shooting last summer on Main St.

Mayor: Measures may look similar to techniques deployed after mass shooting last summer on Main St.

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Mayor: Measures may look similar to techniques deployed after mass shooting last summer on Main St.

Like many people who spend their days near Grant Part in Over-the-Rhine, Melissa Blowers can't shake the sound of last week's drive-by shooting that injured four people, including three kids — ages 10, 14, 15.

"It was shocking," Blowers said. "The noise alone — it was just so loud and jarring."

Blowers heard the bullets fly while working at Wesley Chapel Mission Center.

"We serve over 250 kids in the neighborhood, and they're always down here on this street," she said. "So safety is a major concern for us."

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in the aftermath of last week's shooting that he has heard those concerns and is intent on taking action.

"Absolutely, there are issues of lawlessness," Pureval said.

In an effort to fight against the kind of lawlessness that rocked East McMicken Avenue, just north of Liberty Street, last week, Pureval may rip a page out of the playbook the city used after gunshots left eight bystanders injured last summer on Main Street.

"We put up bike racks in order to prevent loitering," Pureval said. "We closed off the streets because so many of the … so much of the violence there was due to drag racing and pedestrian safety issues."

Police also boosted lighting and added patrols along Main St.

"Those are the tactics we are likely to deploy in this area, as well," Pureval said. "We’ve already initiated a traffic study to make sure we can slow cars down in that area where that drive-by occurred."

Blowers likes the idea of slower traffic, but she wonders what impact bike racks and bright lights might have.

"I don't know if we can control the personal disputes that happen with bright lights, but I guess it could help," Blowers said.

On Monday, the city manager's office confirmed that the traffic study is underway on East McMicken Avenue. The office expects preliminary results from the study at some point this week.