A notice to business owners

The city recently hosted a town hall event for business owners especially in the El Paseo corridor, an area under consideration for a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area. There is a push by the city to revitalize this struggling area. The Boys and Girls Club is rehabilitating the old Video 4 theater and affordable housing is planned across the street from that.

I can’t help but see the hypocrisy – we are willing to spend millions to rehabilitate an area, but not the people who frequent the area, clearly in the throes of mental health or substance use disorders.

In the six months prior to a more concerted policing strategy being undertaken along El Paseo, the Walgreens and the Albertsons each received over 140 calls for service to those locations for LCPD. The nearby Dollar Tree tallied over 50 incidents. The Desert Hope transitional housing complex on Pecos Street experienced 47 incidents.

Anyone driving down El Paseo in the last five years can surely attest to the sad state the area finds itself in and recognizes the urgency of the crime situation. Boarded windows, blatant drug consumption and random dumpster and vacant property fires abound.

To help business owners, let’s review the programs available to them, as discussed during the town hall.

If you are a business owner anywhere in the city and you are the victim of a crime, you can apply for the Storefront Repair Grant. The process can be cumbersome and take quite some time, but they are providing some assistance with these situations. You can apply here:  https://lascruces.gov/business/business-incentives/

If you are within the El Paseo MRA boundary, you also have an option to apply for a Safety Improvement Grant. This is to help your business before an incident, such as with camera installations, fencing, etc.

If you would like to pursue this option, I would advise contacting the city’s Economic Development Department at the following address: econdev@lascruces.gov

I want to remind everyone of the Nuisance Abatement Team. This department is specifically meant to address properties that have fallen into disrepair and have become unsafe or unsanitary for surrounding neighbors. You can find more information here: https://lascruces.gov/property/nuisance-abatement-team/

As a friendly reminder, if you encounter a homeless encampment, the city, in partnership with Community of Hope, has a program to help clean up trash in the area and engage the occupants of the encampments to seek available services through the city or its partner organizations. To request this service, you can email manoymano@lascruces.gov and request the Hotspot truck to your area. 

Additionally, if you encounter biohazard debris, such as drug use paraphernalia or human waste, the city also has a program to help clean up those areas of concern. Please don’t attempt to clean up these things alone. You can email sweep@lascruces.gov.

LCPD has a community outreach team that will assess your property and provide suggestions to discourage loitering in the area, improve lighting or camera angles that might prevent your business from being targeted. Additionally, they can provide stickers that you can request and affix to your storefront that alert visitors that you will cooperate with LCPD to provide relevant camera footage in the event of an incident. You can access all of the Community Outreach programs here: https://lascruces.gov/safety/police-department/community-outreach/.

As a final note, I highly recommend that every business in Las Cruces put up No Trespassing/No Soliciting signs on each side of their property, in a prominent spot and elevated if possible. This helps LCPD take action against trespassers even if you are not available to press charges.

Overall, the city has developed an informational page to help businesses that have questions about the homeless situation in our city. There are a number of helpful resources and relevant answers to common questions at this location: https://clcstaging.lascruces.gov/business/business-faqs-for-homelessness/.

Las Cruces is changing. I encourage all business owners and residents to stay informed and participate in their local politics to understand their rights and how we can live and work harmoniously.

Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona Ana County Resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.