An alternative site for the Eastway police division?

At least one person has suggested the site of the old Kate's Skating Rink as an alternative for a police station for the Charlotte Eastway division. The site already has an existing building and a large, cleared parking lot with no trees.

In some ways, it fits the definition of "greyfields." Some neighbors have also suggested using cleared land at the site of the old Morningside Apartments along Commonwealth Avenue, but police have said they want locations that are on major roadways.

The image here shows a quick aerial of the site, roughly measured out to match the boundaries indicated at Mecklenburg County's Polaris real estate site. The land measures just over 2 acres, and the tax value is listed at $1,270,500 as of 2007.

The site is behind the House of Pizza on Central Avenue, and would require additional land acquisition nearby to add up to the 3 acres the police department seeks. For comparison, the city bought the site of the new Providence police station on Wendover Road in 2009 for $1.4 million, according to South Charlotte News (part of The Charlotte Observer).

Related: Some residents have created a Facebook group, "Save Central Avenue from CMPD Land Grab." It has 73 "likes" at the moment.

City of Charlotte proposes building new police station in Merry Oaks neighborhood

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department wants to build a new Eastway division police station at the corner of Central Avenue and Merry Oaks Road.

Maj. Diego Anselmo of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department outlined plans for the station to about 40 people at the Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association at its general meeting Feb. 17.

Building the station would require a rezoning request to the city of Charlotte, which gives nearby neighbors a chance to weigh in on site plans or oppose the rezoning. The Eastway division is now housed at the Eastway Crossing Shopping Center at Eastway Drive and Central Avenue.

The station is part of Charlotte’s plans for capital improvement projects, Anselmo said. The city’s fiscal year 2011 Adopted Strategic Operating Plan mentions a recommendation for two new police division sub-stations: this one for the Eastway division and another for Steele Creek. The cost for each sub-station is listed at $7 million, to be paid with certificates of participation with available debt capacity.

The design of the station would be similar to the new police station recently built on Beatties Ford Road and one being built for the Providence division on Wendover Road near the Grier Heights neighborhood, Anselmo said.

At the neighborhood meeting, Anselmo walked quickly through printouts of a Powerpoint presentation showing maps of the division and other sites that have been considered. But he indicated that the Merry Oaks site is the preferred location now.
“This is the primary site,” he said.

Questions and answers

Anselmo asked for questions from the neighbors at the meeting. Here are a few of them:

Have you considered other sites, like where the Little Italy restaurant was on Central Avenue?
Yes, police looked at that site but determined it was too small. The division needs a site that is at least 3 acres.

What properties are involved? Is it the duplexes on Central Avenue and three houses along Merry Oaks Road?
Yes, the duplexes and the houses along Merry Oaks Road to the L-shaped property at 3517 Central Ave., listed as being owned by Edgar Conrad Phifer on the city’s Polaris website. In 2003, the land and building on the property were valued for tax purposes at $155,400.
James Minton, writing later at the Merry Oaks Google group, said his property was one of the two lots on Merry Oaks that likely would be bought for the project as well.
“I will share with everyone that the City has approached me about the
purchase of my property,” he wrote. “It is clear to me the city likely wants the entire ‘squared off’ area between Merry Oaks Road and Central Avenue, including my house (and I'm guessing) the house next to me.”


How many police cars would be going in and out at peak times, including shift change?
Ten to 15 cars, with the high end being on Friday; the rest of the time, the shift change would include about 10 police cars.


Are there other divisions that back up to residential property?
Yes, the Metro division, at 1118 Beatties Ford Road, backs up to residential areas and has been open about two years. In those two years, more property near the headquarters there has become owner occupied instead of rental property, and undesirable elements have left the area, police representatives said.

Will the headquarters affect our property values?
City Council member Patsy Kinsey, who attended the full neighborhood meeting, jumped in to answer this question. She said she had spoken with the city manager earlier on Thursday, and the city manager thinks property values would go up because of perceived increased safety. She acknowledged the uncertainty that comes with predicting any future property values.

Did police consider putting the headquarters on the Morningside property, which is a large cleared tract sitting empty further west in the Eastway division, off Central Avenue, where the Morningside Apartments once stood?
Yes, officers had considered that property and spoke with property owners, but the owners declined to negotiate for the parcel that the police department wanted. One audience member noted that the property owners at Morningside recently went into foreclosure, so circumstances might be different than when police did initial conversations. Anselmo also noted that police want the headquarters to be on a visible artery, like Central Avenue or Eastway Drive, on a bus line. Another police representative noted that there was some issue like the involvement of federal money in some way that stood in the way of the Morningside property.

