Averill Neighborhood Association Monthly Meeting
Thursday, July 22, 2010 -- 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Biggby’s South Waverly
Attendees: Officers Jillian Johnson and Kasha Lowe; City Council President A’Lynne Robinson; City Parks Director Murdock Jemerson, Residents Gladys Thorp, Wes Thorp, Marie Monroe, Bill Fude, Jason Wilkes, Teresa Mahaffey, Melissa Quon Huber
Action Items
Crime Q&A with Officers Jillian Johnson and Kasha Lowe (soon to be Kasha Osborn)
· Uptake in B&E’s (breaking and entering) throughout city
o Most are B&E into cars that are unlocked
o Be on the lookout for what tends to be 13-15 year old with backpacks very late at night or early morning looking for unlocked cars. If locked they move on.
o The concurred that this pattern is similar with young males with backpacks knocking on house doors to see if people are home.
o We asked if youths walking around with backpacks should be considered suspicious. Officers said it is hard to tell, but if they have backpacks at a time when it seems unusual (e.g. summer, when school isn’t in session, or late at night) it could be suspicious.
o They will walk long distances to go to a neighborhood, so if someone looks out of place contact the police.
o Keep cars locked at all times.
o Do not leave garage door or front door open while in the back yard.
o Call non-emergency number to report things that stand out even if it turns out to be nothing. If nothing else, they will enforce the curfew violation.
· Window Peeper
o Be aware that there is a window peeper who tends to be active from 11 pm to 1 pm in the neighborhood just to our South (e.g. Churchill Downs, Fielding, Greenbelt streets.)
o He is a black male, early 30s, very skinny, dark completed, runs around naked, does inappropriate acts until getting a reaction from person. He does not live in the area and may be walking to the area.
· Drug raid on Inverary (over a month ago)
o Officers confirmed the drug raid on Inverary and assets were seized and home was red tagged for code violations which are common in homes where marijuana is grown (aka “grow house”).
o They indicated people cannot be at the home while red tagged unless they are at the property between 8 and 5 and are working on the home.
o Be on the lookout for signs of a “grow house” which can be lots of traffic while people coming and going with visits only lasting 2 to 5 minutes, lots of empty plant containers, containers tucked in bushes.
· Updates on shootings (not our neighborhood) last night/this morning
o Wes inquired about shootings reported by news outlets and reported on his blog this morning. Officers provided the following updates:
o Shooting on REO - 18 year old girl got hit, 5 rounds shot into the house, she is fine, there was only one caller about the incident which was unusual, some indication of an earlier argument about money owed to someone but not substantiated
o 2 shootings on Baker Street and Lyons – same shooter in both incidents which were located close by, apparent case of mistaken identity, no one hurt
· Questions about crime environment
o Illegal guns. When asked, officers indicated that their perception is that there are lots of illegal guns on the street and the number is increasing.
o Gangs. When asked, officers indicated that we do have “pretty decent gangs here” but there have been no problems at this point. They get updates whenever there are gang issues present and no such bulletins have gone out for months.
o Crime patterns. Officers have been surprised that the overall volume of crime has been less than in the past and less than expected given the economic downturn. Councilmember Robinson indicated that the crime stats provided to her by LPD show that non-violent crimes are down. Resident Wes Thorp countered with data reported by Lansing State Journal indicating that crime has increased over the past months. Councilmember Robinson indicated she thought the LSJ stats were for violent crimes and that she would work to get additional reports to discuss at the next Second Saturday meeting (August 14th, 10 am, Fire station 6).
· Response Times since North/South Precinct Consolidation
o In response to questions about what Team 9 officers are assigned to shifts, the issue of scheduling at shift changes was mentioned.
o Councilmember Robinson asked how shift changes were working since the consolidation.
o Officers indicated that shift change is always going to be an issue no matter where they are located, but that it can be more difficult when something happens on the Southside during shift change.
o Day shift officers are not sent to any major calls near the end of their shift (to prevent overtime pay). This is especially true if it the call is on the Southside and will make them late in returning to North precinct to end their shift given the distance and possible traffic during “rush hour.”
o Instead, the call goes to the few officers working the “overlap” period between shift A and shift B start times and all other calls are on hold until the full night shift is done with roll call and on the ride.
o [Note from Melissa – Officers moved to a 12 hour shift a few months ago to prevent layoffs. Shifts are from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm and 5:30 pm to 5:30 am. As I understand it, each shift has a group that staggers their start time so that not everyone is in shift-check in at the same time. It is during this staggered period where there are fewer officers on the road while the majority are in check-in/roll call at the precinct.]
o So from 5:15 pm to 5:45 pm response time may be slower especially if a major call comes in from the Southside because there are only a few officers on duty during shift change and residents should be aware of this potential.
o Otherwise the consolidation has not changed much. Officers write their reports at the South precinct since there are computers located there. Only shift check-in happens at North precinct.
o It sounds like we have another 3-year lease at South precinct so officers anticipate having computers still remain at South Precinct for the foreseeable future.
