Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA) Copyright: 2004 Athens Newspapers Inc Contact: http://www.onlineathens.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1535 Author: Alisa DeMao CHIEF TELLS RESIDENTS FINDING AID 'TOUGH' Despite concerns about drugs, violence and larceny in the Henderson Extension area, the neighborhood remains unable to get federal funds for community policing and revitalization because, paradoxically, its crime rate is too low. The federal Weed & Seed program - which provides money for communities to ''weed'' out crime and ''seed'' areas with economic and social development opportunities - still hasn't provided any funds for the Hancock Corridor section of west Athens, an area that includes Henderson Extension, Athens-Clarke Police Chief Jack Lumpkin told neighborhood residents at a Saturday forum. The crime rate in the area has been steadily declining from the mid-1990s, when up to half of all the homicides in Athens happened there, Lumpkin said. ''We've designated this as a Weed and Seed area, but please don't get your hopes up,'' Lumpkin said at the forum, sponsored by the Hancock Community Development Corp. ''We're going to try to get those dollars, but it's going to be a long, hard road.'' The number of violent crimes - murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults - in the area is down and is lower than other areas of the city, and those rates are a factor in federal officials' decisions of where to grant money, he said. Police statistics show that violent crimes in the Hancock Corridor have decreased from a total of 98 in 1999 to 67 last year. ''That's a good problem to have,'' said Alvin Sheats, director of the Hancock Community Development Corp., a non-profit organization established in 2000 to revitalize a section of west Athens that includes Henderson Extension. ''But even so, we're not there yet. But we're certainly making progress.'' Lumpkin also discussed the progress of a police substation that will be built on the site of a nearby bar and grill at the corner of Baxter Street and Collins Avenue. The department plans to house its westside traffic and bicycle units at the substation, which means there will be about 20 officers coming and going in the area, greatly increasing police visibility. Lumpkin hopes that will help put a damper on crime in the area, particularly drug crime like crack cocaine sales. Police have made hundreds of drug arrests in the area during the past several years, the police chief said. ''We think the substation is a significant contribution to the community - once you build a building, it gives notice that the police presence will be there for a number of years,'' he said. ''You don't build a building and then walk away.'' Officials hope to complete the substation and move in by March. Lumpkin also pointed to efforts to increase the number of homeowners in the Hancock Corridor as a positive sign, not only of how safe people feel there now but for its future. ''Overall, the community's safer,'' he said. ''And people don't spend money on single-family housing if they don't feel safe.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin