6 months after mass shooting, city names “Nighttime Economy Manager” to help reduce downtown violence

By Madisen Keavy

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — Sacramento city leaders announced a newly created position, Nighttime Economy Manager, 6 months after the city’s worst mass shooting in history, sparked by two rival gangs in April 2022.

The downtown shooting on April 3, Sacramento Police confirmed after an investigation, started when groups of rival gangs brought a gunfight to K Street in the early morning hours after bars and nightclubs had closed. Six people died, including three innocent women, and three people are in custody on charges related to the shooting.

Then, in July, a deadly shooting outside of Mix Nightclub on L Street in Sacramento. Inderkum High School football coach Greg Grimes was killed and four others were injured.

Then, just over a week ago, a shooting outside of bars on 28th and J Streets in Midtown Sacramento. Alfonso Martinez Jr. was killed.

These shootings, city leaders said Monday, are not the catalyst for the Nighttime Economy Manager, but the events did speed up the process to get someone in place. That person: Tina Lee-Vogt. Lee-Vogt is a long-time city employee who, according to her colleagues, has been doing the work of her now-new position part-time. She’ll now be given the full-time role as a liaison between businesses, community organizations, law enforcement and other partners that would contribute to the city’s nightlife.

“I wanna make sure I’m flexible,” Lee-Vogt told CBS13 on Monday, her first day on the job. She said she has plans for conversations about creating uniform safety procedures for bars and nightclubs in the city that go along with training alongside law enforcement. There’s more on her “to-do” list.

“When you have these major incidents, it makes you think something is unsafe, but when you really look at gun violence, gun violence happens where there’s people, and people happen to be where entertainment is,” said Lee-Vogt.

She said she wants to have a study done on the city’s nightlife contributions to the greater local economy. She also wants to work on simultaneous living between residents and the bars or nightclubs they may live near. She said noise complaints are also something she plans to address in her new role.

The uniform safety protocols are what Mayor Darryl Steinberg said would be part of a bigger conversation with Lee-Vogt, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, business leaders, and the Downtown and Midtown Associations, among others. He said that conversation should happen in public as soon as a month from now, to address concerns and comments from parties involved.

“We do not have our head in the sand or dismiss the challenges that we face in our city, especially in our central city,” said Steinberg Monday when he announced Lee-Vogt’s new position.

The goal, city leaders shared, is to create a team that can support the Nighttime Economy Manager’s work.

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