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Glen residents worry about crime increase
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
BOARDMAN
A couple walking their dogs is approached by four teenagers, one of whom pulls a gun.
A jogger is approached by a group of teenagers while running through his neighborhood.
Cars pull in front of homes, drivers turn off their lights and sit, and young people walk through the neighborhood, prompting residents to keep their children indoors.
These are all problems cited during the last few months in the Glen area, a historic neighborhood at the township’s north end. More than 40 Glen residents attended a trustees’ meeting Monday, voicing their concerns.
Lynn Kirkwood relayed the story of two of her neighbors, the couple who had a gun pulled on them while walking their dogs. “It’s very scary for that to happen anywhere in Boardman,” she said.
Another resident, Francine Vazquez, said she and her family have lived in the Glen for about 12 years. “The last few years, it’s been getting really bad,” Vazquez said.
She sees groups of young people who don’t live there walking through the neighborhood and worries about the safety of the children who do live there.
“We pay too much in property tax; we keep our properties beautiful, and we want to keep it that way,” Vazquez said.
Trustees said it’s an issue of not having enough police officers. In 2006, the township employed 63 officers, and it’s down to 47. Because of budget problems, officers who have retired or resigned during the last few years haven’t been replaced.
“We’re trying to put a plan in place to have more police on the streets and more police in our narcotics division,” said Larry Moliterno, trustees chairman.
The plan is to hire two police officers per year, starting this year and continuing through 2014.
“These people are thugs,” said Chief Jack Nichols.
Through the loss of manpower, police have lost the ability to do the kind of police work that keeps thugs at bay, the chief said, because officers are busy responding from call to call.
“It’s all a matter of numbers and dollars,” Nichols said.
He said that what drives most of the crime in the township is drugs. When additional officers are hired, he plans to bolster the department’s narcotics enforcement unit.
Moliterno said trustees recognize the problem. “If we lose the Glen, we lose Boardman,” he said.
In other business, trustees authorized Larry Wilson, township road superintendent, to enter into a contract with Elliott’s Garden Center.
The business, on Western Reserve Road, Beaver Township, will accept Boardman residents’ branches, tree trunks and shrub prunings at no charge, said Trustee Thomas Costello.
Within 30 days, the township hopes to have an agreement with the center to also accept grass clippings and leaves, he said.
The township is paying the center $5,000 for the service. It replaces the township’s compost site, which shut down in early 2008 because of budget cuts.