CITY CALLED UPON TO HALT DRUGS, PROSTITUTES

The city must do more to fight drug dealing and prostitution near Park
Street and Badger Road, city and neighborhood leaders say.

"It's become the No. 1 drug center and No. 1 prostitution center, 24-7,"
said Ald. Tim Bruer, 14th District. "It's a drug depot."

The police have done much, but the city, residents, landlords, businesses
and others must combine to address problems in a tiny area at the
intersections of Cypress Way, Hughes Place and Magnolia Lane, city and
neighborhood leaders said.

Some, including Bruer, would bulldoze apartment buildings to decrease
density, provide open space and bring more single-family home ownership to
the area, the same strategy that worked in the once-notorious Broadway-Lake
Point Drive area.

The city should use every possible tool against drug dealers and slumlords,
Bruer said.

"We have to adopt a zero-tolerance policy as we did at Lake Point," he said.

The Badger Road area had major problems from the mid-1980s through
mid-1990s, and drugs and prostitution have reemerged in the last 12 to 18
months in the Cypress-Magnolia-Hughes area, officials and residents said.

The street corners, just a block away from the South District police
precinct and even closer to a larger precinct under construction, are
plagued by open-air drug dealers and cruising prostitutes, South Police
District Capt. Randy Gaber said.

The area is a magnet because it's close to the Beltline, peppered with old,
deteriorating apartments, has a reputation, and is on the borderline
between the city and town of Madison, Gaber said.

The police made 106 arrests and issued 166 citations in the area since
March, Gaber said.

But troubles persist.

A landlord was beat up earlier this month, Gaber said.

On Tuesday, the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force arrested six
people who solicited officers posing as prostitutes, he said.

And some businesses on nearby Park Street continue to sell goods easily
adapted for use in smoking crack, he said.

"We've made some significant strides," Gaber said. "We've still got a long
way to go. We're still in the middle of it."

Brende Hofer, who lives in the Badger Road area, also owns eight apartment
buildings there and leads a landlord group called the Badger Road Good
Neighbor Compact. She applauded police efforts, such as teaming city and
town neighborhood officers.

But Hofer said some buildings in the most troubled area should be
demolished to reduce density.

"Something dramatic has to change," she said.

Mayor Sue Bauman, who met with Bruer and police on the matter this week,
said a revitalization plan is needed for the long term.

Bauman said she is writing to ask businesses to stop selling merchandise
that can be used to smoke crack and she wants a Neighborhood Resource Team,
but residents and landlords will make the difference.

"No neighborhood has changed by just sending police in," she said.