What’s the process for moving forward on the project?
The city hopes to submit a rezoning request by March 28, with a decision to come from the Charlotte City Council in July. A public hearing could come on June 10. An audience member asked whether this Feb. 17 meeting was the required neighborhood meeting as part of the zoning process, and Anselmo said no, that meeting would be held later.

What’s the stormwater impact, especially since much of the site is pervious with trees and vegetation, to be replaced with a parking lot and one-story building?
Site plans aren’t finalized, but stormwater controls would likely be underground, said one of the city representatives at the meeting with Anselmo.


What would design of the building look like?
From Kinsey: “I want to support you on this,” speaking to the neighborhood members. “If this building ends up being on this site, I want you to like the way it looks.” Appearance would be similar to the Metro sub-station at 1118 Beatties Ford Road. Architects would likely seek LEED design certification for the building, they said.

What would the rezoning request be?
Institutional, with a 40-foot setback from Merry Oaks Road and a 30-foot setback from Central Avenue. The space between adjoining property on Merry Oaks Road and any pavement at the police headquarters would have to be 38 feet, though it could be less if there were an impervious wall. Since all rezonings are conditional, the rezoning process would give the neighborhood an opportunity to weigh in on how the building and site were planned. No setback would exist between the station and St. Andrews Episcopal Church next door on Central Avenue.

Have there been traffic counts done?
No. The current headquarters has 87 officers and 15 vacancies. Add in coordinators, detectives and 10 sergeants, as well as a Department of Social Services worker to determine the number of people working at the headquarters. Still, only about 10 police cars would go in and out at shift changes, three times a day. Officers are supposed to test their sirens at the beginning of their shifts, briefly.

What about noise from sirens?
Eastway division Captain Faulkner-Welch said that some officers might test their sirens before leaving the lot. Deborah Gilbert, whose property backs up to Eastway Crossing where the current station is, noted that she does not hear sirens.

Further questions? Stay tuned to the Merry Oaks Google group. Further minutes from other topics of the meeting will be available later.

If you have comments or concerns, that place is the best spot to talk with your neighbors, and the group has members like Kinsey and Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts. Likewise, if I left off anything here or made mistakes, feel free to comment here.

City Council member Kinsey said she’s available for any thoughts and concern, and Maj. Anselmo said he was available as well.

Background links from other sources

Geothermal heating at Providence division station
Background from The Charlotte Observer on Providence station, on Wendover at Grier Heights. (link will die in April 2011 or so)
WSOC version for the Providence division station, with background on the new Metro division station on Beatties Ford Road, where some crimes increased.


Andria Krewson, with map and editing help from Nancy Pierce, sourced from Polaris.

Charlotte City Council passes targeted property rental ordinance in effort to fight crime

“The ultimate proactivity (against crime) is assuming everyone is guilty and making them prove their innocence.”
– City Council member Warren Cooksey, or some character from “The Matrix”

The Charlotte City Council passed a property rental ordinance Monday night designed to target property owners who fail to take responsibility for crime on their properties.

The final ordinance that was passed was a compromise among stakeholders, including landlords and residents of areas affected by crime in nearby properties. It requires landlords who rent property among the top 4% of rental property in criminal calls to police to register and pay fees to support record–keeping and two new non–sworn officers to help track down landlords who don’t want to be found or to help those landlords improve their properties. Background and details, and a few numbers, and a letter from the Eastside Political Action Committee.

The council’s public safety committee worked with police to craft the ordinance and presented in to the full council in October. Monday’s meeting included a public hearing in which 20 people spoke, most supporting the compromise ordinance but some calling for rules that would have required all people who rent property in the city to register and pay a fee to build and maintain a database of landlords.

After the hearing, almost every council member and Mayor Pat McCrory had questions or statements about the ordinance, expressing wide–ranging concerns about crime, poverty, fair housing and the criminal justice system.

The ordinance passed 7–3, with council members Anthony Foxx (the mayor–elect), Warren Turner and Michael Barnes opposed the measure. Both Foxx and Barnes during discussions had indicated a desire for more time to consider the ordinance. Barnes noted that council member James Mitchell Jr. was not at the meeting, yet many of the affected properties are in his district.

Charlotte rental property rules move forward

The Community Safety Committee of the Charlotte City Council unanimously agreed Monday to move a revised rental ordinance aimed at reducing crime to the full council on Oct. 12.

