Locals, tourists and businesses concerned about the crime on Lower Broadway

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Businesses and people on Lower Broadway say they deal with assaults, harassment and aggressive panhandling constantly.

The city is working on a newly revised plan to tackle issues surrounding homelessness by this summer.

William McKinley, shift leader at Jack’s Barbeque, has seen more homeless people come into his business lately on Broadway.

“It’s definitely increased the last year or so since Covid,” McKinley said.

McKinley has security at the door but he says he would like to see more of a police presence.

FOX 17 News’ Kaitlin Miller reached out to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and they said they started an Entertainment District Initiative from Thursday to Sunday nights where they have up to an additional 70 officers in the Entertainment District Corridor.

Burgess Clark, who lives a block away from Broadway, says this needs to happen every night of the week.

“The police presence is here when there’s hockey or a concert you can definitely see that there’s a lot more officers down here. During the week there’s not many,” Clark explained.

He says he sometimes feels unsafe walking near Broadway after the sun goes down.

“It’s scary because some of these guys are in alleys pickpocketing people at night,” Clark said.

McKinley is seeing his customers get harassed too.

“When some customers get harassed slightly in line or can I get a dollar here or a dollar there, but we try our best we sometimes give them a pork sandwich their way whatever we can do to keep the line moving, keep everyone happy,” McKinley emphasized.

Metro's Housing Division says they've increased their staff to help find homeless people across the city housing and other resources that they may need.

For more reports like this on the High Cost of Homelessness, click here.