RAZING DRUG HAVENS MUST BE ONLY FIRST STEP

Five years after the highly successful Operation Crackdown went on an
unscheduled hiatus, the wrecking ball is back in action.

Last week local enforcement officers ceremoniously took a sledgehammer
to a dilapidated abandoned house that had become a haven for
prostitutes and drug addicts on the city's West Side.

The house in the 2000 block of El Paso Street is one of 21 crack
houses targeted for demolition at the hands of the Texas National
Guard in the next three weeks.

Over the years, Operation Crackdown, a collaborative campaign launched
by city, federal and private contractors, has demolished more than 90
buildings identified as crack houses and hangouts for unsavory characters.

Shortly after the demolition started last week, residents in some
neighborhoods where the houses are located were out sprucing up their
yards, mowing their grass and trimming the hedges.

After years of complaints to police about daylight drug deals and
prostitutes entertaining customers on the porches of some of these
hovels, residents in this community no doubt were breathing sighs of
relief.

Now, the absentee landowners who hold title to these eyesores must
take responsibility for the cleared property. Too often the land where
these buildings once stood is not maintained and devolves into illicit
dumpsites.

Unfortunately, lack of funding does not allow more success stories
like that of the Dorie Miller Community Center in the 2800 block of
Martin Luther King Drive.

Before Operation Crackdown targeted that property, the abandoned Sonny
Mitchell Center, the strip center, had become drug-infested.

It is good to see local law enforcement officers and members of the
community channeling their efforts back into Operation Crackdown.

Getting rid of vacant and condemned houses that attract criminal
activity is crucial to a community's quality of life.

The next step must to be to ensure that the land is redeveloped and
put to good use.