· Problems at Pleasant Grove and Holmes
o Councilmember Robinson asked LPD officers to patrol this area since there are increased problems in the evenings
o She also indicated that the Taco Truck (presently located at Drakes) has no permit to stay in one place and would like LPD to remind the vendors of this. Furthermore, she indicated that the Taco Truck does not have a dedicated water line and is concerned about the safety of food being served there. She stated that she has talked to code compliance about this and has told the vendors repeatedly they cannot be there and she is concerned about food safety. [Note: We need to ask if the health department needs to be notified or has been contacted.]
· Overnight Street Parking
o Councilmember Robinson indicated that overnight street parking has become a larger problem again and asked officers to issue tickets.
o Officers indicated that they do write the tickets but that they just pay the ($7?) fines and don’t stop parking on the street. People just consider it the price of parking.
o LPD cannot tow the cars so there are no real incentives to change behaviors. Officer suggested that incremental fines or other enforcement options could help serve as a deterrent.
o Councilmember Robinson indicated she would look into those options of ordinances to change the fee structure for violations.
· Drug problems
o Residents noted the prevalence of open-air drug dealing going on in very public places without much attempt to hide it.
o Residents had questions about how LPD addresses drug deals.
o Officers indicated that the LPD Special Operations unit (483-1820) addressing drug deals has not been affected by budget cuts.
o Officers indicated that LPD’s best source of information regarding drug dealing comes from working off tips from residents. [see below]
· Reporting tips and non-emergency problems.
o Officers indicated the best way to provide information to them is via email which they check daily at the precinct (though they cannot access email from patrol cars). The LPD phone system has been changed and there are still problems accessing voice mail.
o Send emails to the following people and cc Melissa at :
o Day shift:
§ Jason Bock -
§ D. Person -
§ J. Lindeman -
o Night shift
§ Jillian Johnson -
§ Kasha Lowe -
§ A. Taylor -
o Command Officers (if you wish to cc them as well)
§ Chief Teresa Szymanski -
§ Captain Mike Yankowski -
City and Neighborhood Updates from Council president A’Lynne Robinson
· Resident meeting with A’Lynne
o The next “Second Saturday meeting” for residents to discuss concerns and information with A’Lynne will be held at Saturday, August 14th, at 10 a.m. at Fire station 6 at the corner of Pleasant Grove and Jolly.
· “Good Stuff” (business development) happening in the 4th Ward
o “On the Boulevard” business association group is self-sufficient and showing staying power as more businesses become involved and take leadership roles.
o “BBQ on the Boulevard” was held at Logan square and was very successful. It had the most ever vendors. It is now a mainstay event and will continue to grow.
o “Boogie on the Boulevard” is the next event being planned by the business association which will bring music events to Logan Square.
o Holmes & Pleasant Grove Businesses.
§ The next goal is to work with businesses on the Holmes and Pleasant Grove corridor.
§ A’Lynne will report back with updates from her meeting next Friday morning with all the businesses in the Holmes/Pleasant Grover area including QD, New City Academy, BW’s, Drakes, Vons, 1910 Meat Market, etc.
§ (We’re not sure if New City Academy is staying there, they are recruiting but there is a for sale sign. A’Lynne will find out more at this meeting)
§ She has a few volunteers to help with clean-up and spruce up these businesses and to stop negative activity but they will need more. A’Lynne will let the area neighborhoods know how they can be involved.
· Problem Coyotes.
o Yes, you heard me right. Wild Coyotes. In Lansing.
o We have a pack of coyotes. They had babies this spring.
o They roam the Colonial Village area, from Holly Park to Friendship Woods, and the home where Christmas trees and pumpkins are sold.
o Many neighborhood cats have been killed by the coyotes.
o Critter Control came out to set up humane traps but problem exists.
o The state Department of Natural Resources and Environment won’t do anything to help address the problem so we are on our own.
o The population has been reduced some by armed citizens.
o One thing that would help is for residents to stop feeding them.
· Liquor License for MLK/Holmes business
o In response to Wes’s concerns about council’s action on a liquor license A’Lynne indicated that council did not recommend granting a liquor license to the new business on MLK and Holmes.
o On the contrary, she indicated that council presented letters from residents in opposition to the liquor license and they attended the meeting to advocate for this opposition.
o The business presented itself to the liquor control board as having cheese, wine, and food to serve an upscale clientele.
o The liquor control commission granted the liquor license indicating we should be happy to have more businesses in Lansing, even though it went against neighborhood and city council’s opinion.
o It now appears the business will be a flat out liquor store, not upscale as promised to commission. Additional “discount vendors” are joining that corner including Little Caesars and LA insurance.
o All four corners of that intersection have liquor licenses.
o The liquor license was not granted on any conditions of the business being upscale as promised.
o Liquor control commission is made of appointments made by the Governor so Wes asked for the names of these people. A’Lynne will provide names and our neighborhoods may wish to have some contact with those commissioners.
o A’Lynne said they have contacted Joan Bauer and will also bring Gretchen Whitmer and Barb Byrum on to help transform this process.
· GM & Grand River Plant personal property tax exemption request.
o A’Lynne will be providing additional information about GM and Grand River Plant requesting a personal property tax exemption.
o The “Old GM” owes us money but is in bankruptcy court so that cannot be factored in here. This request is being made by the “new GM.”
o A’Lynne says, “I don’t want to sell the farm for 600 jobs. But it is 600 jobs.” She has already heard from residents angry as how GM has abandoned the city.