GRANT TO KEEP DRUGS OUT OF NEIGHBORHOODS

TRENTON - The Trenton Housing Authority is already doing a good job keeping
drugs out of its neighborhoods, residents said. They believe a federal
grant the THA was recently awarded will only help to bolster those efforts.

"I think they do a good job because they sure have gotten a lot of them
(drug dealers and users) out of here since I've been here," said Pricilla
Capps, a senior citizen and 12-year resident of the Green Acres neighborhood.

Her neighbor, Martha Kelley, agreed.

"It's a quiet, decent place to live," Kelley said. "It's more safe now than
when I came here a year ago."

THA officials learned Thursday that they would get $84,155 from the federal
Drug-Free Communities Program. The money will be used for several existing
after-school programs for at-risk youth and for youth summer enrichment and
family advocacy programming, THA Executive Director Grover Poteet said.

"This grant is going to give us a shot in the arm more than anything else,"
Poteet said.

THA provides low-income housing for about 640 residents in 210 apartment
units, Poteet said. He learned of the grant as a member of The Citizens for
a Better Trenton and its efforts to get a Weed and Seed program in Trenton.
But the grant is not affiliated with that program, Poteet said. The money
will be used for programs at three of the city's five housing projects:
Green Acres, Rolling Meadows and Lynnhurst Terrace. THA has worked with
police to effectively reduce drug-related problems in the Lexington Street
area of the city, where the remaining two housing neighborhoods of Booker
Holmes and Bishop Martin are located.

For instance, THA spent $67,000 to build a police precinct there in 1997-98
and put up surveillance cameras on the streets, Poteet said. THA also
donated three bicycles for neighborhood patrolling purposes and a used car
to city police. Prior to 1997, the two housing projects were having all
types of drug-related problems, Poteet said.

"Now, I'm happy to say that it's almost at zero."

Teachers run the after-school programs until 4:30 p.m. in the Green Acres
Lynnhurst and Bishop Martin neighborhoods. The program helps to give kids
something to do, Poteet said. He said the new grant money will help with
the purchase of computers, books and after-school snacks for the program.

The Green Acres residents and Jolene Haslop of Lynnhurst spoke of how quick
the THA is to kick out those who use and sell drugs. Haslop, a single mom,
also praised the THA for passing out anti-drug materials such as coloring
books to children and for helping to teach them to stay away from drugs.
She believes the grant money will help to continue such efforts.

"I think that would be good," Haslop said.