BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A Buffalo city councilmember is calling for a task force to address a spike in violence, prostitution, and substance abuse along Broadway in the Fillmore District.
Fillmore District Common Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski is pushing for the formation of the task force, which is on Tuesday's Common Council agenda.
The proposal comes after a series of violent incidents in the area. On Friday, two men were shot on Broadway in the middle of the afternoon. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening, and police made an arrest.
A few weeks earlier, a police officer was stabbed and then shot someone on Broadway. Days after that, Officer Marc Hurst was responding to a domestic call on Sherman Street, just off Broadway, when he was shot six times.
WATCH: Buffalo councilmember pushes for task force to address Broadway violence, prostitution
Shawn McMahon volunteers to pick up used needles in and around Broadway. He says overdoses are not as frequent as they once were, but the problem persists.
"Money needs to come to this neighborhood," McMahon said. "It shouldn't take a city tragedy only for that to happen."
Kelly Diane Galloway is the founding director of Project Mona's House, which helps women overcome being trafficked for sex and works to prevent girls from being trafficked.
"These women do not need to be arrested. They need care and not cuffs," Galloway said.
"They need resources to get out of this life. Nobody wakes up and says, Hey, I just wanna sell my body today just to buy drugs, or I just wanna sell my body today only to make $25 a whole day. And so this is really a vulnerable population and that's why we're trying to fight it in a holistic manner," Galloway said.
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