CITY POISED TO BECOME 'INCUBATOR' FOR WAR ON DRUGS

NEW BEDFORD -- The Whaling City's approach to overcoming drug trafficking
and drug abuse could become a national model, a top White House policy maker
said yesterday.

During his two days in the city, Joseph Peters, deputy director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy's Bureau of State and Local Affairs,
said he was impressed with the level of political insight, mobilization of
community groups and innovative law enforcement strategies in New Bedford.

"This community is positioned to bring it all together," he said. "It's just
a matter of orchestrating all the pieces."

In only the second such visit nationwide, a team from the president's drug
policy office spent Thursday and Friday talking with community leaders, law
enforcement officials and treatment providers.

"This community can be an incubator for some of the answers to this
problem," Mr. Peters said. "Hopefully we can build a model here that other
communities can emulate."

After a two-hour forum Thursday night, the team spent about an hour
yesterday morning walking along Acushnet Avenue in the city's south central
neighborhood, including the Bay Village housing complex and Monte's Park,
where Mr. Peters took a few minutes to shoot hoops with a young boy. He
missed three times, while both of 12-year-old Joel Rodrigues' shots swished
through the net.

"Make it more fun and cleaner so we can play games," Joel told Mr. Peters
when asked what he might tell the president about his neighborhood. Before
moving on down the street, Mr. Peters pinned a presidential seal on Joel's
red Adidas T-shirt.

The group, which included the ward's city councilor Jo Jo Fortes, walked by
the construction site of a new daycare center and later stopped at the
Central Food Market, where Mr. Peters praised owner Jack Lobo, whose sons
were helping him behind the counter.

"You're the most important part of all of this," he said.

One Bay Village resident opened her outside door but stayed behind the
inside screen as she urged the mayor and his colleagues to "put all those
boys to work."

Other residents watched curiosity as the group ambled by. When Mr. Fortes
stopped and knocked on the door of his aunt, Inez Santos, she said she
thought they might be some kind of survey team.

Many of the themes highlighted by the mayor and Mr. Fortes included efforts
to revitalize the area and reduce the once rampant drug trafficking.

But towards the end of the walk, resident Sharon Wilber angrily confronted
Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. saying he was visiting the neighborhood on a
sunny afternoon when all the drug dealers were hidden. Normally drug dealers
transact their deals in front of adults and children alike, she said.

"We live in fear for our lives," she said, shaking her head. "If we had
someone we could call when we see trouble coming, it would go away."

Mr. Peters asked her to write up her complaints and suggestions. He promised
they would get attention in Washington.

The mayor chose to walk through this area because he said it represents a
cross section of the city with improvements like the newly renovated Monte's
Park, combined with ongoing problems.

Accompanying the federal visitors during the walk were Housing Authority
Director Joseph Finnerty, Police Chief Arthur Kelly, a State Police trooper,
and community leaders including Carl Alves of the New Bedford Prevention
Partnership, Catholic Social Services Community Organizer Joseph Andrade,
YWCA Director Yvonne Drayton and neighborhood leaders including Kenneth
Ramos.

Absent from both Thursday's community forum and yesterday's events was
Bristol County District Attorney Paul Walsh. He said he came home Thursday
night from the national conference of district attorneys, and because he
never saw an updated memo giving the new place and time for yesterday's
press conference and walk, he arrived too late to attend.

"I would have liked to have gone," he said.

While the mayor has acknowledged his hope that the team will help the city
win more federal grants, he also asked the representatives from the White
House, Justice and Health and Human Services departments and the Office of
Housing and Urban Development for advice in developing a long-term anti-drug
strategy for the city.

Calling this visit and the planning that went into it "historic," the mayor
said it was only a first step.

The team received a heavy briefing book with memos from various entities
involved in enforcement, prevention and treatment. After reading through
those reports and sifting through other information collected during the
visit, Mr. Peters' office will draft suggestions for city leaders.

New Bedford Police Chief Arthur Kelly said he hopes to learn about new
grants and federal resources, as well as tap into federal expertise about
what sort of tactics work and which don't.

The White house drug policy office previously sent a team to Youngstown,
Ohio. The team came to New Bedford, because of an invitation from the mayor,
and because of the perception that New Bedford had taken tangible steps to
tackle its problems, Mr. Peters said.

While refusing to say outright that the visit would result in federal grant
dollars flowing towards the city, he noted the new relationship would prove
helpful.

"We're here to cut through the red tape," Mr. Peters said. "But ultimately
the answers will have to come from the community."