In an interview discussing the Thanksgiving night shooting, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato encouraged people to support local businesses. It is a call that comes despite the lingering cloud shadowing a city that has erupted in protests over the killing of Emantic Bradford, Jr.
He also made an astounding claim by calling the Riverchase Galleria “the safest place in America” on three separate occasions during the lengthy interview with Birmingham’s ABC 33/40’s Lauren Walsh on Thursday.
The problem: Aside from it being a curious thing to say after the killing of a man, the Riverchase Galleria is far from the safest place in America — even before the shooting. It’s not even the safest place in the city of Hoover.
Watch (relevant remarks at 17:20):
“Hoover is very, very safe,” Brocato contended. “The Galleria Mall is probably the safest place in America. We had an unfortunate incident that occurred there. We want people to know all over the Birmingham and Hoover metropolitan area, all over the state of Alabama – the mall is very safe. Hoover is very safe. Please don’t stay away. We guarantee we have our boots on the ground just like we would do in a normal Christmas season.”
He went on to emphasize his desire to see merchants within the city limits of Hoover supported.
“It’s very safe,” he added. “The merchants need to be supported. There are people down there that have to pay their rent. They are working part-time. A lot of folks have part-time jobs down there during the Christmas season so they can make ends meet. So, I hope we won’t be scared off so to speak, and not support the Galleria and the businesses around that.”
Statistically, the Riverchase Galleria and the area surrounding it have the highest crime rates within Hoover according to real estate data tracking company Neighborhoodscout.com.
A simple Google search turns up incidents of carjackings, fights on Black Friday in previous years, theft and drug deals gone bad. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unsafe, but it is a far cry from “the safest place in America.”
It’s a false statement coming from a high-ranking public official.
This is not what the business owners and citizens Hoover need. It’s especially not what the Riverchase Galleria needs. Before last months shooting, the Galleria had become the MySpace of shopping choices in the Birmingham metro area. That is, it used to be a cool place with lots of exciting things and high-end retail, but it seems kind of icky these days. The shooting didn’t help matters.
For the sake of the livelihoods of those that have jobs tied to the Riverchase Galleria, you want to see those businesses succeed. Success won’t come with feel-good rhetoric and over-the-top false claims. Hoover, and more specifically the Riverchase Galleria, have branding problems.
Human behavior generally dictates that people don’t want to deal with the hassle of protesters or even the chance of some kind of gun violence. Given their druthers, is someone going to buy a pair of expensive tennis shoes at the place a guy a got shot, or the place the guy didn’t get shot?
The Riverchase Galleria has a stigma now. Overcoming it will require Mayor Brocato to channel post-Sept. 11, 2001 Rudy Giuliani, not 2003 Baghdad Bob.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