Committee members hope to give the full council time to consider the plan and vote on it Nov. 9 instead of passing the issue to a newly elected council in December.

The plan focuses on registration and fees for owners whose properties fall into the worst 4 percent in terms of “disorderly activity,” which does not include domestic violence or complaints about trash.

“The only people who pay are those who hit or exceed the threshold,” said Ken Miller, deputy chief for the administrative services group of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

The owner of a single-family rental property could face a registration fee of $335 and a meeting with police if just one violent crime occurred on the property, Miller said. But, he said, “We expect we would lose a number of those during the review process.”

An owner of one of the largest class of rental properties, with 300 or more rental units, could face a registration fee of $1,300 and a meeting with police if the property fell into the worst 4 percent of properties.

Property owners would be notified of any need to register by certified mail to the name and address listed with the Mecklenburg County’s Office of the Tax Assessor. The plan includes penalties for not responding to the notice.

Appeals would be possible to a citizens’ rental review board.

Officials are continuing to make tinkers to the draft proposal before the Oct. 12 meeting.

Safety committee members are Chair Warren Turner, Vice Chair Patsy Kinsey, Andy Dulin and Edwin Peacock.

Background on the proposed rental ordinance.

Charlotte rental property rules update

The Community Safety Committee of the Charlotte City Council plans a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, in Room 280 of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center to discuss a revised plan for a rental ordinance aimed at reducing crime.

The plan requires statistical analysis in order to aim only at those properties that are giving police and nearby residents headaches. It also estimates enough revenue from fees on those properties to pay for two civilian staffers at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department to administer the program.

And the plan calls for the use of existing property tax records to notify and find property owners.

It also establishes a rental property review board, with seven members, "representative of the residential rental, tenant and homeowner community."

A few quick numbers from the plan:
$143,434.83: Salary plus benefits for the two employees. That includes $5,721.95 for N.C. state retirement and $3,576.22 in 401K contributions.
$37,000.00: The cost of two Chevy Malibus
$4,000.00: The cost of two laptops and licenses (I wonder if this estimate is too low; make sure the employees access to expensive Lexis/Nexis subscriptions, and perhaps their ability to find the property owners behind corporations holding some of these properties could improve).
$229,180.00: Total estimated fees from the program, affecting 587 properties.

Background:
Ideas after a letter about the ordinance from the Eastside Political Action Committee
Holding property owners accountable

Charlotte proposed rental ordinance update

The Eastside Political Action Committee this week sent an email about the proposed Charlotte rental ordinance with a letter from Paul Paskoff, director of the research and planning division for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Charlotte's rental property ordinance has been cussed and discussed for months now, and meanwhile police and the neighbors of troubled properties have had to deal with major problems. Certainly something must be done; maybe deeper research can help.

The letter makes clear that issues exist with current property records in Mecklenburg County. Records with valid contact information have many uses for various departments and a healthy community. Perhaps the implosion of the housing market, foreclosures and the bundling of risky real-estate loans have made finding property owners more difficult, but the community problems remain or worsen. And if those economic factors are major contributors, then the problems are national in scope, with perhaps ideas and assistance on a national level.

Paskoff's letter listed three reasons why he thinks an annual mandatory registration process is best for people who rent out their property.

And it listed concerns with the alternate idea offered by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association and the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, relying on the register of deeds office or the Mecklenburg County Property Assessment and Land Records Management Office. His research showed that those offices don't have records with contact information, and those offices don't have the resources to gather the information without imposing fees for document management.

A couple of new ideas surfaced in the letter: Register of Deeds David Granberry suggested that police work with the Mecklenburg County Tax Assessor's Office to get access to information about property owners. And Paskoff wrapped up his letter by saying a mandatory annual registration could be useful for other city departments, such as the Economic and Neighborhood Development Department (Property Code Division), the Charlotte Fire Department and and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities.

A long–term solution is needed; but a short–term fix is crucial as well. From the minutes of the July City Council meeting, council member Susan Burgess speaking:

"I can think of no better argument for this ordinance than 1813 Tyvola Road. For a year and a half, it's been a nuisance, it's been a danger, and it's been a blight to that entire neighborhood, and the reason nothing has been done about it is that no one can find the owner. I looked at the tax records one time. The tax was paid by some entity called 'Government Bank.' I know the Police Department has been involved, Code Enforcement has worked hard, but there is no person that anybody can find to help remedy this awful, awful situation. This neighborhood has lived with giant rats, with vagrants, with just terrible things going on in this property, and this ordinance would help us solve that problem and as it's repeated all over the city. We have all heard from neighborhood leaders and others who are just neighbors of these properties who are just so frustrated – they have just had it."

