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Homicides are nearing record highs. The two-year surge in violent crime should matter to folks in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. The highest-paid CEO of the region’s largest public company by revenue says so.

Earlier this month, Centene, led by CEO Michael Neidorff, alerted Clayton officials that the company was putting off plans for a third tower at its headquarters because of rising crime in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. “They’re not willing to put more investment into our region, whether it’s Clayton or anywhere else, until they can feel more hopeful about crime being addressed,â€� Clayton Mayor Michelle Harris told the Post-Dispatch.

Neidorff’s timing is curious on two fronts. First, the news came amid a consultant’s study that he funded of the two largest police departments in the region, in the city of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County. The lack of cooperation between the departments limits crime-fighting abilities, the reports found. Consultants found a long list of bad management practices in both departments, though it’s unclear whether the reports will have much of an effect, in part because of the secrecy in which the studies were conducted.

Then there was the announcement that Neidorff made this summer. The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½-based company is building an eastern headquarters in Charlotte, investing $1 billion in a facility that is expected to create about 6,000 jobs. The decision came with a vast public critique by Neidorff of the many things he finds wrong with ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, including its crime rate.

He’s not wrong. Homicides are reaching historic levels in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ this year, and for several years, the city has maintained the highest, or one of the highest, murder rates in the country, in part because of the way those statistics are gathered in a region in which the city is separated from a county with separate police departments for both.

Of course, if context matters, it’s important to note that homicides are up in most major cities across the country this year, and plenty of smaller ones, as well. That’s what happens amid a coronavirus pandemic in which millions of people are out of work, in big cities where little has been done in years to address poverty or the proliferation of guns.

Such is the case in Charlotte. In fact, 2019 was for the city, with 107 murders, double the rate from six years ago, and the highest rate since 1993. That year happens to be when the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County police departments merged. In 2020, the murder rate is even higher, and public officials there are saying many of the same things as civic leaders in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

“We must change the path that we’ve taken this year,� Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles told the Charlotte Observer. Lyles says she wants to “reverse the cycle� of violence.

The investments made by Centene will probably help. Business growth, when not offset by too many tax abatements and other forms of corporate welfare, can reduce poverty by creating job opportunity, and increasing the amount of revenue available for schools, roads, and public safety initiatives. That’s why Neidorff’s recent announcements take me back to one he made in 2008.

That’s when Centene was going to build its shiny new headquarters in downtown ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, as the lead tenant of Ballpark Village, bringing new life to an area that needed it. Instead, Centene went to the suburbs. Ballpark Village was delayed and diminished. The resurgence of downtown, which was ongoing before the pandemic struck, took a whole lot longer than some business leaders hoped it would.

Some of those business leaders aren’t too happy about Neidorff blaming crime for what is likely a reasoned business decision. As the CEO pointed out in the Charlotte announcement, that campus will contain technology that will make it easier for those employees to work from home, something a lot of corporations are planning on post-pandemic. The need for a third Clayton tower has been diminished by a pandemic nobody saw coming.

The truth is, Neidorff could be a major player in reducing crime in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. He could invest more in the city’s core, he could eschew the tax handouts that elected officials dangle in front of him like candy. And he could push for a robust, public discussion about better cooperation among the largest police departments in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, and the communities they serve.

Or he could go to Charlotte, where crime is rising, and local officials are seeking answers.