For many years, “Dysfunction Junction“[n]This name describes the social dynamic existing at the intersection of Liberty & William Streets. It contains the Shannon Apartments, a convenience store, and other things [/n] has been a busy place–in all the wrong sort of ways. Featuring the ‘affordable’[n] Affordable in this case as many residents rely on public social service and housing funded programs to pay the rental fees[/n] Bedbug Hotel and the Miserable Mart for all of one’s beer, cigarette, and lottery ticket needs—plus a value-added laundromat to hang out in and Bath’s main bus stop right in the Miserable Mart’s parking lot dumping out new residents and drugs weekly. Who could ask for anything more?
Young, needy dysfunctionals arrive here from everywhere as Steuben County has a reputation for a nice ride on social services. They bring all the issues and drama that were part of their life elsewhere—commingling and intensifying our own “homegrown” problems of poverty and crime. And sadly, all of this has been played out on the public stage that is Liberty Street…
It’s easy to take stock of a community and its priorities by what one sees on the streetscape. Places that are dotted with empty storefronts, pawnshops, Jesus missions, and rag shops[n] This is a colloquialism for stores that resell used clothing and other items[/n] do not speak well to the greater public interest. Clusters of sketchy-looking people behaving oddly do not attract other passersby.
It is these things people see when they consider investing their sweat and treasure in a new business venture. It’s these things that make people feel unsafe—and not support existing businesses. It’s these things that leisure visitors see and serve to hurry them on to spend their money in Hammondsport. And then, something seemed to change.
This has been the installation of surveillance cameras.
Just a few along Liberty Street at first, more continue to appear. Driving from Pulteney Park to Washington Street, this writer counted 27 cameras. It is likely that more would be discovered walking this same stretch. The last “big” effort was at the Shannon Apartments— toward the end of 2020. At least seven cameras were initially installed, with monitoring at the Bath Police Department. The stupidity immediately began to slow down. Although there is still ongoing activity by the squirrels at that corner—it’s nothing like what it was before. It is a fact that people behave differently when they know that they are being observed…
Cameras are also planned to be installed in the Skate Board Park behind St. Mary’s Catholic Church. This should close out a lot of transient problems and sketchy activities.
In a similar fashion, other building and business owners have installed their own cams. These have led to some new insights about after-hour activities— things that could and have been proactively addressed and resolved to the community’s benefit. Best of all, it doesn’t matter if anyone is actively monitoring many of these cameras. Just their obvious presence along the public domain of Liberty Street is helpful in itself. The remainder is solvable through the will and actions of our ‘Main Street” stakeholders.
There is a certain concern one has in being surveilled. For sure, there is a feeling that one’s privacy is being invaded. The reality however is that there is no privacy in public spaces. There never has been and there never will be. In our case here we may take satisfaction that monitoring our public space is in the best interest of everyone. It is creating an environment for us that feels safe and attractive. Let’s keep moving in a positive direction!
Just note where the camera is if you feel a need to scratch something personal…
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