Personally, I'm glad to see a diminishing of the panhandling, loitering, flopping around blocking the sidewalks, drug dealing, violence, etc. etc.. Sure, there needs to be a bit of a balance but really the downtown is not meant to be some freak show where anything goes. It's generally the few that ruin it for the majority.........isn't that the way it usually is? You can constantly criticize the police, the business community, the City Council, and so on but if people just took it upon themselves to be considerate and tolerant of others there may be no need for heavy policing and laws. Unfortunately, that simply isn't the case. Reading some of the comments in here by Norse, Becky Johnson, and others it's no wonder the downtown has problems. Instead of helping to solve the problems, these folks seems to advocate causing them.