ASHEVILLE HAS A DUTY TO CLEAN UP CRIME IN PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

Law-abiding citizens living in Pisgah View apartments ought to have the
same sense of security in their homes and neighborhood that residents
living in other Asheville neighborhoods enjoy. They shouldn't have to watch
drug deals go down on their streets or worry about being shot by criminals
who use their community as a business address. The members of Asheville's
City Council have an obligation to see that Pisgah View's residents have
the same feeling of safety city council members feel in their own communities.

Pisgah View, in West Asheville, is the largest of the city's 14 public
housing developments. It sits amid the city's most affordable area, an area
enjoying a rebirth of neighborhood commercial businesses. To some, however,
Pisgah View is a blight that threatens that rebirth.

"They should knock that place down and turn it into affordable housing that
people can buy," says nearby resident Fisher Caudle. "I know it sounds
harsh, but I'm fed up with getting stuck at intersections while rock
cocaine deals go down in front of my car."

Stella Crandall used to live in Pisgah View, but moved out after a friend
was killed there last year. "The drug dealers are taking over and driving
the elderly out," she said. "I pray all the time that good people will come
in and clean the place up."

The residents have every right to be frustrated and every right to demand
change. Those who deal drugs or facilitate deals need to be identified and
rooted out. While it is true that some dealers may not live in Pisgah View,
the fact is that they find it an attractive place to do business.

Residents need to do their part by redoubling efforts such as Neighborhood
Watch.

But ultimately, removing criminals from a neighborhood is a job for law
enforcement.

A key component of crime-fighting in Pisgah View had been the presence of a
full-time police officer who got to know the residents and fostered a
climate of mutual trust. But the federal Housing and Urban Development
program under which that officer was paid was eliminated last year by the
Bush administration. Nationwide, $310 million had been allotted for
public-housing safety, most of it used to hire police officers, organize
citizen patrols and furnish lighting and security cameras.

The city is seeking a Department of Justice grant that, together with a
match from the Housing Authority, would reinstate the three officers who
had been assigned to public housing, according to Police Chief Will
Annarino. The Police Department would provide a supervisor.

As before, full-time officers would be assigned to the Pisgah View and
Hillcrest developments, with the third officer as backup. There would be
satellite offices manned by volunteers in other projects. At the moment,
the Housing Authority uses $35,000 from its operating fund to pay off-duty
city police and Buncombe County sheriff's deputies for part-time patrols.

"We are spread pretty thin because that money will only pay for two or
three officers to work a couple of hours each night," said Michael Godwin,
the authority's deputy director. "They can't concentrate on one place, like
Pisgah View, but have to deal with what basically are the hot spots."

There's no substitute for a full-time presence. "It was sure awful nice in
having the officers there full-time," Annarino said. "It proved successful
in the past." Ideally, he said, HUD would have provided enough money to
double the size of the public-housing unit rather than eliminating the program.

Annarino stressed that he's not making excuses. "If we don't get the grant,
or the Housing Authority can't afford (the match to pay 25 percent of the
cost for) the officers, we'll have to do the best we can.... That stretches
us thin, but we did it before.... We continue to make arrests."

If the status quo is "doing the best we can," that's simply not good
enough. Every child deserves to grow up in a safe community, free from
criminal activity. And every elderly person deserves to be able to leave
home without fear of being molested or threatened.

The effort is too important, both for the residents of public housing and
for their neighbors, to let die for want of the $300,000 or so it would
take for the three officers. If the federal grant does not come through,
and the criminal activity cannot be driven out of public housing any other
way, the city must find the money elsewhere.