Pubdate: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 Source: News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA) Copyright: 2006 Tacoma News Inc. Contact: http://www.thenewstribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/442 Author: Kris Sherman; The News Tribune IOWA PROGRAM NOW WILL TAKE ON TACOMA'S STREETS Drugs, prostitution, burglaries and other crimes ruled the River Bend area of Des Moines, Iowa, for years. And then the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery program came to town. "We went from having drug dealers on three of four corners to the point where you never see them," said Roger Thompson, president of the River Bend Neighborhood Association. "Now my neighborhood is incredibly safe." The partnership among police officers, firefighters, city code enforcers and residents "is the best thing that ever hit the City of Des Moines," Thompson said. Can it be replicated two time zones and 1,800 miles away? Not exactly, said Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson, who crafted Des Moines' program when he led that city. Every city and its neighborhoods have differing problems, divergent priorities. So a pilot program that will mold itself to the needs of residents in four Tacoma neighborhoods is set to begin this month. The Bryant, Tacoma Avenue, Jennie Reed and Arlington areas selected as the first recipients of Tacoma's Community Based Services program are relatively tiny slices of the city. The largest is home to 2,243 residents and covers 90 blocks. But they will command a lot of attention and resources. The City Council allocated $800,000 in the 2006 budget to launch the program. The city picked neighborhoods based on criteria that included the frequency of calls for police and fire services and the presence of neighborhood groups willing to help, said assistant public works director Craig Sivley. Teams of police and building inspectors, augmented by economic development employees, human rights and services workers, firefighters and other city employees as needed, will work with residents on neighborhood issues. They'll focus their crime and nuisance eradication efforts on problems big and small, Sivley said. 'Everybody Wants It' The philosophy has worked well in Iowa's capital city, residents said. "Everybody wants it," said Ben Bishop, administrator of Des Moines' neighborhood inspections division. "Within a year after it started, neighborhoods were clamoring for it." Seven years after the program's 1999 debut in a handful of Des Moines' residential areas, 31 of that city's 51 recognized neighborhood organizations are part of the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery program. Anderson's vision for improving Tacoma neighborhoods helped make him the top pick in a nationwide search for a new city manager last spring, Mayor Bill Baarsma said. Anderson touts the idea with the fervor of an evangelist. Once a community-based program is established, "you effectively have the eyes of everybody in the neighborhood looking on," he said. "A $10 issue gets taken care of before it becomes a $500 issue." Neighbors Set Priorities Some of the program's targets could seem surprising. Yes, residents ask police officers and building inspectors to roust prostitutes, bust drug dealers and banish burglars. But sometimes it's the seemingly little issues that wear down residents' patience, drag down property values and degrade quality of life. "It's about the guy speeding down the driveway. The abandoned houses. The loud mufflers. The loud parties," said Des Moines police Capt. Michael Shay. It could be trash in a yard, a fence falling down, graffiti on a wall, a house unfit for living or a Christmas tree still clogging an alley in March, said Dawn Jorgensen, vice chairwoman of the Fairground Neighbors for Community Improvement. "If you deal with quality-of-life issues, then you normally will smother the crime issues out," Shay said. Often, cops who know the neighborhood come across problems on their own. On a snowy December day, for example, Des Moines police Sgt. Debbie Richardson and building inspector Ed Leedom discovered two young men smoking marijuana when a business-district door was left open. The same day, police Sgt. Jeff Edwards helped return a stolen car. License plates on the car, which was left illegally on a snow route, had been altered. Somebody's Responsible Jorgensen knows well the frustration of hunting for a live body in the city bureaucracy to deal with a troublesome issue. That changed when teams of police and building inspectors arrived to dedicate their time to specific areas - rather than drop by when a problem arose. "I think the program's been a real good use of the city's resources, because somebody's actually responsible" for solving problems, she said. Residents carry cell phone numbers for the police sergeants and other city workers assigned to their neighborhoods. And they don't hesitate to use them. Police sergeants are assigned to the program because they have the power and the know-how to get things done, Capt. Shay said. Fran Koontz, president of the ACCENT Neighborhood Association praised the work of code enforcement officers. When a building begins deteriorating, the owner is quickly told to fix it up or face fines. Cases are opened and followed through to conclusion, she said. When property owners don't cooperate, the city does the work and uses legal means to get its money back, she added. Measuring Success Despite the program's seven-year history, Des Moines officials are still looking for an effective yardstick for its results. Des Moines, like other cities across the nation, has seen a drop in violent crimes in recent years. FBI statistics show violent crimes in the city dropped from 1,117 in 1985 to 699 in 2003. Since the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery area boundaries don't correspond exactly with the city's crime-tracking data, there are no hard numbers to back up the claims of success, Shay said. But officials have seen reports of major offenses go down in the neighborhoods, said John Jones, director of research and development for Des Moines police. The quality of life intangibles are more difficult to chart. But they exist, Shay said. "When you see complaints going from, 'There's a drug house down the street' to 'Why don't you fix the potholesUKP'," you know you've made a key difference," he said. Yet despite Roger Thompson's rosy assessment of life in his neighborhood, there are gripes that the long-troubled River Bend area still has problems. One couple told The Des Moines Register last summer that resurgent prostitution and burgeoning drug dealing tested their dream of living in a reclaimed inner-city neighborhood. A much-awaited grocery store lasted only 18 months before pulling out, the newspaper reported. Fans of Neighborhood Based Service Delivery reply that not everything can be fixed, but describe safer, more livable neighborhoods with the program than without it. That's the aim in Tacoma, City Manager Anderson said: "But success doesn't come overnight. Success takes a while." He intends to re-evaluate the Community Based Services program in about a year. In the meantime, the Police Department's community liaison officers program and Tacoma CARES will continue their work with larger chunks of the city. CARES provides code enforcement, sponsors cleanups and coordinates city services in several areas. Some community members worry the new program could drain resources from other neighborhoods. "Are you going to fix the problem or are you just going to push it into the West End or the North End or wherever?" said Ginny Eberhardt, chairwoman of the West End Neighborhood Council. She's worried the needs of the entire city could be lost in the ballyhoo over programs designed to lift up certain neighborhoods. Tacoma CARES coordinator Lisa Wojtanowicz understands the concern but said that additional police and building inspectors dedicated to specific areas will augment existing programs, not take away from them. Central Neighborhood Chairman Steve Apling thinks the program will work if attention is paid to such details. His analogy: the city as a huge building with a sprinkler system and a fire extinguisher. "Before the whole building goes up in flames, you're going to grab the fire extinguisher and tackle the one spot that needs immediate attention," he said. "I look at this as a potentially very, very good idea." New teams in tacoma's neighborhoods How will Tacoma's new partnership among city departments and neighborhoods work? Here are some details: Community Based Services team members work with residents to set priorities on crime, blight and nuisance issues. Two police officers and two building inspectors will form the core of a city team that can include crews from the Fire, Public Works and other departments as needed. To begin the program, two teams will each be assigned two neighborhoods. The dedicated teams will spend all their time working on issues within their assigned neighborhoods. It's a partnership: Residents will be expected to watch for suspicious or criminal activity and report problems. City crews commit to staying in an area once it's stabilized. They won't abandon the neighborhood. Drugs, prostitution, burglaries and other crimes ruled the River Bend area of Des Moines, Iowa, for years. And then the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery program came to town. "We went from having drug dealers on three of four corners to the point where you never see them," said Roger Thompson, president of the River Bend Neighborhood Association. "Now my neighborhood is incredibly safe." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman