Bryn Mawr NRP Phase II Planning

Crime/Safety Focus

Thursday, February 10, 7-9 PM

In addition to Rowena Hicks, facilitator, attendees include: Kathryn Kaatz and Greg Lecker.

Neighborhood strengths:

- Noisy neighbors who watch out for one another and call 911

- Block clubs

- Small town feel (which can be a weakness too – in the naiveté that crime doesn’t happen here

- Pride in the neighborhood – and our stance that we should not put up with crime

- Proximity to downtown and also to other neighborhoods

- Although there may be some who see Bryn Mawr as protectionist, most people are reasonable and realize that Bryn Mawr is part of the greater city. For example, if you bought a home on Penn Avenue, you had to have realized that it is a major arterial with traffic.

- Openness and diversity, particularly as evidenced by the presence of same-sex couples and mixed race couples

- The availability of homes in the $300,000 to 400,000 + price range in Heritage Park is a good thing for not just Bryn Mawr, but Harrison and Willard Hay

- Fairly rapid police response – response times of 5 minutes and 10 minutes to recently reported crime/911 calls

Neighborhood weaknesses:

- Lack of risk management

- Lack of awareness of the importance of protecting one’s material belongings. For example, the failure to lock the doors to vehicles, homes, and garages; failure to close garage doors; failure to keep bicycles, other equipment in garages or porches attract crimes of opportunity.

- Crimes are committed by folks who are just passing through the neighborhood from one place to another

- On the positive side, residents do use more common sense when it comes to personal safety.

What issues are important or will be important in the future?

- Traffic and traffic safety on Penn Avenue. Though the bollard study on Penn Avenue was appreciated, a Penn Avenue respondent doesn’t feel that this effort slowed traffic. The only things that would help reduce traffic speed on Penn Avenue would be: 1) a traffic light or stop sign at Penn Avenue and Hawthorne (or at Penn Avenue and Chestnut Avenue); 2) narrowing of Penn Avenue, even getting rid of parking on Penn Avenue; or 3) placing a parked police cruiser on Penn Avenue. Rowena Hicks will talk with Rick Jackson about placing a cruiser on Penn Avenue (the Fourth Precinct does occasionally and intermittently place empty cruisers here and there as a traffic safety aid/reminder.)

- Throating/bumpouts at Penn Avenue and Mount View Avenue would probably help. The tendency to speed on Penn Avenue results in lack of awareness of how fast one is travelling. One has just exited the freeway and don’t realize that one is in a neighborhood!

- Concern about increasing violence in general in our society and the possible impact on our schools and neighborhood. Just recently, there were two incidents of lock-downs at Anwatin Middle School: one because a gun was found on a student, and the other because ammunition was found. While it is good that these two incidents were reported by fellow students and addressed by the school; it is unfortunate that our children’s safety relies on another student’s awareness and willingness to report crimes. These incidents at our schools were fairly isolated; and letters describing the incidents were sent home to the parents.

- A more common issue is addressing truancy and to a much lesser extent, curfew. Rowena advises that both of these are cases where 911 should be called. There is a squad car dedicated to just addressing truancy.

- Another issue is the large number of students travelling on Laurel Avenue, Cedar Lake Road, and Penn Avenue and concern for their safety. There have been occasional fights/scuffles between students. It’s sometimes difficult to judge when rough-housing progresses to the point when a fight is going to occur.

- Although the afternoon occupation of middle school students is crucial, the late start for Anwatin Middle School means that parents need to either take advantage of Minneapolis Kids or trust their children to get of the house and to school in the morning.

- The current political climate and its reductions in police force.

- In light of reductions in police resources, Bryn Mawr is not going to be a high priority (nor should it be – the police should be concentrating on addressing crime at its greater concentrations – for example, a majority of crime in North Minneapolis is occurring on 26^th Avenue North between Penn Avenue and Lyndale. If the drugs and criminal activity there is addressed and dealt with, it will mean less criminals to commit crimes of opportunity in Bryn Mawr.)

- Even with concerns about growing violence, Bryn Mawr has only felt safer over the fifteen years that I’ve lived here.

- It’s easy to be isolationist – the City of Minneapolis really is one of the more segregated cities – there really is “a wrong side of the tracks”, a prevalence to look only to the south neighborhoods for amenities and to ignore the amenities nearby, but to the north, like Wirth Beach for instance. I could try to do more to help residents to the north – address crime or assist parents of children in our local schools – parents who don’t have the time and energy to become more involved.

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Service that BMNA could provide or things Bryn Mawr can do:

- Bring back reports on crime in the Bugle; publish a map showing incidents of crime to raise awareness. Rowena says that she and others at the Fourth Precinct are having difficulty accessing these reports to make them available to us

- We should be aware that there is a school officer liaison. Advocate for and encourage the school officer liaison to drive up and down Laurel Avenue and Cedar Lake Road observing children and possible/potential problems.

- Be aware of the school starting and ending times so as to be better equipped to report truancy: Bryn Mawr Elementary’s day extends from 8 AM to 2:40 PM and Anwatin Middle School’s day extends from 9:15 AM to 4 PM. It is intentional that the middle school children be kept occupied in the afternoon when parents are unavailable. In addition, Minneapolis Kids, extended day care services, are available from 7 AM to 6 PM. There are some after school programs at Anwatin Middle School.

- To address litter resulting from motorists exiting I-394, add another trash receptacle on the north-bound side of Penn Avenue between I-394 and Mount View Avenue.

- Educating residents about alley safety. Although Bryn Mawr may have the nicest alleys and although alleys may feel as though they are private, alleys are an opportunity for persons wishing to commit crime (especially at night). There is no traffic there to observe someone trying to commit crime; there is less lighting usually; and there are garages and fences that obstruct surveillance.

- To address the need for more lighting in our parks, Bryn Mawr Meadows in particular, talk with our council member and park board commissioners

- Encourage residents to call 911 whenever they observe/hear suspicious activity, like the gunshots heard Friday night (2/4/05?) – the next morning a truck was found to have been shot up. We don’t think that anyone called 911 upon hearing the gunshots.

- Encourage more parental involvement at neighborhood schools

- Turn a negative into a positive! New use for the corner shop on the northwest corner of Penn Avenue and Cedar Lake Road. Growing out of a discussion on schools, and the idea of offering tutoring services at Anwatin Middle School, the following ideas about possible structured uses for this space; during various scheduled times during the day:

- A senior social group in the afternoon, possibly bridging into tutoring or mentoring for students

- A conference/business center for home based businesses: a conference room available for signup; a copier available for use at costs

- After-school social and assistance programs: say, Thursday afternoon could be homework help; Friday could be pizza and board games. The space has high visibility and would be a reminder to students that help is available – it’s visible on their route home. It feels safe and there is a lot of daylight – more so than a basement space at the church for example. For students who have had bad experiences at the school, this is an alternative space.

- Hosting two PTA meetings a year – some parents are reluctant to attend PTA meetings when these meetings are held at the school because of misgivings about schools in general. Presently, up to about 10 parents attend meetings.

- Programming the space for other social events like movies night, open microphone or music nights

- The space could be rented out by neighbors wishing to host a party/event somewhere other than their home

- This space could serve some of the functions of the library or park building that Bryn Mawr does not have

- The space could even be used for police officers during the day or in the afternoon to talk with youth, and as an ad hoc police substation

- It’s a central, easily visible space

- The key could be available at the Bryn Mawr Market, perhaps

- Assign/hire someone to program the space. Scheduling would be a critical task.

- Research into using Vista Program participants to staff space

- Research into existing programs on which this service could be modeled.

- With enough scheduling and rental of the space, the rent can be met even with minimal NRP funds. It would at least be a better use than the space sitting unused and empty most of the time.

- We could even host a focus group to generate ideas/plans and details for uses for the corner shop

- There is a lot of design/construction talent in the neighborhood – residents could clean and fix up the space. Add french doors or glass rolling garage doors in place of the glass/brick storefront to be able to open up the sides to the outdoors in nice weather.

In terms of the neighbors who actually live in Bryn Mawr, I feel that

we have a stable, thriving neighborhood. My concern is with my

perception that problems are increasing due to the traffic through

the neighborhood from people who exit from 394 onto Penn Avenue and

then on to side streets (Mount View Ave being one of the areas

affected). Some examples include people vomiting and urinating on

side streets after bars close on the weekends, driving at high rates

of speed toward the park/meadows, trash (beer cans, litter)

accumulating, and broken down cars and parts being left on streets.

I've lived on Mount View for 22 years now and there have always been

some problems, but it is getting noticeably worse. I also suspect

that there has been increasing traffic in drugs near Penn Avenue.

Another question I have is whether there is a way to identify homes

that are receiving agency subsidies to house individuals and to know

whether there is proper licensing and supervision in place. Rowena

Hicks mentioned last year that she had heard that the owner at 2127

(?) was receiving a subsidy for the young men living there but I

haven't been able to confirm any specifics. My home was broken into

by one of the former residents who lived there. There are still

large unfriendly dogs at that address and teenagers whom I don't

believe are related to the owner. I'm not against group homes and

such--just want to know that they are properly supervised and are

contributing to positive solutions in our neighborhood--not more

problems.