CITY SEEKING TO PLUCK CRIME AND PLANT HOPE

'Weed And Seed' Would Give Gastonia A Map To Revive 4 Neighborhoods

GASTONIA -- The swift knock of a pizza delivery boy and the shrill horn of
a taxicab are noises some Gastonia residents don't hear often.

That's because they live in crime-ridden neighborhoods few want to
penetrate, but city officials have applied for a federal program that could
help change that: Weed and Seed, a five-year plan developed by the U.S.
Department of Justice to show city agencies how they can work together to
fight crime and revitalize neighborhoods.

Under the program, the U.S. Attorney's office in Charlotte would provide
guidance on how Gastonia police officers and the city's community
development department can pool resources to do such things as step up
narcotic investigations, show people how to make their homes safer and
provide additional youth recreational activities.

Although Weed and Seed recognition does not come with money to help fund
activities, it would make the city eligible to apply for federal grants not
available to cities outside the program. The city's application still is
being reviewed by the U.S. Attorney's office.

City officials have targeted four communities where they would like to
implement the program: Highland, Mountain View, Crescent Lane and Linwood
Terrace, in part because that's where the city's 400 public housing units
are located.

The neighborhoods are scarred by broken beer bottles near abandoned houses,
groups of teen-agers hanging out on narrow streets and junk cars partially
hidden by uncut grass. Residents want to see changes.

"Put something here for the kids to do," said Steven Isaiah, 32, who moved
to the west side of Highland in early January. "They're doing what they see
other people doing, like selling drugs and stuff."

City officials applied for the Weed and Seed program after the federal
Department of Housing and Urban Development eliminated 2002 funding for a
drug enforcement grant the city had been receiving since 1998. Last year,
the grant totaled nearly $100,000.

As part of the Weed and Seed application, the city formed a committee last
summer to identify improvements residents want in their neighborhoods.

The committee includes 25 residents from the affected areas and one or two
representatives from each of 33 agencies, including the Housing Authority.

The committee never met as a group because residents were unable to meet
during the city's workweek. Residents met with Housing Authority officials
four times between August and October to discuss changes they wanted to see
in their neighborhoods. City agency representatives met separately to see
how they could address these concerns, said Jo-Ann Davis, community service
supervisor at Gastonia's Housing Authority.

Abandoned houses are a big concern, said DeeDee Gillis, code enforcement
administrator.

"What's the incentive for neighbors on either side to keep their property
up?" she said. "By removing slum and blight, you remove the overall feeling
of lawlessness."

She said she would like to see code enforcers work with community
development staff to find violators in those neighborhoods rather than
waiting for neighbors to complain.

Tina, a 39-year-old Mountain View resident who declined to give her last
name, lives next to an abandoned house, which she said draws big crowds of
unruly teen-agers who fight and throw beer bottles.

On a recent afternoon, she took her 15-month-old son on a walk, keeping a
wary eye on the pit bulls that live three houses down.

"It needs to be cleaned up," she said. "Just today I found a beer can in my
tree."

Renovating neighborhoods would be only one aspect of the Weed and Seed
program. After-school tutoring and classes about parenting skills and job
preparation could be offered at recreation centers, said Annie Thombs,
Gastonia's community development administrator.

After five years of operating the program, city officials would be able to
expand it to other neighborhoods. This has been done in 11 N.C. cities that
have been designated as official Weed and Seed sites.

New Bern, a city of 23,000 people located southeast of Raleigh, began the
program in 1996.

The federal grants the city subsequently got allowed it to offer residents
martial arts classes, scholarship programs and a job station where they
learn how to write resumes.

In addition, police response times have improved, alcohol stores near
schools have been removed and residents have formed community watch groups,
Bryant said.

"The most important change is that we can see residents participating,
getting involved and making decisions," said Gregory Bryant, New Bern's
Weed and Seed program coordinator. "All sites that are recognized have
similar problems: open-air drug sales, illegal alcohol sales, poor housing,
low socio-economic conditions."

People should be able to be proud of where they live, Thombs said.

"The fact that they live in public housing doesn't negate the fact that
they have an interest in the community," she said. "It's the reputation of
a few that makes it hard for the majority to rise above the stigma of
people of low wealth."

Although city officials soon expect to be approved for the program, some
residents say it will take a lot of effort to change a neighborhood.

Crime was the main reason Jay, 29, a former Mountain View resident who
declined to give his last name, no longer lives in the neighborhood.

"I didn't let my son play out there," said Jay, who was visiting his
mother, who still lives in Mountain View. "Just because other kids are
running around up and down the street? No. You've got 8-, 9-year-olds
cussing like they're grown."

Some residents have simpler requests, Thombs said, such as getting pizza
delivery or taxi services in their area. The program can't directly address
this issue, but people's perceptions of a neighborhood could change once
it's cleaned up, she said.

Other residents, like Tina, are concerned mostly about raising their
children in what residents call an unsafe environment.

Her 8-year-old son is getting an attitude, Tina said.

"I talk to him all the time about staying in school," she said. "If you do
drop out here, there's nothing except drugs and alcohol. You just have to
pray more."