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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on June 1, 2010 at 5:55pm

The man shot on Thurston has died and today the Uof R sent a message to employees regarding other violence that occurred in our neighborhood over the past weekend. Some will choose to view this as the newspaper/UR reporting 'only the bad things about the 19th ward' - i see it as a call to action and concern.
The location of the shooting over the weekend is an obvious 'hot spot' yet it appears that nothing is being done - it seems to me that the 'clubs' on Thurston attract violence given the number of incidents that have occurred in and near those establishments during weekend/late night hours. I've lost count but know we have had multiple shootings, homicides and stabbings in a very small area and during specific times (weekends, holidays) WHO can do something about this??

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on June 2, 2010 at 1:04am

According to the news tonight, the man who was shot was a maintenence worker at the U of R. The news story featured U of R students afraid of walking into the 19th Ward. There was also a home invasion of a U of R student. The U of R also distributed warnings as they must about walking in this area, as there was a problem on Genesee St.

As a resident of Enterprise St, right by the bars on Thurston, I can attest to the numerous problems they cause. This is a separate problem from the above.

I would suggest the only people that can do anything about such situations are the police and City adminstration. So how do we get them to do so?

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on June 3, 2010 at 8:53am

Wow - I also tend to really dislike most of what Bob Lonsberry says but I think he is mostly RIGHT ON with this one......
I also believe that apathy kills - it kills the spirit and it probably leads to some of the violence we're experiencing.
The U of R is taking a strong and proactive approach to addressing this. They are communicating with their staff and demanding more information/assistance from the police. I appreciate these efforts and wish that we had similar efforts here in the 19th ward.
On the one hand, we have police suggesting that businesses intended to promote fun (i.e. SeaBreeze) close their doors on a holiday because of possible trouble and on the other we have what seems to be tolerance for 'clubs' on Thurston that don't pay their taxes, create major litter problems, create illegal parking problems and seemingly contribute to significant violence..... none of it makes any sense to me!
On a similar note, at least 2 of the recent fires in our community occurred at properties where neighbors have made MULTIPLE complaints to the City (NET/NSC and the Mayor's office) - i wonder how seriously our complaints were taken..... i wonder whether there was any real follow through....

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on June 3, 2010 at 5:57pm

J.B. was on the Channel 13 news last night at 11 PM, with these comments:

The 19th Ward Reacts
The recent crimes are troubling for homeowners in the area, said J.B. Afoh Manin, who lives in the 19th Ward and is president of the Neighborhood Association.

"Crime is definitely an issue," he said. "People want to be safe in their own homes."

Anytime there's a crime, it brings negative attention to the neighborhood, Manin said. It's even tougher when students are affected.

"Many students live right in our neighborhood, and we love that," Manin said. "They are our neighbors, and many are involved in our community."

Manin has not spoken to the U of R, but says the association has an "open dialogue" with the university.

"When anything negative happens, we definitely are saddened, but we also want to make sure everyone understands this is a community, and we will come together."

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on June 7, 2010 at 10:55am

This paragraph says it all
"Rochester police Chief David T. Moore last week said a "tremendous amount of police resources" have been assigned to the southwest portion of the city since Yawn's death and numerous other acts of violence in the past several weeks."
Where were they when we were asking for help?

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