Central St. group: Crime rampant
Frankie Wheeler would like to be able to sit on her porch and enjoy an evening at her home on Central Street, but she said she can’t do that.
Large trucks like to ride through once the sun starts going down, loud and speeding then stopping at random to park, blocking driveways and sidewalks alike. Wheeler cited the open drinking and drug use, the rampant dice games on the porches of condemned properties.
“I have watched the police come by on the street, gamblers get up, look around, wait for them to go by and are right back at it,” Wheeler said. “I’m tired of it.... no one ever goes to jail, and if they do they’re right back out on the street.”
A ride down Central Street and only a few blocks off of South Main Street this past Saturday night, one would have found party central. Cars parked on both sides of the street were those of people gathered on a large porch just like Wheeler wants to enjoy. Loud music blaring. All of this just minutes after sundown.
That scene was one Wheeler said is common in her neighborhood, and one she wants to stop.
Wheeler was joined by Elizabeth Kinnebrew in an effort to get the Cedartown City Commission to hear their complaints about the increase in illegal activities the pair said have been an ongoing problem in the neighborhood.
“It’s like I live in an inner city neighborhood in little Polk County,” she said.
They came representing the Central Street Neighborhood Coalition, and called on the city — especially the Commission — to provide additional resources to an area of Cedartown they feel has been long ignored by authorities, leading to crime and poverty.
“Every time we come, it is because we’re lacking something,” Kinnebrew said. “We’re lacking the ability to enjoy our homes.”
Kinnebrew doesn’t live on Central Street, but is often visiting relatives and friends and stays as a sitter for pets when her friends are out of town.
She said that over the years of her experience on the street regularly, the problems she’s encountered with youth have only gotten worse. Her hopes are that by bringing attention to problems of drugs, alcohol, gambling and crime in the area around Central Street, the neighborhood coalition can begin the long process of regaining control of their property and the peace they seek. How to get there is a different story. “I don’t have a solution,” Kinnebrew admitted. “I don’t. I think we come here with the same request either every year or every other year.”
Not all hope is lost. Kinnebrew did say that in her experience and with others, crime might be a larger problem overall but that on an individual level, those responsible for it do show some heart, citing examples of neighbors being helped by those largely involved in proliferation of drugs in the community.
“There are some young people on these corners that we can save, if we can figure out some ways to open resources to bring something into the community,” Kinnebrew said.
After the comments from Kinnebrew and Wheeler, Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome asked for time to address the commission with information he felt would shed some light onto the situation in the area.
He did say that “it somewhat concerns me that it is being hinted to that there is a lack of responsiveness from the police department,” and then stated that he understands there are crime issues in the area — namely Central, Thompson and Scott Streets.
However he said he couldn’t address specifics about police enforcement efforts in the area due to ongoing investigations of criminal elements that police hope will lead to major arrests and charges for those responsible for much of the problem.
Newsome also provided some statistics for the area, citing that 20 arrests have been made within a four block radius of Wheeler’s home during the month of February alone.
He did ask for a further meeting with Wheeler and Kinnebrew to see what his department can do additionally to make residents feel as if they are safe.
Wheeler and Kinnebrew did add that their coalition is working to organize an event later this spring for former residents of the area to celebrate their heritage at Turner Street Park on June 16, as several communities come together for a day of fellowship. A time is to be determined. For the rest of her problems on Central Street, Wheeler said she wanted answers.
“I will be coming back and coming back until there’s a difference and some changes made on my street,” Wheeler said.
Something like having a strip of concrete to walk along should seem simple enough, but a lot can go into providing a path for local residents to stride safely along a street.
Georgia Avenue’s James Wilson is hoping that his request for a sidewalk for residents to use — along with a petition with signatures from a number of area residents — is enough to get one completed.
“When the weather is bad, there might be 20 to 25 people who walk along my street every day,” he said. “But in the summer when the sun is out, there’s at least 100 people, maybe more.”
He said that Georgia Avenue only measures 18 feet in width, and the city’s 60 foot median is being encroached on by other residents who have built their fences too close to the road, cutting off the ability to provide a public thoroughfare of sidewalks along the street.
Wilson asked for the city to investigate the problem, and bring a sidewalk in if for nothing else to ensure that children who also utilize the roadway aren’t hit and subsequently injured by cars.
City manager Bill Fann promised to look have code enforcement and the Public Works department look into the problem of fences, and potential for sidewalk installation.