Still Plowing New Ground, But Making Headway--
Washington Avenue residents appeal to Council
While police patrols were increased, some still worry about drugs.
The North Little Rock Times Thursday, April 28, 2005
By: K.J. Longley
A beefed-up police presence over the last week might have caught the attention of some longtime Washington Avenue residents at the North Little Rock City Council Monday, but the surge of enforcement did not stop multiple gunshots from ringing through the troubled neighborhood less than an hour before the meeting was called to order.
The residents had come to voice their concerns about problems in the area. And unless a police substation is reopened there, many said they felt that crime will continue to rise, putting at risk the community’s youth who are expected to attend the new community center that recently took over the old substation space at 2216 E. Washington Ave.
Closed more than two years ago, the substation has largely sat vacant. But now, operated as a partnership between the city and New Harvest Ministries, the center aims to provide a safe place for kids to stay during summer days while their parents are at work as well as provide programming as diverse as basketball and apprenticeships.
Yet the potential benefits of such a center didn’t assuage the residents’ concerns.
Randall Bradley, who has lived in the area 30 years, agrees that youth need activities but warns that more evaluation of the area is needed before risking someone being shot.
“They need a safe place,” he told the City Council during the public comment period.
Speaking at the podium and interjecting during much of the public comment section of the meeting. Jerry McAway, a 34-year resident of Washington Avenue, said he thought two substations and a “bunch of police” were needed to rid the area of what he called frequent shootings and obvious drug deals.
But Sam Harris, director of New Harvest Ministries, said the police presence is making an impact even without the substation.
“Their presence is very obvious,” he said.
He adds that the future of “our young ones” should not be sacrificed “just because of a few drug dealers.”
And while illegal drug activity was a primary concern for many, Ward 2 Alderman Linda Robinson in a phone interview Tuesday said that is only one face of the problem.
“The Washington Avenue situation didn’t just happen,” she said. “That has taken awhile…to evolve.”
Dilapidated houses, vacant lots, and stray animals are all contributing to the downfall of the neighborhoods, she said.
And since receiving a number of complaints in March, Robinson said she has been quietly working with city departments—police, Code Enforcement, Animal Control, Neighborhood Services and the City Attorney’s office—to set the area on the road to recovery.
“We were putting our heads together trying to work on some things” she said. “We weren’t just out there publicly broadcasting it.”
Prompting the “quiet” approach, Robinson said, was one resident’s fearful reaction to the suggestion of a survey and neighborhood meeting aimed at pinpointing the problems. A meeting has not been held and a survey mailed out a few weeks ago by Neighborhood Services to approximately 35 residents previously active in neighborhood activities has turned up just a handful of responses.
“They’re still trickling in,” said Dan Scott, director of Neighborhood Services.
Scott said that most responses have focused on a desire for more police presence to bring down the incidence of crime.
Police Chief Danny Bradley, also speaking during public comment Monday, said he recently had asked officers to “make sure that we’re covering out there.”
He also said that whether the substation was “opened or closed did not effect the policing in that area” and that having police officers spread out across the city results in worse coverage.
On Tuesday, Bradley said that no specific number of officers had been added to the East Washington area, but “there may be an increased patrol presence because of my instructions.” He noted that the narcotics unit served arrest warrants on two people on drug charges in the 2300 block of East Second Street on Monday, and that the police and the SAFE Team had been collaborating along that street, as well.
Still, some insist that the police name “up on the wall” of the substation was a deterrent to criminals.
“Our neighborhood is going to become, I’m afraid, a very violent area,” Willie Shepherd Jr. told the City Council.
Ward 2 Alderman Olen Thomas, who said he had not known until recently that the substation was closed, said he was not satisfied with “what’s there” but had done all he could to bring the police presence back.
“The people would surely like to have it opened,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I think that it’s needed worse than any of the others….I’m going to do all I can to assist them.”
But Robinson said that Thomas is placing too much emphasis on the drug activity, instead of working to fix simple problems, such as street light outages.
“It’s going to take us all working together to turn that community around,” she said. “And having the police (in residence) is not going to solve the problem. It just takes care of one issue.”
