Cameras coming to Old Town Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS – There soon will be something more to do in Old Town plaza in downtown Fort Collins besides shopping, eating or just hanging out:

Be on candid camera.

The Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority is about to go live with three video cameras mounted high atop the plaza.

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The cameras command a view of the plaza – the central feature of Old Town Square – and a couple focus primarily on the concert stage and fountain area, where throngs congregate throughout the year for a variety of events.

Matt Robenalt, DDA director, said a demonstration of the new camera system is planned for the DDA’s Nov. 10 meeting. The system is expected to be fully functional by mid- to late November.

Robenalt said the system – which cost about $11,000 to install – has a dual purpose. The first, he said, is to “employ some innovative Web-based advertising through live images on the DDA website.”

The second purpose is to deter vandalism in the area, he said.

“The deterrent aspect of it, the place where (vandalism) most frequently occurs, is in this area,” Robenalt said.

Video from the cameras will feed into a DDA computer and will stream on the DDA website, www.downtownfortcollins.org. Robenalt said people can visit the DDA website and see what’s happening in the plaza, and it might lure them downtown to see more.

There’s also an opportunity for other groups or businesses to link to the DDA website and stream the feed to their website for promotional purposes.

Peggy Lyle, Fort Collins Downtown Business Association, said the DBA will be linking to the DDA site.

“We think it’s a great idea,” she said. “It’s certainly an innovative marketing tool where people can wave to their friends or view a concert.”

Lyle noted that the video won’t have sound, so concert lovers will have to make the decision to come see a downtown concert based on the band’s showmanship and crowd reaction rather than its sound.

“It’s maybe more of an incentive to see the good times going on and come down and enjoy the live music,” she said.

Lyle said downtown business people also see the crime-curbing potential.

“Certainly, we see it as a deterrent to occasional negative behavior or things like vandalism,” she said.

Ed Stoner, owner of Old Town Square Properties, has one of the cameras affixed to his office building and helped finance the installation.

Stoner said he is looking forward to having the cameras functional. “If somebody hits us with graffiti, we can check it out.”

Cameras have become ubiquitous and can be found in government buildings, shopping malls and atop traffic signal lights.

Stoner said many other cities have already installed downtown cameras and not faced privacy complaints from citizens walking through the area.

“We go to Steamboat all the time and they have them up there,” he said.

Robenalt said he doesn’t believe the cameras constitute an invasion of privacy, citing their presence in Estes Park, Breckenridge, Aspen, Durango, Steamboat Springs and Woodland Park as some examples of cameras already in use and accepted by the public.

“If (people are) in a public place, they have to accept they can be photographed,” he said. “I don’t see this as any different from what these other cameras are doing in other communities.”

Robenalt said some “discrete” signs will be posted telling visitors they may be photographed as they pass through the area.

Robernalt said the video stream will not be fed to Fort Collins police, who have a downtown police station nearby. However, the streams will be recorded and stored for seven days, and police could review those videos if there’s a possibility a crime may have been filmed.

Matt Johnson, a Fort Collins police services officer stationed downtown, said he expects the videos will be reviewed from time to time.

“It would be a bit of a stretch to say we’re the primary focus of it,” he said. “The focus is to provide good, positive stuff for downtown.

“For us, video doesn’t hurt as far as solving crimes and dealing with public safety issues.”

Robenalt, too, emphasized the main reason for adding the cameras downtown is to promote the area’s attractions and events.

“The most frequent use without a doubt will be showing what’s going on in the plaza,” he said. “Old Town Square is a fantastic, vibrant place and this is another way to spotlight it.”