Mims praises collaborative efforts to put on NATO event
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — As world leaders descend upon downtown, the mayor of Dayton is praising the preparations that are now helping keep everyone safe downtown.
The NATO Spring Assembly is in full swing on Friday, and 2 NEWS sat down with Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. to see how he's feeling about this historic event.
NATO Village: What does it look like inside the security zone?
There's a lot of work that has gone into planning to host this NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which is the first in the U.S. in 20 years. For just a week-long event, months of preparation went into planning security, schedules and more.
Mayor Mims says the event is off to a great start, particularly when it comes to safety, and he expects that to continue.
There were no incidents on day one, and that's not by accident.
Teams of law enforcement worked for months to come up with a plan to secure the inside of the NATO Village and surrounding areas.
What is the NATO Village?
The city of Dayton collaborated with several local, state and federal officials to pull this whole event off.
'Dayton has looked at what's happening across the state, across the nation in terms of the issues involving safety and how you keep people safe,' said Mims. 'There's a blueprint, if you will, in terms of how they do what they do, in terms of addressing the needs of each other and being supportive.'
Mayor Mims says he's happy with what he's seeing so far, and thanks the multitude of partners who are working to keep everyone safe.
'No matter what department you in on the matter, what part of the state that you in, we all sort of come together,' said Mims.
There were initially concerns about safety due to potential protests, but Mims says he wants protesters to have a space to feel like they have a voice. The city worked to make sure there is a designated area of protesters.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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