While police patrols were increased, some still worry about drugs.
The North Little Rock Times Thursday, April 28, 2005
By: K.J. Longley
A beefed-up police presence over the last week might have caught the attention of some longtime Washington Avenue residents at the North Little Rock City Council Monday, but the surge of enforcement did not stop multiple gunshots from ringing through the troubled neighborhood less than an hour before the meeting was called to order.
The residents had come to voice their concerns about problems in the area. And unless a police substation is reopened there, many said they felt that crime will continue to rise, putting at risk the community’s youth who are expected to attend the new community center that recently took over the old substation space at 2216 E. Washington Ave.
Closed more than two years ago, the substation has largely sat vacant. But now, operated as a partnership between the city and New Harvest Ministries, the center aims to provide a safe place for kids to stay during summer days while their parents are at work as well as provide programming as diverse as basketball and apprenticeships.
Yet the potential benefits of such a center didn’t assuage the residents’ concerns.
Randall Bradley, who has lived in the area 30 years, agrees that youth need activities but warns that more evaluation of the area is needed before risking someone being shot.
“They need a safe place,” he told the City Council during the public comment period.
Speaking at the podium and interjecting during much of the public comment section of the meeting. Jerry McAway, a 34-year resident of Washington Avenue, said he thought two substations and a “bunch of police” were needed to rid the area of what he called frequent shootings and obvious drug deals.
But Sam Harris, director of New Harvest Ministries, said the police presence is making an impact even without the substation.
“Their presence is very obvious,” he said.
He adds that the future of “our young ones” should not be sacrificed “just because of a few drug dealers.”
And while illegal drug activity was a primary concern for many, Ward 2 Alderman Linda Robinson in a phone interview Tuesday said that is only one face of the problem.
“The Washington Avenue situation didn’t just happen,” she said. “That has taken awhile…to evolve.”
Dilapidated houses, vacant lots, and stray animals are all contributing to the downfall of the neighborhoods, she said.
And since receiving a number of complaints in March, Robinson said she has been quietly working with city departments—police, Code Enforcement, Animal Control, Neighborhood Services and the City Attorney’s office—to set the area on the road to recovery.
“We were putting our heads together trying to work on some things” she said. “We weren’t just out there publicly broadcasting it.”
Prompting the “quiet” approach, Robinson said, was one resident’s fearful reaction to the suggestion of a survey and neighborhood meeting aimed at pinpointing the problems. A meeting has not been held and a survey mailed out a few weeks ago by Neighborhood Services to approximately 35 residents previously active in neighborhood activities has turned up just a handful of responses.
“They’re still trickling in,” said Dan Scott, director of Neighborhood Services.
Scott said that most responses have focused on a desire for more police presence to bring down the incidence of crime.
Police Chief Danny Bradley, also speaking during public comment Monday, said he recently had asked officers to “make sure that we’re covering out there.”
He also said that whether the substation was “opened or closed did not effect the policing in that area” and that having police officers spread out across the city results in worse coverage.
On Tuesday, Bradley said that no specific number of officers had been added to the East Washington area, but “there may be an increased patrol presence because of my instructions.” He noted that the narcotics unit served arrest warrants on two people on drug charges in the 2300 block of East Second Street on Monday, and that the police and the SAFE Team had been collaborating along that street, as well.
Still, some insist that the police name “up on the wall” of the substation was a deterrent to criminals.
“Our neighborhood is going to become, I’m afraid, a very violent area,” Willie Shepherd Jr. told the City Council.
Ward 2 Alderman Olen Thomas, who said he had not known until recently that the substation was closed, said he was not satisfied with “what’s there” but had done all he could to bring the police presence back.
“The people would surely like to have it opened,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I think that it’s needed worse than any of the others….I’m going to do all I can to assist them.”
But Robinson said that Thomas is placing too much emphasis on the drug activity, instead of working to fix simple problems, such as street light outages.
“It’s going to take us all working together to turn that community around,” she said. “And having the police (in residence) is not going to solve the problem. It just takes care of one issue.”
posted by Steve Nawojczyk at 8:52 AM
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