Activists, residents address safety in their community
BY JASON COHEN
Improving relationships
with the police and creating
more youth centers are some
of the things residents feel
should be done to make the
borough safer.
On Thursday, January 9,
Save Our Streets, (SOS) a nonprofi
t, that works to prevent
violence, held its fi rst meeting
of the year, where the topic of
discussion was “respecting
and protecting our communities.”
“Our goal is to start the
conversation about how we
can make the community safe
and the people that need to be
involved to make the community
safe,” said SOS program
supervisor James Redding.
Attendees discussed how
safe they feel, how things can
improve and how residents
can work better with law enforcement.
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The consensus was that
residents want better street
lighting, more youth centers
and a larger police presence.
Some people actually have
no issues with their neighborhoods.
Yukia, who has lived on
Fordham Road for 38 years,
James Redding, the program supervisor at Save Our Streets, (SOS), at its meeting on January 9.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
explained she feels safe, but
if she travels a few minutes
away, things can get dicey.
Carlos, 16, a resident of Arthur
Avenue, shares her sentiments.
“I feel my own neighborhood
is pretty safe,” he said.
“You go up the block ... and
there’s a lot of crime. It hurts
because that’s my community.
I know friends that have been
robbed and put into bad situations.”
The lack of youth centers
was brought up many times
throughout the evening.
Craig Lewis, 28, a resident
of Eastchester Gardens
Houses in Gun Hill, said when
he grew up there were several
rec centers near him and now
there’s only one.
He suggested if there were
more there might be less
crime.
“The more they close down
the more people hang outside,”
Lewis explained. “They
(kids) have nothing to do, so
they go into smoking and gang
banging. We need to do more
activities. Idle time is a very
dangerous thing in a city that
doesn’t sleep. The more people
are busy the less problems we
will have.”
Lewis also stressed how important
it is to work together
with the police.
“We want to build better
relationships with the police
and the community,” he said.
“You have to let the youth understand
the police are there
to protect you.”
Attendee John King said
people need to stop playing the
blame game and be proactive,
not reactive.
“I feel like as a group it
starts with us,” King said.
“Fixing it ourselves and bringing
it back to life instead of expecting
someone else to help
you.”
He noted that kids should
know they can be successful
in life and should not have to
live in fear.
“Once you get them out
of their community and you
show them something other
than what they’ve seen, they
start to grow and learn,” he
said.
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