Albany to increase police presence on Lark Street after Cafe Hollywood closure

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The city of Albany has increased police presence on Lark Street and has plans to add more mental health resources to the area. This comes after the city decided to shut down Cafe Hollywood on Sunday, causing some business owners to demand help.

The Lark Street Business Improvement District (BID) spoke on camera about this issue for the first time on Tuesday.

"We're not going to stand for this violence," said Patrick Noonan, Chairman of the Lark Street BID.

The city decided to shut down Cafe Hollyood after an overnight shooting this past weekend inside the bar. The Lark Street BID said they stand by the city's decision due to a history of crime there.

“Our job is to support the businesses up to a point. There has been a history here so this is somewhat separate of what the BID’s job is to do which is to promote those who are doing what they’re supposed to do,” said Patrick.

David Galin, chief of staff for the Albany Mayor's Office said a very similar thing happened with Cafe Hollywood in 2021. The city made an agreement with the bar that they could stay open with certain restrictions on hours of operation and security. However, this agreement could only last for two years and said there has been a noticeable decline since it has ended.

Additionally, the city said police have always been monitoring on Lark Street.

“The incident that occurred at Cafe Hollywood was reported by an Albany police officer who was on the street patrolling this area,” David Galin, Chief of Staff for the Albany Mayor's Office.

Yet now, they're adding more. Two more police officers have been added to patrol the nights and weekends on Lark Street. Plus, they enhanced their beat cop patrol and added a mounted patrol to overlap with the beat cop patrol during dinner hours.

The city said they also had conversations with Albany Navigates, a mental health program that aims to support people who are suffering from addiction, poverty and more. This program helps by providing case management to connect those people to housing mental health support and addiction treatment.

“We understand that mental health is a huge part of what goes on down here and getting those individuals what they need is critical," said Noonan.

With the help of a program like this, Noonan said it will help alleviate some stress off of police officers.

“Being able to allocate their officers more efficiently to real crimes versus having to be called to Lark Street everyday for something that might be a mental health solution," said Noonan.

Some said Lark Street has ben the backbone of the Albany community for years -- a reputation they want to uphold.

“Lark Street is the passion and the jewel of the city of Albany," said Gabriella Romero, councilmember and assembly member elect for New York’s 109th State Assembly District.

“If you commit violent crime in the city, we will find you and we will arrest you and we will do everything in our power to hold you accountable," said Galin.

In the meantime, the Lark Street BID is encouraging people to come to Small Business Saturday this weekend to help support businesses in the area. Incoming interim Albany police chief Brendan Cox plans to talk with businesses and police when he takes office Monday to see what more they need to make this happen.

“I’m open to ideas, I’m open to thoughts and this has to be a police-community partnership in order to ensure that the community is safe and feels safe," said Cox.

It is still unclear what will happen to Cafe Hollywood's now vacant building. Stick with NEWS10 for more updates.