UF Study: Downtown Revitalizations Can Encourage Criminal Predators

Published: February 9 2000

Category:Business, Florida, Hispanic, Research

GAINESVILLE — Letting the good times roll may get you rolled, mugged or worse, says a University of Florida study of crime and downtown entertainment districts.

Decaying downtown converted into hip places to party by urban renewal projects also have created happy hunting grounds for criminals who prey on unwitting revelers, said Terry Danner. He did a comprehensive study of the Ybor City Historic District near downtown Tampa, and its crime rates over 19 years, for his doctoral dissertation in sociology at UF.

Ybor City, a former enclave for Hispanic and Italian immigrants working in the cigar industry, has developed just such a dangerous image while becoming a model for inner city revitalization, Danner said.

“While the area is a major success story in terms of skyrocketing tax revenues and property values, there is a hidden cost, especially if economic incentives and the tax base create a kind of anything-goes party atmosphere,” he said. “Cities need to be aware that not all economic development is the same.”

The transformation of run-down sections like Ybor City into entertainment districts with concentrations of bars and nightclubs — and criminal predators — poses a dilemma for cities, said Danner, also chairman of the criminology department at St. Leo University. Redevelopment schemes such as shopping districts may not stand a chance because people aren’t likely to venture into high-crime areas to browse for clothes or electronics, he said.

“It could be argued that the development of a bar-oriented night entertainment district was the only way in which this area could have been quickly revitalized,” he said. “Other cities have found it difficult to attract people with disposable income into urban areas with sinister reputations. Shopping malls are plentiful, but historic and romantic places to be entertained at night are relatively scarce.”

UF sociologist Ron Akers, who supervised Danner’s research, said the study is unusual in that it compares rates for various crimes in Ybor City with the rest of Tampa over a 19-year period. In a sense, this case study of urban crime patterns looks at the issue of criminology of location, he said.

Mike Morrow, a corporal in the Tampa Police Dept. who has worked in Ybor City for seven years, said that reports like Danner’s and those from the media calling Ybor City dangerous are “not really fair to Ybor.” “We did a study a couple years ago that showed more cars were broken into at a mall parking lot than in Ybor,” he said.

As the district has grown more popular, police have taken more steps to keep Ybor safe, including closing the main strip to traffic, installing surveillance cameras on the streets, using plainclothes officers and horseback patrols, Morrow said.

But Danner’s study shows that Ybor’s crime rate is keeping up with its economic expansion. Between 1990 and 1998, Ybor City added 155 new businesses, $45 million in private investments, 1,500 new jobs and more than 400,000 square feet of building renovation, Danner said.

Contrary to some expectations, Danner said he did not find that residents of poor neighborhoods surrounding the historic district were largely to blame for the high crime rate. Rather, most criminal offenders came from outside the area to prey on patrons, he said.

The study showed that when crime rates considered numbers of people visiting the area, the risk of becoming a victim was greater in Ybor City than in Tampa for all crimes except rape and burglary.

For instance, in 1997, there was one reported robbery in Tampa for every 112 residents. By comparison, Ybor City had one reported robbery for every 79 residents, the study showed. As with robbery, the risk of being a victim of aggravated assault in Ybor City was higher (one attack per 57 residents), compared to one attack per 72 residents for all Tampa.

Cities hoping to revitalize downtowns without crime could limit liquor licenses, set up zoning that favors businesses serving food in addition to alcohol and encourage activities such as family entertainment that attract a wider range of age groups, Danner said. Ybor City now is trying to diversify, with plans for upscale housing, theaters and hotels, he said.

Credits

Writer
Cathy Keen, ckeen@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0186
Source
Terry Danner

Category:Business, Florida, Hispanic, Research