What remains unclear: How to fix the problem. A new database of ONLY property owners who rent their property leaves out modernization of property owners who DON'T rent out their property.

The deeper problems should be fixed. At the same time, police need help now in being able to find absentee landlords who fail to monitor their renters and thus increase the workload on police and the danger to nearby communities.

A couple of quick thoughts:
Perhaps a forensic researcher can track specific problem property owners, while the community takes a broader, longer look at how to modernize property records for the whole city.

Police know where the hot spots are, and a targeted effort would focus resources on the problems instead of increasing fees and work for all people who rent property. "Just Google it" won't find the owners; professional, paid research is required. Law firms have long employed special librarians for such work, and those same law firms have also cut back on employment of those people. They have the skills and access to databases on the deep web and can find stuff the ordinary Googler can't.

Mayor Pat McCrory touched on this in the July council minutes:

"The technology has changed so much, and if we just find out that one bank is the only contact we have, I don't think we are doing enough research. It might take a little more searching, an extra step to find out who that bank is and contacts there and who they are paying for, but there is a lot of data out there, and this is true with a lot of companies who are dealing with the same tenants. I want to make sure we take advantage of what existing data and resources are out there before we create another one."

Would using a police researcher to find specific properties be more efficient than managing a full police database of all rental properties? As long as documented increased police calls are available for specific properties, targeted research to find those property owners seems to be legally and ethically valid. (But I'm no legal expert; let me know if otherwise.)

Certainly funding is an issue, so asking questions about the most efficient use of available funds is crucial.

Short term (in government terms), requiring valid contact information for properties when property taxes are paid seems to be a valid solution to investigate further.

Long term, to modernize all records, perhaps other options are available beyond increased fees and taxes. Is there civic grant money available to modernize records? One Charlotte organization received more than $277,000 to create a virtual community library last year. Spending money to research and write grant applications would take resources, of course, but perhaps the return on investment would be higher.


Sources: City Council minutes, in PDF, from July.
Email from the Eastside PAC.
Knight Foundation community grant program.

Town meeting with Susan Burgess and Rodney Monroe

At-large Charlotte City Council member Susan Burgess is hosting a town meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday in Room 267 at City Hall, with featured speaker Police Chief Rodney Monroe.
Details from an email to community leaders:
The meeting will focus on public safety and will include updates on the impact of the economic stimulus plan on public safety, presentations on the three top citizen concerns from the 2008 Citizen Survey (burglary, drugs, and gangs), and a question and answer session with the Chief and other police department personnel.
Details or questions: Contact Sergeant M. W. Sloop, Response Area Commander, Eastway Division, at 704-336-8535, or 704-336-3817, or
msloop@cmpd.org

Holding property owners accountable for renters

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police representatives are pitching the idea of a new Charlotte city ordinance intended to help find absentee property owners and hold them accountable for actions of renters.

The initial plan requires property owners to register rental property with the police department, providing clear details on how the property owner can be reached if renters engage in illegal or disorderly activities.

The ordinance also allows the establishment of fees to pay for the registration costs and establishes a five-member unpaid board that reviews violations and has the power to revoke an owner's ability to rent property.

Police representatives are expecting strong opposition from property owners, and the ordinance review process will likely take several months, according to an email sent to community leaders from Ken Miller, deputy police chief. The first draft will be presented to a council committee on Thursday, May 21.

The ordinance could be welcome among some community leaders as a way to hold property owners accountable for criminal activity that happens on their property. A few questions, to generate discussion:

1. Why can't existing property records be used to find property owners instead of establishment of a separate registration process and database? Perhaps one answer: Often rental property is owned by absentee partnerships or companies where the tracing of responsibile parties is difficult. So would it be more efficient to fund or hire a forensic property tracker or enhance the existing property ownership database instead of creating a separate silo of information? Would it not be better long term for records at the city clerk's office to be made useful for this purpose and other purposes?
2. Will the fee for registration be so prohibitive that it penalizes small property owners in a bad economy who are just struggling to hold on to their properties instead of letting them lapse into foreclosure?
3. If determination of "disorderly" or "illegal" activities on a property happens before the renter goes to court and is convicted, is it right to penalize a property owner?
4. If it's difficult to staff unpaid city and county boards as it is, why establish another unpaid board to review complaints? Is there another way to use the time of existing city staff to handle the work, or is that a legal problem?
5. What are other cities and counties doing to control the problem of crime and disorder in rental properties with absentee owners who are difficult to reach? Has the proposed approach worked in other cities? Has it been challenged in courts elsewhere (leading to legal costs for cities)?

