Montgomery Shootings and Closing Businesses

On Saturday, June 20th a shooting took place at or near the Raceway gas station on the Eastern Blvd in Montgomery, Alabama. That resulted in 2 dead, and 2 others injured. To be honest, this is not the first time that a shooting has taken place at this gas station. It as well as the other station are common places for things to happen given their placement in a high traffic area.

From what I understand, there were over 50 people that showed up to the gas station after being told to leave another gas station. Think of a street take over, but they aren't taking over the street. They were taking over a parking lot first. Then it escalates to a point that they are taking over the street.

The following day, on Sunday June 21st, several people, including elected officials made posts about the situation. One person, KK Middleton, said that the business license should be revoked.

Get A Reaction

When something significant like this happens, elected officials run to social media or even TV and say we should do this or we should do that.

When folks yell out to revoke the business license, they are only doing it to get a reaction from the public. Very rearely do that have a succession plan for the area or business if it were to close.

This is short sighted thinking, because yes you can close the business, but that just creates another problem.

Fix One Problem to Create Others

When a business has their license revoked, it has to close. Vacant buildings such as the gas station across the street from the Raceway and next door to the Burger King, get broken into. The homeless set up camp in the business, make the building become a public nuisance, and in some cases destroy the building. Also mention that the tax revenue, depending on the popularity of the business, will no longer be generated because the business is closed and the family or owners of the business would be financially impacted.

Time and time again, those elected want to hold people for actions that are taken in the parking lot of the business. Depending on where that business is located (i.e. shopping center), that business still gets penalized by the council or other elected body for the actions taken in an area near the business, but not necessarily within the control of the business. One could argue that this is one of those cases, given that the shooting took place in the parking lot of the business and not on the interior of the business.

Conclusion

Do I agree that something needs to be done for dealing with the shootings and crime that takes place? Yes.

Do I think that the businesses where these crimes are taking place should be held accountable? To an extent. You cannot control who shows up or what is done in the parking lot. In the case of the gas station, they may need to have security in the parking to prevent loitering from taking place. However, that does not mean crimes like this will continue in other places. In some cases, those other places will be the parking lots of vacant businesses.