ALBANY — Common Council President Corey Ellis called for a new approach to addressing quality-of-life issues businesses and residents face in the city at a news conference Wednesday.
Ellis said he wants to the city to pursue a public safety model that involves employees charged with identifying quality-of-life “hot spots” and working to come up with solutions to those problem areas.
Ellis said the recent news that a man was arrested twice within several hours for allegedly assaulting people in and around Paesan’s Pizza on Ontario Street drove him to call on the council to come up with a plan to address such issues in the city. Ellis cannot introduce legislation or sit on a committee in his role as council president.
The pizza shop’s owner, Frank Scavio, has been a vocal proponent of heavier police presence in and around Madison Park to address crime in the area. Ellis said Scavio told him after the latest assaults, including one that occurred in his store, that he was leaving the area.
Scavio is not the first person to call and say something along those lines, Ellis said.
“That’s a call to action when our small business owners and our residents are saying, ‘We don’t feel that preventative measures that are stopping things from growing and swelling and swelling,’” he said.
Under Ellis’ proposal, the city would rely on data like the number of calls to police for assistance, and that the council would need to create a plan to increase police presence and community engagement in an area that was identified as a hotspot. Any response would be done in conjunction with the city police department, he said.
“This could be the missing piece when we’re talking about (making) sure that people feel safe on a consistent basis, not only in their residence but in our business districts,” he said.
Several council members joined Ellis to show their…
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