The proposed ordinance addresses a big problem in dealing with crime and safety in rental properties. Let's hope for a strong community discussion that leads to efficient, fair methods of fixing the problem.

First meeting details: Room 180 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. at noon on Thursday, May 21. Here's a map.

Full Google document of the draft ordinance.

Neighborhoods unite to fight crime

From the Merry Oaks Google group comes word of a Thursday night meeting in Plaza Midwood with police. Edited slightly:

"From: Timothy Griffin

Two armed robberies -- at Fuel Pizza and Snug Harbor -- occurred in the last month here in the Plaza Central area. We need to address this issue with the police department and the city. I am holding a meeting with representatives from the Morningside Neighborhood Association board, Plaza Midwood's board, the merchants, Patsy Kinsey and the Eastway Police Department. We need more police presence in the business area immediately.

I am going to contact the PM Library at Central and Plaza and book the meeting room for an emergency safety meeting with the Police Department at 7pm for Thursday Evening.

Please let me know if you can attend.

Tim Griffin, president
Morningside Neighborhood Association
1508 Morningside Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28205
704-371-3025"

Merry Oaks meeting and precinct update

The Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association will hold its regular, quarterly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Merry Oaks Elementary School.

On the agenda: the ever popular police report and perhaps discussion of making future meetings more social, except when events require coordinated, organized action. Board members are seeking new ideas from residents and many ongoing issues remain: code enforcement, Section 8 housing, nearby development. See the Spring 2008 neighborhood newsletter, linked from Neighborhood Link for more.

Precinct 29 Democrats update: Seven people turned out. Marcus Williams is chair, and Jan Snead is vice chair.

Commonwealth Park vs. hotels

Members of the Commonwealth Park Neighborhood Association plan to attend a City Council public hearing on Monday, Jan. 14, to make their case for tighter laws that govern hotels.
The neighborhood is across Central Avenue from Merry Oaks, adjacent to Independence Boulevard. Residents have long been concerned about crime spillover from nearby hotels on Independence.
Monday, Jan. 14 update: Victoria Cherrie of The Charlotte Observer writes about the issue here. (Link will die in two weeks.)
Tuesday, Jan. 15, update: The change in law passed, and about 60 Commonwealth Park residents showed up at the meeting to support the change.

A letter written by the neighborhood association to be sent to the council's safety committee says, in part, "As you are aware, the safety and quality of life in our neighborhood has been adversely impacted by the nuisance hotels on Independence Boulevard for many years."
Proposed ordinance changes would allow city agencies (code enforcement) to regulate lodging establishments that are not currently being regulated by the state, through the county's health department. In a letter to the neighborhood association, Maj. Diego Anselmo of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the changes in the ordinance "will help local law enforcement address criminal activity that is taking place on lodging establishment property by holding the owner/operator accountable for this activity."
The CPNA is seeking a good turnout for the 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday, at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Go here for a Google map or directions.
The neighborhood used their Google group to organize much of their efforts against the hotels. For more details, check it out.

Making low-income housing safer

Merry Oaks residents greeted the new year with news of a shooting on Arnold Drive that left one man dead and another charged with murder.
Neither party was a resident of the neighborhood, or of the nearby Hillcrest Apartments where the shooting occurred.

Still, the neighborhood cares: about perception of the neighborhood, about safety and about the family of the victim and about the law-abiding residents of the apartments.
Neighborhood online forum participants are more than tired of the crime in nearby low-income apartments. The regional property manager for Westminster Properties, owners of the Hillcrest Apartments, has responded on the neighborhood Google group, saying recent legislative changes have made it more difficult for providers of low-income housing to control crime by non-residents.

Many questions surface, from a variety of perspectives:
How much money are the owners making from the federal Section 8 housing program? Does that program work when it fills entire complexes with low-income residents and counts on local police to manage the problems? Are there better alternatives to housing low-income people? How can those property owners control non-residential access? How can cities filled with growth and new condos provide low-income housing without concentrating crime and school resegregation? Would increasing incentives for police officers, firefighters and EMT works to live in such complexes help? How can neighbors help?

