^ Yes, excellent points.
In an ideal world, neighborhoods would:
-have daily to weekly neighborhood walks, peace marches, pub crawls, and other events that get neighbors speaking to one another and put their eyes and feet on the street
-have monthly citizen-led "problem properties" neighborhood walk-throughs looking for code violations that would then be reported to the Citizens Service Bureau. Dutchtown West, a new neighborhood organization, has done this in the past and took photos that are available on their website (
http://www.dutchtownwest.org/).
-have alderman that drive around, even if just for a half hour, at night to provide an extra layer of security/property maintenance. I know Shane Cohn (25th – Dutchtown) and Antonio French (21st – Penrose, O’Fallon) Tweet that they do neighborhood drive-throughs quite often.
-have police officers WALKING, BIKING, and possibly on horseback to the extent possible. I realize this is a major commitment of resources—I did preface this as an “ideal world”.
-while this is more of a stretch, think about it for a moment: do whatever you can to invest in your neighborhood commercial artery. Crime in the Grove/FPSE has plummeted since Manchester has become more of a neighborhood center rather than forlorn wasteland; Gravois/Morgan Ford’s Bosnian businesses really helped soup up Bevo; Morgan Ford in TGS is transformed, and that half of the neighborhood is seeing tons of improvement. These stories repeat themselves across the city. Have a logical, walkable neighborhood center with investments and you’ll see that criminals have fewer opportunities to commit violent crime. Neighbors and business owners become more vigilant and caring of their investments; property values slowly rise; etc. Now, larceny will probably increase, but the truly scary stuff should decrease.
-Leave on porch lights. Again to the extent possible, have pedestrian scaled lighting installed on the block. A well-lit neighborhood is an essential part of crime prevention—they serve as literal spotlights on criminals.
-Crime cameras have worked in some places and have shown no effect in others. I know they used these in the Grove for a while, but I’m not sure how well they worked there or what the SLMPD reported on them. Anyone? Anyhow , they seem like a possible solution to persistent property crime. Pedestrians on camera equipped blocks might breathe a bit easier too.
The overall goal should be to get more people walking, biking, and, yes, driving too. There are a lot of routes to that destination.
Opening up as many streets as possible is a good goal to removing the semi-private status of many neighborhoods and blocks might help (Forest Park Southeast, Shaw, LaSalle Park, Lafayette Square, etc.). In the long term category again, interstates are a huge barrier for pedestrians, vehicles, visibility, beautification, adjacent property values, etc. I am all for anything that can be done to minimize their impact; from better lighting, painting them, putting cameras in underpasses; putting public art underneath them; painting neighborhood names and symbols on them; turning them into “urban boulevards” with 40mph speed limits and center medians; tunneling them; or removing them altogether (I know, yeah right). The city is simply too chopped up for its own good. Walking from Soulard to downtown or vice versa should not be so difficult and ugly (and yes, potentially dangerous—you’ll be the only one trekking down South 7th Street, I promise you).
Okay, that’s all from me for now.
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