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Comment by Margy Meath on July 6, 2010 at 8:52am

I attended part of this meeting (the 2nd half) - John did a good job summarizing much of what was said at the meeting.
Marc Natale's (from the County) resources sound like they might be very promising especially as they relate to the 'corner stores' who might be engaging in illegal activity. The county is able to use undercover personnel to look for fraud and apply significant consequences to store owners who violate various tax and other laws. (i.e. selling alcohol/cigarettes to underage people, selling loosies, etc)
The discussion re: DSS recipients and the status of mothers with children was certainly spirited. One resident shared her concern that SOME people 'turn to illegal activity' because DSS makes getting employment and/or education difficult for people who want to pursue those activities.
Marc Natale reported that many landlords are "vendors" for Monroe County DSS - he hadn't thought much about whether the County can "suspend" their status for chronic complaints against their property but seemed interested in evaluating this further. Kristin and others commented that the current city laws/point system COULD help if fines/points were actually USED but the city seems very reluctant to apply any significant pressure against landlords - THIS, to me, seems like that biggest problem that we have - i.e. the city COULD apply pressure, levy fines, etc against problem properties but they don't/won't - and the 'street watch' idea is that private citizens and 'volunteer' attorneys need to make this happen. It really makes me wonder where my tax dollars are going and WHY we are not doing something to apply more pressure on the City to do their part re: this issue.
There was much concern about the ongoing drug activity on the corner of Milton/Thurston and a request that we call 911 EVERY time we see something happening there - as John mentioned, complaints (and lots of them) are the way to get action. Kristin (RPD) reinforced this concept.
One gentleman in the room discussed issues he is having with his property. I couldn't hear all that he said but he reported that a police officer told him that he should "expect to have trouble" living so close to Thurston!!!! THIS, in my mind, is one of the primary things we need to change- nobody in this community should EXPECT to have trouble in their very own home and I think that we need to continue to raise concerns about what is happening on Thurston (and other parts of the neighborhood) and demand the resources we need to solve these issues.

Comment by John Boutet on July 6, 2010 at 2:35am

Laura, I attended. The meeting was quite good. John Borek was on vacation and he had asked Kristin Runyon to handle the 19th WCA Public Safety Committee portion of the meeting from 6:30 to 7:45 PM. We probably had at least 20 participants during that portion of the meeting and another 5 or 6 came in part way through that meeting and before Adam McFadden's Thurston Rd Street Watch meeting.

Kristin reviewed the crime stats for Sector 4. There was a lively discussion with questions from the group on the effect of the surveillance cameras of drug sales and the spread of the activities to the residential streets and what to do about it. She stressed the need to call 911 whenever some crime activity was in progress even if you think it will be over by the time someone responds. Get plate number when possible. The focus of police resources is a complaint driven system. The more calls about a problem, to more likely that available resources will be dedicated to that problem. If you don't want your name revealed she said to tell the 911 operator that up front. That will insure that the caller is not listed in the information that the 911 operator types into the system and sends to the dispatcher who in turn contacts responding officers. Kristin also reviewed safety suggestions for home owners. We had at least two attendees who were from the Lyell-Otis neighborhood and they were very impressed with all the information Kristin provided to the group. They asked if they could keep coming to our meetings.

During the Thurston Rd Street Watch meeting Adam reviewed the objective of the program since there were several new people at the meeting who had not gotten an overview of the issues. From what he said it sounds like the program is about to try its first tests of using the volunteer attorneys to go after drug houses.

Next Adam introduced Marc Natale, the Director of Community Relations for Monroe County who is working with Adam in trying to apply the resources that the county can direct at these complex problems. One option is to go after recipients of Social Services who are allowing drug activity in homes they rent. This led to a lively discussion on the need to apply these options judiciously since often children are involved and cutting off a mother from financial aid often means you are putting children on the street with a mother who often has an addiction problem. Taking the children from the mother and placing them with a relative or in foster care is a situation that may be needed in many cases.

There also was a significant review of what could be done by going after store owners who are breaking tobacco, alcohol and other sales laws as well as violating immigration laws or laws on money laundering or transfers of funds to illegal groups. Denying them rights to sell lottery tickets and alcohol is a big stick the county can apply. The possibility of applying Homeland Security resources to these issues was discussed. Marc Natale has good contacts in the various agencies involved such as the Immigration & Naturalization Service. He will be providing Kristin with contact information for key individuals in those agencies whom she can work with for maximum effectiveness in going after the bad guys.

I was not taking notes and this is what I can recall. Margy Meath was also present and may be able to add some additional information. Hope this helps.

Comment by Laura Suda on July 4, 2010 at 10:45am

John, did you attend the Thurston Rd Street Watch meeting? I was unable to get to the meeting but am very interested in what was discussed - can you enlighten us? Until you posted your message I wasn't even aware that the Thurston Rd meetings were still scheduled. It seemed like a lot of talk but no action and not much was being accomplished. Please tell me I'm wrong.
BTW, who is running Location19 now?

Comment by Laura Suda on June 30, 2010 at 9:38am

I have an Inglewood Dr block meeting and will try to interest those attendees in the Thurston Rd Street Watch meeting - too much going on at the same time!