Cleaning up crime and nuisance issues around Washington Park is a matter of "determination, focus and time", writes Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr in a letter to the Washington Park Home Owners Association.
The letter is in response to a communication made by eight members of the association in which they said that things would have to change in and around the park for homeownership to flourish in Over-the-Rhine.
In the letter, they allege that the park and the sidewalks around it aren't being adequately maintained and policed.
Dohoney says that the City has been diligently working to make inroads into the concerns that the homeowners raised, citing projects such as the Central Parkway streetscape, the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and the work of 3CDC and numerous developers on the Gateway Quarter as proof of the City's dedication to improving the area.
"Concerning the short-term aspect of your request, over the past two years the Police Department has significantly increased its patrols in and around the park," he says. "In 2006, the Park Police unit made 81 arrests in Washington Park; in 2007, 222 arrests were made and in 2008, 297 arrests have been made to date."
In addition, the Park unit and the Cincinnati Police Department, including the Vortex unit, have made over 1,400 arrests around the 1200-1400 blocks of Elm and Race streets, Dohoney says.
He also says that park and police staffs have tried to crack down on other nuisance issues in Washington Park.
"The Park Board has also reaffirmed its policy of not allowing food and clothing distribution in the park, which contributed to on-going health and safety issues within the park," Dohoney says.
Dohoney adds that it's not that City ordinances and park regulations are unclear, but that the presence of social agencies in the area is leading to many of the problems.
"We have found that the issue is not how clear the regulations are, or the alleged lack of enforcement, but the social pressures on the park and its surroundings," he says. "As you know, the vicinity of the park is where many social agencies are located, creating some challenges that are continuously addressed in partnership with these agencies. Our citizens using these social agencies are often the first victims of the few criminal elements that take advantage of their miseries."
And to the suggestion that Park Board employees should act as the eyes and ears of the police, Dohoney says that this practice could be quite dangerous.
"Your inference of Park's staff being eyes and ears to deter criminal activity is always challenging, and all city employees manage these issues daily," he says. "It is not wise to assign Park staff with law enforcement duties. They are not trained for that and they do not carry firearms. Using park staff as police liaisons will very quickly be known by the criminal elements using the park and may result in making the park dangerous to maintain our custodial presence."
Previous reading on BC:
Washington Park homeowners 'no longer willing to accept' park nuisance (9/10/08)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Dohoney: City addressing Washington Park issues
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6 comments:
this is the one thing that's preventing me from moving to OTR. the park area is scary. even driving through makes me nervous.
I live right across from the park. It kind of intimidated me at first, but I have to admit that I have never been, or felt, threatened.
In fact to the contrary, I have gotten to know many of "those people" who are consistently dismissed as nuisances. They are the eyes and ears of the street. They are the public characters that urbanists refer to as the glue that hold neighborhoods together.
If, as some people wish, we eliminate these people from the area not only will they find other, more isolated areas to thrive, but a void will be created that will make it more dangerous.
My suggestion is that people take action themselves to get over their fears, clean-up their sidewalk, meet their neighbors and help usher in change that is sustainable, rather than imposed from the top down.
Dohoney says. . ."but that the presence of social agencies in the area is leading to many of the problems."
It's nice to see the city is out of the denial stage. I believe action is the next step.
^ Did you read it closely?
"Our citizens using these social agencies are often the first victims of the few criminal elements that take advantage of their miseries."
"There is a quality meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served"
Jane Jacobs
"Only by understanding the rich social organization of the sidewalk, in all its complexity, might citizens and politicians appreciate how much is lost when we accept the idea that the presence of a few broken windows justifies tearing down the whole informal structure."
Mitch Duneier
Dohoney adds that it's not that City ordinances and park regulations are unclear, but that the presence of social agencies in the area is leading to many of the problems.
Good grief! Dohoney's been here, what? 2 years? And he's just now turned his lights on? Better now than later to wake up to this fact that residents & businesses have been screaming about for years & years!
And to the suggestion that Park Board employees should act as the eyes and ears of the police, Dohoney says that this practice could be quite dangerous.
Oh, for pity's sake! Dohoney conveniently forgets this City has women & men from their neighborhoods who patrol their community's streets each & every night. Some of these neighborhoods have volunteers who show up in Court to face the criminals who are destroying the community stakehold. So, how are the Parks Dept's employees at a much greater risk than the residents in our communities?
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