THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504020012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Just down the street from Melvin Boykin's house in Brambleton a group of young men hang around a front yard, reggae music blaring from a stereo through the otherwise quiet street.
When someone talks about crime in the neighborhood, Boykin points at the men and says it's not just the murders, robberies and assaults, it's also the groups who wander through the area firing weapons and making noise.
But that rowdy element dwindled last year, Boykin said. So did reports of crime in the neighborhood - by 15 percent. Among the seven major crimes tracked by the city, individual robberies took the biggest drop in Brambleton - down 43 percent from 1993. Residential burglaries fell 28 percent.
``Last summer,'' he said, ``we began sitting on porches again.''
Before then residents had stopped socializing with friends in their yards at night for fear of being attacked, he said. Drug gangs, it seemed, had a grip on Brambleton.
The Rev. John H. Foster, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church on Park Avenue and a former city councilman, credited intervention by residents and police for the improvement.
``We have seen a lessening of gang activity in this community . . . because of tighter police enforcement and citizens who have banded themselves together to weed out activities that breed and initiate crime and violence,'' he said.
The city divides Brambleton into two neighborhoods - Boykin's, which is near Norfolk State University, and the area around Ruffner School. Crime in Brambleton/Ruffner School increased slightly in 1994.
While residents of Brambleton may feel safer - and crime statistics indicate they have reason to - the neighborhood can still be dangerous. Eleven persons were murdered in Brambleton in 1994, the most of any neighborhood in Norfolk.
But ``on a whole we would say crime has decreased considerably as to what it was . . . because police have put forth a greater effort,'' said Boykin, 78, a Brambleton civic league director for 10 years. ``For the last four years I've seen a difference, that it has been dwindling.''
Officers are ever present in the neighborhood - on bikes, on foot and at civic league meetings, Boykin said. They work with residents who sound the alarm on suspicious activities.
The move toward community policing has swept through Brambleton and the rest of the city. Police officers and residents are developing a pro-active approach to fighting crime.
``That is our main part, to notify the proper authorities at the right time,'' Boykin said. ``Not for ourselves to get involved with the people. We're not prepared for that.''
Many of the murders in 1994 appeared to be drug related, Boykin said. Robberies and burglaries haven't been as widespread as in the past, he said, but they remain a problem. So far in 1995, at least two homicides have been reported on Reservoir Avenue, which runs through the area.
Foster said the civic league is set on educating residents about what they can do to improve the area. They can help, he said, ``by being observant and by making reports, by securing their property and by being out in the community to see if they can observe what may be suspicious activity and individuals.''
Boykin's refurbished house sits on Maltby Avenue surrounded by decaying buildings and vacant patches of grass. That picture, he said, soon will shift. To help revitalize the neighborhood, he's pushing to have decrepit houses torn down and new ones built.
``Homeowners in Brambleton want to still live in Brambleton if Brambleton can still be improved,'' he said. ``That's why we're building affordable housing.''
Six homes already have been built, with six more to follow by the end of the summer, Boykin said. The new homes are on Maltby, but the project is expanding to nearby streets.
Single-family homes, not apartments, are going up. Boykin hopes new families will help push out the criminals and will beautify the neighborhood.
Boykin, who's lived in Brambleton for 43 years, has held his ground through tougher days. Now he has a vision of a ``new'' Brambleton, and wants others to share it.
``I would advise you to live here because Brambleton is going to be much better as we go along,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Melvin Boykin says that new homes in Brambleton, like the one behind
him, are a sign of a brighter future.
Map
STAFF
KEYWORDS: CRIME NORFOLK STATISTICS NEIGHBORHOODS by CNB