Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991 TAG: 9104010195
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Almost nightly, say residents, drug dealers come into the project area. And frequently there's gunplay - presumably among rival dealers, but perhaps by others too.
"You're sitting downstairs, you're watching TV," Carolyn Johnson told a recent hearing of the city's Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council, "and you hear gunshots. So you say, `Maybe I'll go upstairs to where it's safe.' But then you think, `Those bullets are traveling.' " They could wind up almost anywhere.
Needless to say, residents of the 300-unit project don't feel safe venturing outdoors or letting their children out to play or for school.
They also fear complaining to authorities lest they become targets for vengeance. About 50 residents came to the council hearing. But the only one who spoke by name was Johnson, president of the Lincoln Terrace tenants council. She's also a new board member of the city's Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which operates this and three other city housing projects.
The city has not been indifferent to the trouble in Lincoln Terrace. But some of its efforts have seemed counterproductive. For instance, trimming tree limbs until they resemble coat racks (so that drug dealers on the street can be seen more easily) was an uglification that can only depress residents' spirits. Converting the area into a war zone is no answer.
Increased police patrols deter the dealers and make residents feel better - while the patrols are there. The city lacks the police personnel to keep cars on or near the scene all the time, but a greater presence would be helpful.
Other measures are afoot. The authority is seeking $5.5 million in federal funds to make improvements at Lincoln Terrace. Many of those would help security, as by replacing all missing doors, windows and screens, and building fences.
Herbert McBride, authority director, focuses on the $250,000 sought for what's called a drug-elimination grant. Among things that money could do are pay for extra police, make secure such areas as stairwells where dealers and users congregate, and provide athletics and other activities for young people.
Unfortunately, the city's tried twice before for such a grant and has been turned down by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. McBride hopes the application will fare better this time.
Even if it comes, federal money can't be the entire answer. Some housing authority members in the past have been too ready to assume that drugs and guns are givens, too quick to despair about the potential of concerted effort. If members made more of a point of getting to know residents, and developing more respect for them, there might be less throwing up of hands and more action.
It's good in any case that Johnson, a longtime resident of Lincoln Terrace, has been invited onto the authority's board of directors. That's a step toward a larger voice for the 900 to 1,000 residents. They need to feel - and to have - more power over their lives.
To that end, the city should do more to help the law-abiding majority living in Lincoln Terrace and other public-housing projects to work together as neighbors and community members. Even more important than external-security measures is the commitment of residents to gain more control over their communities - to look after themselves and their children, and keep drugs and other criminal activities out of their area.
Participatory efforts usually begin small. But with encouragement and early successes, they have grown and proved effective elsewhere. They can in Roanoke, too. Public housing residents deserve no less than anybody else to be free of drug dealing and gunplay in their midst.
by CNB