One Night at Wirth Chalet . .
by Corbin Connell
On the night of Monday December 4, 2006, something exciting happened in the Fireplace Room at the Wirth Park Chalet.
Wirth Chalet Meeting, Dec 4
Neighbors from all corners of Willard-Homewood, nearly 100 people in all, met to discuss the current state of our neighborhood, exchange ideas with city officials, and make plans for our future.
background
The December 4th meeting was the culmination of several contemporaneous smaller scale efforts by different neighborhood coalitions to craft an effective response to the rash of home invasions and burglaries we endured in October and November.
Another significant effort leading up to the December 4th meeting involved the neighborhood’s attempt to curb the illicit activity associated with Uncle Bill’s market at the corner of Plymouth and Sheridan. a
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voices
Willard-Homewood resident Tony Orange moderated the discussion. Dozens of folks were able to describe in detail the variety of issues that affect negatively the overall livability of the Willard-Homewood neighborhood. Neighbors identified a number of concerns, including:
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limited City and Police resources
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slow emergency response time
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the ineffective allocation of resources in view of significant Northside crime
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and the seemingly never-ending struggle to combat problem properties
partnerships
The new 4th Precinct Inspector,
Lee Edwards, introduced a number of his Lieutenants to the neighborhood. Inspector Edwards expressed a strong belief that Willard-Homewood’s problems were not ours to combat in isolation. Under Edwards' leadership, the several sectors within the 4th Precinct will act in concert when addressing the crime problems in North Minneapolis. Inspector Edwards stressed that crime has no boundaries and that what happens here affects other Northside neighborhoods, and visa versa.
Edwards also expressed a desire to strengthen the 4th Precinct’s partnership with the existing, active neighborhood organizations and stated his intention to bring other partners into the effort, including Christian ministers, Black Muslim leaders, and leaders in the Latino and Asian communities.
the ear of the city
Other City representatives in attendance at the meeting were: Jose Velez, Policy
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Aide to Councilman Don Samuels; Tim Hammett, 3rd Sector Community Crime Prevention Specialist; Laufele “Dusty” Murphy, Assistant City Attorney, and Sherman Patterson, Aide to Mayor R. T. Rybak.
solution-based
The overall tone of the December 4th meeting was cooperative and positive, in sharp contrast to many other meetings this year dealing with crime related issues.
Tony Orange’s masterful moderation kept the conversation flowing and allowed most everyone to express not only their concerns, but more importantly, their ideas and best practices for making our neighborhood a safer, more pleasant place to live.
Suggestions ranged from turning on external lights as a deterrent and establishing roving neighborhood patrol teams, to forming multi-block telephone trees to ensure that many neighbors call 9-1-1 more or less simultaneously to report suspicious activity.
City officials mentioned several times that it is very important to establish a sizeable and comprehensive record of 9-1-1 calls in order to trigger a meaningful and lasting solution with respect to a specific problem property. In order to become part of the record, calls to 9-1-1 must identify a specific address.
new neighborhood committees
Perhaps the single greatest benefit resulting from the meeting was the encouragement we all felt in learning that there is such a large and energetic group of folks in Willard-Homewood who care about what is going on and want to work toward making our neighborhood a better place.
a (cont'd, p.5)
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