CITIZENS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING TOGETHER • DURHAM, NC • DISTRICT 2
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CITIZENS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING TOGETHER
• DURHAM,
NC
• DISTRICT 2
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•
Minutes •
Resources •
Forms
• Outreach
•
Grant Information
• City
of Durham
9/17/2001
Partners Against Crime District II Minutes
* Introductions
In attendance: 22 people
AGENDA
* PAC II Initiative Progress
Reports
There was consensus that the last Gang Forum at City Hall (on Education/Schools)
was a disappointment because there was little representation from the schools
-- principals, officials, etc. Where are the priorities of the school system?
There was also not enough structure and organization to the meeting and the
primary goals of that forum were not met. A change in format is planned for
the next forum meeting to ensure that people stay on topic and on point.
The next Gang forum is on September 27 in City Council chambers. The focus of this forum will be on employment opportunities for youth. Residents are encouraged to attend the forum and participate in the discussion.
* Neighborhood Watch Magnets:
These 8.5" x 11" magnetic sheets were passed out at the meeting. The magnets
are designed with erasable write-in areas to record Neighborhood Watch contact
information. Residents should contact Crime Prevention Officer, Jim Adams <jadams@ci.durham.nc.us>
for information on Neighborhood Watch. Officer Adams will provide Neighborhood
Watch Magnets during the meetings and residents will have an opportunity to
use the magnets to organize contact information of neighbors residing on the
block. If this project is successful in encouraging residents to know their
neighbors, PAC will produce additional magnets for the residents in District
II.
* Speaker: PAC - Grants
Representative
-- Valerie Anderson: the city applies every year for a block grant from the
federal government. This year $375K was awarded (this is about $100K less than
last year).
Public hearing on the distribution of funds is Oct 15 at City Hall; residents can review and make suggestions as to how the funds are spent. Anderson is attending each PAC and giving them the opportunity to consider suggestions based on resident input. These funds include money for PAC Efforts ($25K total, $5K per PAC). Items that the DPD has asked for include a crime scene van ($89K), emergency equipment for Police vehicles ($39K), mobile radios (mountable radios for marked and unmarked vehicles, $42.5K), crime data sharing initiative ($31K), portable radios for police reserves (used for special events, since reserves do not have radios, $45K), equipment for the Gang Resistance Unit ($39K), District Attorney's Habitual Offender Program ($65K), supporting the salary of one ADA.
--Is the amount for the gang initiative enough? It was mentioned that $50K was originally requested. Anderson said that this figure is what the gang unit itself requested, but that the unit also has other resources outside of this grant available to them. A suggestion was made to use these funds to support a traveling theatrical play for youth (a suggestion made at the Gang Forum) illustrating why they should stay away from gangs.
PAC2 needs to see what, if anything, the County can do to augment funding for these kinds of projects. It has been hard in the past to find out where PAC funding came from, how it could be accessed, and the grant proposal function had been hard to figure out. The process has been clarified under Valerie's tenure. Now that we have a figure for PAC2 ($5K), we can begin planning how to use those funds. Newman said that with this process in hand, we could be better prepared to deploy and fund new ideas for the District. Reports on the past expenditures are posted on the PAC2 web site, but updated files are needed to post onto the web so that people can see how the PAC funds are being spent.
The grants are effective after approved (Oct. 16); access to the $5K will be available after the existing allocation of $8K is spent for this FY.
Informational Speaker
--Dale Gattis - Public Relations Officer for the Durham Public Library on the
Library Bond Issue: Nov. 6 is the date of the bond issue (same as city election).
The issue includes 5 items, that will be separate votes: School system $55 million
for improvements, Museum of Life and Science upgrades, the new Senior Center,
and the EMS is asking for money to upgrade the Lincoln Community Health Center's
access for emergency vehicles.
The library bond focuses on the northern area of the county. There will be a number of improvements made to existing branches, but the bond is primarily to acquire funds to purchase land for future branches. Funds will also be used to build a library in East Durham, and to expand the Stanford Warren Library. Stanford Warren is an historic branch, built in 1940, but has collections from its original library (1916). There needs to be expansion so that there is a good browsing area for residents to access the valuable African American resource materials. The Southwest and Parkwood branches would be replaced if the bond is passed. There will also be an opportunity to replace the branch in the Riverview shopping center. There is no library for the Eastern part of the county and this is why money is needed for this branch to be built. These libraries are a major resource in the community, and they are now providing Internet access in all branches, with new computers courtesy of the Gates Foundation, in the inner city branches. Gattis passed out FAQ on the library bond issue.
