A start to saving a neighborhood?

REPRINTED COURTESY OF THE SENTINEL

By David Blymire, Sentinel Reporter, December 14, 2006

Residents begin to band to help protect Northeast Carlisle

Residents of one Carlisle neighborhood are committed to forming a new crimewatch group, organizers say.

Carlisle Police Chief Stephen Margeson says police and borough officials received “pretty much unanimous” commitment from about 10 or 12 residents who want to proceed with creating a neighborhood association during a neighborhood meeting last week at Carlisle Alliance Church on East North Street.

“It demonstrates an interest and commitment on the part of people in the neighborhood to the quality of life and vitality of their neighborhood,” Margeson says.

He says borough officials explained the benefits of forming a group and pledged to help the neighbors organize.

Police benefit by having additional eyes and ears in the neighborhood as people report unusual or suspicious activity, Margeson says.

The drive to form a new neighborhood group started when several people who live on and near the 100 block of North East Street complained about a swell in crime, trash, noise, loitering and other problems in the neighborhood during an August borough council meeting.

Since then, police have increased their presence on the block and have made numerous arrests, Margeson says, adding he did not have a specific number.

Publicly released police reports over the past few months show police have made arrests in the first couple of blocks of North East Street and nearby areas for a range of crimes, including public drunkenness, tire-slashing and fights.

In March, a federal narcotics investigation brought police to the second and third blocks of North East Street.

One of the residents who approached the borough in August says residents who attended last week’s meeting were “very happy to be able to air their concerns.”

Barbara Diduk, a 12-year resident of Locust Avenue, says there seemed to be a consensus among residents and borough officials that the neighborhood must change.

Organizers also went door-to-door through the neighborhood to find out what residents are concerned about, she adds.

“I think that neighborhood has so much going for it.. amazing architecture, a mix of people — factory workers to PhDs,” says Diduk, herself a professor of art and art history at Dickinson College. “That is totally cool, I think.”

She adds that “I don’t think of it as a stretch to change the neighborhood.”