BY THE NUMBERS

Holden Heights Requires More Than Intense Patrol

I've never used illegal drugs. But if I wanted to get some weed or
crack within the next half hour I know I could make a quick hook up
over on the "numbered streets."

The reputation for drugs and other illicit activities is why the
"numbered streets" were in the news this week. Orange County Deputy
Sheriff Adam Pierce was shot and badly wounded while doing his duty
near the corner of 41st Street and the South Orange Blossom Trail,
south of downtown Orlando.

Pierce and his partner tried to question a young man who was riding a
bicycle and dressed in black near that corner.

Instead of complying with the deputies, the young man fled. The
deputies chased and shot him with a Taser. The young man snatched the
Taser prongs off his body, pulled a pistol and opened fire.

Pierce was hit at least twice. Days later he remains hospitalized in
serious condition.

Sheriff Kevin Beary promised to hunt down the shooter. True to his
word, for days the area was crawling with marked and unmarked police
cars. Early Friday, at a hotel in Brunswick, Ga., Jeffrey Forbes was
arrested on charges of shooting the deputy.

If Forbes gets convicted in that crime, then I have nothing but
contempt for him and the harm he has caused. The same goes for the
rest of the army of crooks, cutthroats and other parasites who own the
night and much of the day on the "numbered streets" that line the
Trail from the East-West Expressway overpass to Holden Avenue.

Remember the case of Marvin Williams, the guy who was chased by
deputies and shot to death in a case of mistaken identity last year?
That chase started at a sleazy hotel on the Trail, two blocks from
where Pierce was shot Monday night.

The deputies chased Williams because they mistook him for a suspect in
an earlier shooting death that occurred on 40th Street, off the Trail,
a block from where Pierce was wounded.

Deputies, community activists and others agree that those "numbered
streets," part of the Holden Heights community, are some of the most
dangerous blocks to walk in the Orlando area. If you want illegal
drugs, a prostitute, stolen property or a gun, they're not difficult
to find in that neighborhood.

If only Beary's tough talk was enough to improve conditions on the
"numbered streets." But now that authorities have arrested a suspect
in the shooting, what's next for the beleaguered community?

How long will the Sheriff's Office keep the intense patrols rolling in
that neighborhood?

Realistically, the situation in that community is way too entrenched
and too complicated to be solved solely with sirens, Tasers, handcuffs
and SWAT teams.

The Holden Heights area has been in deep trouble for a long time. It's
never been a glamour spot. A fellow who grew up there told me that 40
years ago it was a working-class white community of small concrete-
block and wood-frame houses. Change for the worst began in 1965, when
Interstate 4 opened. That reduced tourist traffic on the Trail. Until
then the Trail, also known as U.S. 441, was one of the state's main
north-south roads.

When the tourist traffic dwindled, business declined for many of the
small hotels on the Trail. Over time, many of those establishments
began to cater to a different type of clientele -- people down on
their luck who needed a cheap place to stay, or those looking for an
illicit thrill.

The lack of infrastructure, especially sanitary sewer connections,
also made it difficult to open businesses on the Trail. Adult
businesses flourished for years on the Trail because they could get by
on a septic tank. Some of the problems those establishments attract
spilled over into the surrounding community. Many residents who had
money fled the area.

Many longtime residents died, and their houses have become rental
properties. That transition ruined the community spirit that is the
core of the neighborhood's sense of stability. Many renters are decent
people who simply can't afford to live elsewhere. Others are bad guys
who find the area convenient for their dirty business.

Several local organizations and Orange County have made improvements
in the area. Streets have been paved, modern streetlights have been
added on the Trail, and some derelict houses have been razed.

Yet that's not enough. Until residents can rebuild that sense of
community -- a place where neighbors watch out for each other's well
being -- Holden Heights will continue to suffer.

Deputy Adam Pierce was the latest victim. Who's next?