Downtown Nassau pictured during the COVID-19 lockdown.
By KEILE CAMPBELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
A DOWNTOWN Nassau business manager said staff have been forced to repeatedly clean up suspected human waste left outside their property for nearly a year, calling for more police patrols in an area she said feels forgotten.
Michelle Palamino, general manager of Hoffer Sport, said the problem has persisted for months despite efforts to block access to parts of the property.
She suspects a vagrant is responsible, a view she said police have also expressed. However, she said neither she nor authorities have identified a suspect.
The problem initially occurred, she said, in a corner beside the business, where people had previously gathered after a neighbouring property put up fences to keep vagrants out.
She said her employer later paid to install a fence to stop people from entering the area, but the problem shifted to the front of the business.
The issue has had limited impact on customers because employees clean the area before business hours.
Still, she said workers have grown frustrated after months of cleaning up the mess.
She also recalled previous incidents involving damage to the business, including a broken window and an occasion when someone allegedly threw drinks at storefront glass after being told not to search through the business’s garbage.
She said that person was later arrested in connection with unrelated matters and she does not believe he is responsible for the current problem.
Ms Palamino said officers told her they were also dealing with wider concerns involving vagrants downtown.
"I'm not really complaining about vagrants," she said. "We had vagrants on Bay Street for years and years and years, and we do not have a problem with them until they start bothering your property."
She said many homeless people who enter the store are harmless and usually leave without incident after speaking with staff.
Ms Palamino said she recognises recent beautification efforts in the city centre, including murals and improvements to fire-damaged and derelict properties. However, she questioned whether officials are fully aware of sanitation problems affecting areas outside the main tourism corridors.
"A larger police presence," she said. "It feels like they just forgot about this part of downtown."
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