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More block watches taking root in many Liberty neighborhoods
Liberty Neighborhood Watch
Video
Liberty Neighborhood Watch block captains discuss the importance of security in a community.
Liberty
On the north end of the township, Jim Haynie patrols in his scooter the half-vacant Vintage Village mobile park, where he has lived for 18 years.
Over the past decade the place has been in decline.
“It’s less than 50 percent filled,” Haynie said. “People are leaving because they are fed up.”
Haynie said the former owners were not responsive to the people’s needs, which led to vacancies and crime. The mobile-home park is in receivership, but new ownership is being sought.
As for crime, there hasn’t been an issue “because everyone knows that we’re watching,” he said recently.
Although Haynie has been organizing the Vintage Village neighborhood watch over that decade, a network of neighborhood watches has begun to spring up over the last two years along the southern portion of the township.
“We’ve had increased crimes through the years,” said Heather Annabell, the organizer for the watch groups. “What once was a strong neighborhood, we’re seeing rifts in it. Because of these activities people are noticing we could be doing more. And that’s what we’re all about.”
In October 2010, her and her boyfriend’s home on Northgate Drive was burglarized during the day.
She said the neighbors knew who did it but said nothing to the police.
“They didn’t want to get involved,” she said.
The personal incident, coupled with a double homicide that occurred almost a year earlier in November 2009 just a few houses down from their home, drove Annabell to bring the community together. On the one-year anniversary of the shooting, she held her first block- watch meeting.
Since then, the block watch has spread north to Euclid and Goldie roads and now has 57 official members, although not all of them show up to monthly meetings.
At the meetings, the organization invites guest speakers such as a police officer or house-security experts.
“We encourage any members from any street ... to come and speak with us to organize a block watch,” said Annabell.
Kim Quinlan for the past year has patrolled the residential streets adjacent to Goldie Road. Armed only with her cellphone and friendly greetings to neighbors, she and Joe Vanjak keep an eye on vacant homes and houses in which the elderly live.
“We look for any broken windows that we didn’t notice before, or anything that’s changed from the previous night,” Quinlan said. “I just ask everyone to keep their eyes and ears open.”
Vanjak, while pushing a stroller with his 35-month-old grandson, keeps an eye out for neighbors he doesn’t recognize.
“It’s very important that you stay on top of these kind of situations because when you don’t, that’s when you start seeing a lot of negativity, and you’ll be wanting to move out of the neighborhood,” said Naheem Shaheed, a block watch captain for Euclid Boulevard.
But those involved say a neighborhood watch is about more than just security: It’s getting to know your neighbors.
Liberty Trustee Jodi Stoyak started her block watch 17 years ago on Logan Arms Drive just to get to know her neighbors.
“We just got together all the neighbors,” Stoyak said. “We had a cookout, and everyone brought something. It’s just important to know who your neighbors are.”
And from that community, block watch captains said, a sense of security naturally develops.
“A lot of us live with each other right next door but never speak with each other,” Annabell said. “It’s of great concern to actually have that communication.”