What after school resources
are available for students at the library?
There is homework support, and computers available for students to type their
papers. Internet access is restricted to children aged 16 and up. There is also
plenty of educational software on the Gates computers. Use is restricted to
30 or 60 minutes, depending on the purpose of use and branch. There are reading
incentive programs.
* Updates: Tony Scott <toscott@ci.durham.nc.us> posted the updates from the Interdepartmental Team meeting on the listserv. For more information, contact Officer Scott at 560-4582, or page 517-7139.
-- Mitchell Archer (560-4974): he submitted a proposal to PAC2 for a summer employment project for inner city kids. He is requesting that the PAC fund the employment of an additional 3-4 youths for clean up in the district. This keeps the youth busy during the summer, and offers them the opportunity to learn a work ethic (ages 14 and up, full time positions paying $9/hr). This is an extremely successful program; he has over 300 applications a year and has to turn them away. He is requesting additional funding in order to employ more of the applicants.
Refuse pickup: 62 complaints of illegal dumping were answered. 10.45 tons of debris removed. 10.08 tons were taken to the transfer station from illegal dumpsites.
Graffiti cleanup: Northern HS, gang-related activity (gang logos erased).
Mitchell would like to be contacted by residents about Saturday fall clean up activities. The Impact Team will come and haul debris for neighborhood cleanups if residents pick up and bag the debris. The Impact Team will cover the costs of hauling away the debris. Neighborhoods are encouraged to call Mitchell to schedule the Neighborhood cleanups.
On Sept 24, there will be a meeting with the Impact team and local grocery stores to see what plans they have in place to retrieve their carts (that are found all over neighborhoods abandoned by shoppers that steal them from the parking lots).
Cynthia Mebane-Watts (560-4570) – Dept. of Housing: She is working with members of Rep. Price´s office to give the city the authority to clean up debris from areas around the rail road tracks and charge the federal government for the clean up services rendered. The problem of the debris has plagued many neighborhoods in District II for a number of years.
Mebane-Watts reminded PAC2 that Fire Prevention Week is scheduled for October 7-13. She is seeking recommendations from PAC2 for a target location in the District where the Fire Department will check/install smoke detectors, provide fire escape planning, give fire safety tips, etc. A recommendation was made to use the area known as No Man´s Land as the target area. A discussion on the listserv to determine additional possibilities for a target area in District II is encouraged.
Annie Jarabek, a PAC2 volunteer who has been participating in the Animal Control Project provided a preliminary analysis of Durham Animal Control Data for the period of April to August. The take home message was that the number of incidents is steadily increasing. Further analysis and a more detailed update will be provided at the next PAC meeting.
Reminder: Next PAC meeting will be on Tuesday, October 16.
ADJOURN
Minutes submitted by Pam Spaulding
***
IMPORTANT PAC II Contact Information
Web site: http://www.pac2durham.com/
Listserv: pac2@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: pac2-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: pac2-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
District 2 Chairs: Brooke Whiteford, 683-6736, brookewhiteford@yahoo.com; Newman Aguiar, 956-9812, newman@nc.rr.com
Webmaster/listserv admin:
Pam Spaulding,
pspauld@yahoo.com
Commander: Capt. Tommy Morris, 560-4582;
Community Services: Tony
Scott, 517-7139,
toscott@ci.durham.nc.us;
Crime Prevention Officer:
Jim Adams, 560-4582,
jadams@ci.durham.nc.us
Dept of Housing/Community
Development: Cynthia
Mebane-Watts, cmebane-watts@ci.durham.nc.us, 560-4570;
inspectors: Kevin Easter, 560-4570/ext.246; George Carter, 560-4570/ext. 233.
Durham Impact Team, 560-9137, x266
Durham Animal Control, 560-0630,
560-0633 (f);
animalcontrol@co.durham.nc.us
Durham Animal Shelter, 560-0640, 560-0643 (f)
Durham Affordable Housing
Coalition: Lorisa Seibel,
683-1185, x25,
lorisa@dahc.org
Durham Public Works/Urban
Forestry: Chuck Harris,
560-4228,
charris@ci.durham.nc.us
PAC Grants Coordinator:
Valerie Anderson, 560-4309,
560-4899,
vanderson@ci.durham.nc.us
The North Carolina State
Bureau of Investigation Sex
Offender
Database: http://sbi.jus.state.nc.us/sor/MainText.htm