Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2003
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2003 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  http://www.ctnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183
Author: Matt Burgard

A COMMUNITY SOUNDS OFF

Activists -- Drugs Not Confined To City

For months, residents in Hartford's neighborhoods have been admonished by 
state and city leaders to stand up to the drug dealers and other criminals 
roaming their streets.

But at a meeting of community activists and other local officials Thursday, 
residents pointed out that the horrors of the drug trade aren't confined to 
Hartford alone.

"We may have parents whose children are out on the streets selling the 
drugs, but who do you think they're selling them to?" said activist Larry 
Charles Sr. "Parents in the suburbs may watch the problem on TV and say, 
'My God, look what's happening in the city,' but it's their kids who are 
coming in to buy this stuff."

Striking a similar chord, city social services worker Andrea Comer said she 
is often discouraged by the unwillingness on the part of the city's 
corporations to acknowledge the problems in the neighborhoods.

Comer said the city received several calls from local corporations last 
week after a shrine was set up on Farmington Avenue to mark the recent 
death of a man in a car crash.

"They didn't want their employees to have to see the shrine, to be reminded 
of what's happening in our city as they came in from the suburbs to go to 
work," Comer said.

But those same corporations are often silent, Comer said, when city 
agencies and other community groups approach them about job or internship 
opportunities for young people in Hartford.

"If they really want to do something to improve public safety in Hartford, 
they should do more about providing jobs," she said.

Thursday's meeting at the Community Renewal Team building on Windsor Street 
was set up as a free-wheeling exchange of ideas and opinions on the 
problems in the city's neighborhoods. The meeting also was scheduled to 
give people an opportunity to talk about a recent appearance by community 
activist the Rev. Cornell Lewis on a segment of the NBC show "Dateline."

One theme that frequently arose was the need to overcome the fear that many 
residents feel in confronting drug dealers and other criminals.

Teri Morrison, who is raising six children on a stretch of Garden Street 
known for heavy drug activity, said she and her neighbors were recently 
surprised to find out how easy it can be to take a stand.

"We just started coming out on our porches and yelling at them to get off 
our property, get off our block," she said. "After a while, it became kind 
of embarrassing for the dealers and the buyers, so they moved on."

If all of the city's neighborhoods adopted such an attitude, the dealers 
could be chased beyond the city limits and into the suburbs, said activist 
Marcia Morris.

"Let the people in Avon and Simsbury deal with it," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens