​​​​​​In January, Cody Cowan, the executive director of the Red River Merchants Association, said the perception of safety within the Red River Cultural District—the five-block area between 12th and Seventh streets, just west of I-35—had never been worse in his 20 years working in the area.

This preceded four shootings between July 21 and Aug. 30 within or a block away from the district. Meanwhile, Austin’s homelessness crisis became more visible when City Council adjusted its rules around public camping, sitting and lying down.

With the district only a block away from the downtown shelters, however, Cowan said the city’s homelessness issue has long been visible.

“Venues were having a huge [employee] retention issue,” Cowan told •Community Impact Newspaper.• “[The view] was like—downtown is scary; people are literally getting shot; parking prices are increasing; wages are flat, and businesses are having a hard time staying open. People [didn’t want to be there].”

However, Cowan, the former general manager at the Mohawk venue who left in 2018 to become the first full-time executive director of the Red River Merchants Association—a nonprofit representing the interests of business owners in the Red River Cultural District—said recent progress has him optimistic about the district’s survival.

Safety measures put in place

After the spree of downtown shootings this summer, combined with what public safety officials called a “significant increase in violent crime” in downtown—2019 saw an 18% rise in violent crime, according to the police department—Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley called for “immediate changes” to the department’s operation. In an August memo to City Council, Manley said the expansion of downtown’s entertainment districts to include East and West Sixth Street, Rainey Street, Red River Street and Fourth Street had spread APD resources thin, so he reallocated them to focus on smaller geographical areas.

In the Red River Cultural District there was a 34% increase in overall crime year-over-year between June and August—it nearly doubled in August alone. The trend continued through September, but fell in October by 47%. Overall, crime reports within the Red River Cultural District are on track to be the lowest in at least five years.

Police Lt. Chris Gwaldo said the additional resources had an impact.

“For a while, in the spring and summer, especially around bar closing time, we were getting a lot of reports of violent crime,” Gwaldo said. “The concentration of officers in the area has grown, and that’s the biggest contributor of the improvement we’ve seen.”

Cowan said statistics are skewed since many venue owners generally avoid calling the police, as emergency calls by or to a venue are recorded by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Too many of those, he said, looks bad. However, he said district staff members have told him they now feel safer coming to and leaving work.

Cowan said this is also owed to another recent victory: In October, after four years of lobbying, the city fenced off a notorious alleyway between the Sidewinder and Beerland—two shuttered venues—where venue owners in the area regularly reported incidents of drug deals and prostitution. Cowan said his ability as full-time executive director to keep the pressure on city government was crucial.

“That alley became a symbol of the crime in the district, the unwillingness of government to do anything to help and the inability by us to get anything done,” Cowan said.

Gwaldo, an officer since 2000, said the alleyway was a well-known crime hot spot. Closing it off, he said, addressed some crime but stopped short of calling it a magic bullet.

“This could all return,” he said. “We do the best we can.”

Cowan said the crime exacerbated the economic pressures felt by downtown’s growing affordability issues. But progress has been made in this area as well: The city just created a live music fund to funnel in millions of dollars annually to the live music industry. Separately, district venues Cheer Up Charlie’s and Empire Control Room recently received taxpayer-funded grants to ease affordability pressures.

Amid the momentum, Cowan said needed improvements, such as sidewalks and trash cans, still linger.

“Music now has a strong, organized voice in Austin, and it has helped leverage us,” Cowan said. “The fate of the Red River Cultural District is the fate of music in Austin. If we can’t save Red River, then we should start crafting a new motto.”