CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Runners across the Charlotte area will be taking their concerns of safety to the city council on Monday, Oct. 24.
What You Need To Know
- Local runners are taking their safety concerns to Charlotte City Council
- They hope to spark a conversation about ways to make greenways and trails safer
- Some ideas include a greater police presence on these paths
This comes on the heels of two women reporting attacks in two separate incidents last month. One on a greenway in Charlotte, and the other on a trail in Matthews.
Lisa Landrum, who founded RunCLTRun, is one of the concerned runners speaking out.
She says these outdoor spaces are sometimes secluded.
"Sometimes pretty desolate areas, sometimes greenways go into not as populated areas,” she said.
As a runner herself, she says she’s had her own experiences.
"Things have happened yes, where I felt unsafe and I think the saddest thing is that as women, sometimes we count that as normal,” she said.
Landrum says it shouldn’t be that way.
“There is no part of that that should be normal in anybody's mind,” she said. "Whether you are the one feeling that way or whether you are seeing it happen or hearing about it happen, that should not be the standard for anybody."
Together with other running groups, she says they are all taking these concerns to city council.
“So, I will work with the representative from Charlotte Running Club who will be on the agenda to talk about how we can support those ideas,” she said.
Ideas such as more lights along the walking and running paths or possibly, a greater police presence.
She says the main goal is to spark a conversation about more ideas.
“This is definitely something where we fully realize CMPD has so many things to be on top of,” Landrum said. "It’s really about getting a dialog going and figuring out how best we can work together."
She says it’s important to keep these conversation going, not just after an incident happens.
“It’s human nature to be hyper aware and really invested in something at the time of the incidents, but we want to make it so it’s just kind of in the forefront of everyone’s mind all of the time,” she said.