Residents take aim at crime and blight

August 25, 2010 at 12:05a.m.

By SEAN BARRON

YOUNGSTOWN

Helen Durflinger has lived in her Avondale Avenue home 17 years and is grateful to be surrounded by neighbors who look out for one another.

But her South Side neighborhood also has many rental units — some owned by landlords she says neglect the houses and properties.

“Landlords need to be concerned about more than their rent payments,” said Durflinger, one of about 60 people who took part in Tuesday’s “March Against Crime and Blight.”

The 45-minute march started at Bread of Life Church of God in Christ, 702 Cameron Ave., led by the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods, 7th Ward Councilman John Swierz and Christine Silvestri, a member of the Boulevard Block Watch and the 7th Ward Citizens Coalition.

Durflinger said she lives near a lot of middle-school-age youngsters and wants them to have greater supervision and somewhere to go after school to keep them out of trouble. Many residents remain afraid to come out of their houses, in part because of juvenile crime, she said.

Clergy, community leaders, children and others marched and chanted on several side streets near the church. Along the way, participants handed fliers to residents, many of whom voiced their support from driveways and porches.

One street, East Pasadena Avenue, has been plagued by juvenile and gun crimes, which forced one woman to move, Swierz noted, adding that Tuesday’s march is the second of what promises to be similar efforts in all seven of the city’s wards.

Thanks to a local block watch, a few South Side areas are safer than one year ago, noted Jeanette Kellie, an ACTION member who participated. Youngsters living in other South Side neighborhoods, however, still are subjected to drug dealing, prostitution and dilapidated homes.

Making people accountable for their actions and increasing visibility and vigilance also fight crime, noted Dorina Shine, ACTION’s Crime and Safety Committee chairwoman. ACTION meets monthly at the Newport branch library.