YOUNGSTOWN Councilman:Reclaim the East Side

Several people at the meeting endorsed establishment of a police substation. The police chief says it's not as effective as patrols.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The key to crime-fighting on the East Side is restoration of a sense of neighborhood, a city councilman told an audience here Thursday.
Rufus Hudson, D-2nd, called for a return to a community policing concept in which the same police officers regularly patrol the same area and get to know the neighborhood and its inhabitants well.
"I've been an East Sider all my life. I grew up on Springdale. There were two people that everybody knew in the neighborhood. One was the police officer and the other was the mailman," he observed. "And if you ever wanted to know what was going on in the community, you would check with the police officer and with the mailman."
Calls for substation: Saying some people aren't comfortable talking to police downtown or in their homes, Hudson also called for a police substation on each side of town, including one at an East Side location such as McGuffey Mall or Lincoln Knolls Plaza. Police who are already based in a neighborhood substation can respond faster, he said.
"We're all community police," said Chief Richard Lewis, noting that two veteran officers have been fixtures on the East Side for years.
"I don't agree with the idea of a substation in a community of 82,000. Taking an officer and have him sitting at a desk waiting for calls would hurt patrols."
Lewis asked what would citizens prefer -- an officer out in the neighborhoods or sitting behind a desk.
The concept of a substation staffed round the clock is cost prohibitive and inefficient, he said.
Safety hearing: Hudson spoke at a 2nd Ward public safety hearing at the Spanish Evangelical Church, 1408 Rigby St., attended by police and FBI officials and various local elected officials.
The church, in the former Roosevelt School, is across from an abandoned grocery store, where misdemeanor jail inmates supervised by Mahoning County deputy sheriffs painted over graffiti March 31.
Problem area: The hearing, attended by several dozen people, was conducted in the vicinity of "La La Land" -- an area so-named by the Ayers Street Playas gang. Fourteen people accused of belonging to that gang were indicted last month on crack trafficking and gang conspiracy charges.
In 1998, Lewis increased patrols on the East Side, and, since the indictment, Sheriff Randall A. Wellington has provided deputies round the clock in the target area where police said the gang ruled by intimidation.
Sees change: "It's our old neighborhood again," said a woman who's lived on Ayers more than 60 years. "It's been real nice, real nice. We just had one little incident a couple of days ago -- a few shots at Shehy and Truesdale -- and that was it, everything else has been real quiet."
The 72-year-old woman said today that she would have attended last night's meeting had she known about it. She hasn't seen Hudson in the neighborhood but hears that "he tries, he really tries."
Hudson's call for the substation was endorsed by Bishop Leroy Hammonds, pastor of Refuge Apostolic Temple, and by Arlette Gatewood, a retired United Steelworkers official, who lives on Castalia Avenue.
The sheriff's department has a satellite office at 2003 McGuffey Road, staffed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Since September, the office, which also has a 24-hour answering machine, has served as an information gathering point for neighbors who want to report criminal activity.
"It's been very successful in helping us forward information to the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force, FBI gang unit and YPD vice squad," said sheriff's Maj. Michael Budd.
"It's been indispensable to us as an information source."
Annie Hall, citywide block watch coordinator, said a local financial institution has agreed to pay telephone and other costs for a police substation.
Lewis said the investigation of the Playas was difficult because police had trouble penetrating that gang. "If you're not known to those particular people, they're not going to deal with you," he said, referring to the need for undercover drug buys to support a case in court.
Conspiracy statute: Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, a former Youngstown police officer, said the 14 suspects are the first group to be charged in Mahoning County under the gang conspiracy statute, which has been upheld in Summit County.
Andy Arena, the agent in charge of the Youngstown FBI office, said agents work drug cases "up the chain or down the chain," which often leads to "source cities" such as New York, Detroit, Chicago or Cleveland.
Hudson also called for more block watches to be established on the East Side and for neighbors to look out for each other. He said that residents should pick up mail and newspapers for their out-of-town neighbors so their absence won't be obvious to criminals. "There's a power in us as residents of the East Side to take back our neighborhoods the best way that we can," Hudson said.
Hudson also suggested that police athletic leagues, with police serving as coaches and referees for neighborhood youths, might help police-community relations. He also suggested that a Youngstown Cadet Corps could help recruit young people to become police officers.