A COMMUNITY SOUNDS OFF

Activists -- Drugs Not Confined To City

For months, residents in Hartford's neighborhoods have been admonished by
state and city leaders to stand up to the drug dealers and other criminals
roaming their streets.

But at a meeting of community activists and other local officials Thursday,
residents pointed out that the horrors of the drug trade aren't confined to
Hartford alone.

"We may have parents whose children are out on the streets selling the
drugs, but who do you think they're selling them to?" said activist Larry
Charles Sr. "Parents in the suburbs may watch the problem on TV and say,
'My God, look what's happening in the city,' but it's their kids who are
coming in to buy this stuff."

Striking a similar chord, city social services worker Andrea Comer said she
is often discouraged by the unwillingness on the part of the city's
corporations to acknowledge the problems in the neighborhoods.

Comer said the city received several calls from local corporations last
week after a shrine was set up on Farmington Avenue to mark the recent
death of a man in a car crash.

"They didn't want their employees to have to see the shrine, to be reminded
of what's happening in our city as they came in from the suburbs to go to
work," Comer said.

But those same corporations are often silent, Comer said, when city
agencies and other community groups approach them about job or internship
opportunities for young people in Hartford.

"If they really want to do something to improve public safety in Hartford,
they should do more about providing jobs," she said.

Thursday's meeting at the Community Renewal Team building on Windsor Street
was set up as a free-wheeling exchange of ideas and opinions on the
problems in the city's neighborhoods. The meeting also was scheduled to
give people an opportunity to talk about a recent appearance by community
activist the Rev. Cornell Lewis on a segment of the NBC show "Dateline."

One theme that frequently arose was the need to overcome the fear that many
residents feel in confronting drug dealers and other criminals.

Teri Morrison, who is raising six children on a stretch of Garden Street
known for heavy drug activity, said she and her neighbors were recently
surprised to find out how easy it can be to take a stand.

"We just started coming out on our porches and yelling at them to get off
our property, get off our block," she said. "After a while, it became kind
of embarrassing for the dealers and the buyers, so they moved on."

If all of the city's neighborhoods adopted such an attitude, the dealers
could be chased beyond the city limits and into the suburbs, said activist
Marcia Morris.

"Let the people in Avon and Simsbury deal with it," she said.