CINCINNATI — City officials proposed a series of potential changes to both Fountain Square and Government Square following Monday night's shooting.
Some of the proposals from Mayor Aftab Pureval and Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge are getting mixed reviews. They include a new 6 p.m. curfew for the Fountain Square District, more police officers patrolling the area and adjustments to bus routes.
We spoke with Cincinnati Public Schools students and adults who frequent the area Wednesday.
There was a consensus that the city needs to change bus routes and ease congestion around Government Square. People in the area said there are too many high school students standing in one place, some of whom don't like each other, which we were told can lead to problems and even fights.
We met Gary Edwards at Fountain Square. He's a Cincinnati Public Schools virtual high school student who told us he's done with school every day at 11 a.m. We saw him waiting for the bus for over an hour.
"It's me, waiting for the bus every day, just me waiting for the bus," Edwards said.
Hear from students and business owners about their experiences and concerns at Fountain Square in the player below:
Local businesses also expressed concerns over high school students hanging out in Fountain Square.
"I'm seeing a lot of children still out that should be in school, even this morning, I pulled up and there's probably seven kids running around," said Lauren Norman, Green District Salads general manager.
We asked Edwards how he felt about the perception of school-aged kids hanging out during the school day at Fountain Square.
"I'll say that the virtual (students) aren't skipping school," Edwards said.
We checked the latest state report card for CPS. It shows during the 2023-2024 school year, 43.5% of all students were chronically absent. That metric is defined by a student who missed 10% or more of the school year.
During the 2024-2025 school year, the number increased to 45.6%.
In an ideal world, Edwards said he would like new bus routes, so fewer people would be waiting for the bus at Government Square.
"We all come down to one train station, and it's just chaos," Edwards said.
Edwards said that leads to problems.
"All the kids being in this one spot, where it's only these police officers, these kids go down the street and they fight all the time," Edwards said. "It's kids from different schools coming down here, like you know, different schools don't like each other, and we all meet up at the same bus station. People don't like certain people."
We also asked Edwards what his message would be to CPS to make changes to bus routes.
"I would tell them try to get more bus routes try to get kids home faster, anything they can make us do so it's more safe for us to be out here and we're not just out here into the wilderness," Edwards said.