Charlotte has a history of strong, nonprofit, efficient organizations that make change happen. Perhaps the community can find ways to improve policies and programs to increase safety for low-income housing residents and nearby neighborhoods.

Some resources:
The N.C. Housing Coalition The organization, based in Raleigh, states its mission is to lead a campaign for housing to ensure that working families, people in crisis, seniors, and persons with disabilities may live with dignity and opportunity. Safety is a key part of their efforts.
Housing Charlotte: An initiative to find new solutions to address Charlotte's growing affordable housing problem.


Other references:
Westminster Properties, the owners of Hillcrest. You can get a list of their other Charlotte properties.
Grier Heights Neighborhood Initiative: a pdf document listing community efforts to improve the Grier Heights neighborhood several years back, including the owners of Grier Park Apartments giving the keys to their rental office to the police. I'm unclear whether Westminster owned those apartments at the time. The company owns those apartments now, according to its website.

Text of the note from Bert Wray, regional property manager of Westminster Properties, posted on the Merry Oaks neighborhood Google group:

"Dear Merry Oaks neighbors,

Our new year has unfortunately stepped off with the tragic event that unfolded in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As a representative of the 48 families that reside at Hillcrest Apartments, I, as well as my staff on-site, am just as concerned about the criminal activity that has literally been brought to the front pages over the past months.

As an introduction, as the Regional Property Manager for Westminster Company, I represent the owners of Hillcrest Apartments as part of a nationally accredited property management organization. I oversee the management of seven properties in the Charlotte area. Westminster Company specializes in the management of affordable or subsidized housing. Due to the nature of our mission, security is a major priority for me and my staff. Every resident that enters into a lease with our property has passed a criminal and credit screening, as well as landlord references. We are serious about our stance against drugs and crime and use our contracts that we sign with our residents as our only form of enforcement. Let me emphasize that these steps apply to our lease-signing residents. The violent crimes that have occurred at Hillcrest Apartments in the past months have been at the hands of individuals who do not live in our community. They do, however, visit within the community and have ties to Hillcrest Apartments. It is these “visitors” that are the source of our pain and I have little to no means of screening these individuals or even identifying them.

Our most important ally in our war against crime is the police department. We have an excellent relationship with CMPD and its officers. We have always made proactive strides to improve our security to prevent crime instead of reacting to crime. We have openly expressed our need to ban any non-residents who commit crimes in or around our property. Recent legislation changes have made this process impractical and almost impossible. As the landlord, we must be present with CMPD and the individual to be banned, in order to legally ban them from the property. As we all know, the activity that would lead to these bans almost always occurs outside of business hours when the manager is not on site. In the past, we could enter an agreement with CMPD authorizing any officer to execute a trespass order without our presence. As far as our residents at Hillcrest, everyone who has been arrested for criminal activity, or had direct involvement in such activity has been given a lease termination. However, enforcement of that termination ultimately is in the hands of our magistrates.

Making a long story short, many of our limitations in limiting crime within our community stem from decisions and legislation that are made by municipalities and organizations that like to look at the big picture without zooming in on reality. That reality is that our police force needs the freedom to identify and remove individuals who are known cancers to our community. I have asked representatives of Eastway Division CMPD for a list of apartment managers in the area so we can share information to prevent recycling any poor residents and their guests.

As law abiding citizens and residents, I enlist your help to pressure the powers that be to authorize the necessary power to enable CMPD and landlords to eliminate problems, and potential problems, from our community. Also, understand that we at Hillcrest Apartments have an important yet challenging role to provide affordable housing to families in need as an opportunity to better their lives and positively impact society.

Bert Wray
Regional Property Manager
Westminster Company"

Mayor candidates talk with Eastside residents

The Charlotte Observer covered the forum Tuesday night for political candidates with Eastside residents. You can read the full story here (at least for a couple of weeks).

One highlight for mayoral candidates:

If you become mayor for the next two years, what will be the one clear sign that you have delivered what you promise for east Charlotte?

Pat McCrory: He said his focus is on transportation and public safety, seeking solutions to gang problems that are an issue in east Charlotte. He said he will continue to work for more sidewalks and other amenities to lure economic development. "There is tremendous potential for growth," he said.

Beverly Earle: "If I'm elected the mayor of Charlotte, part of my goal will be to provide a great quality of life for all citizens of Charlotte," she said. "I believe in locking people up who commit crimes." Poking the podium, Earle asked how serious McCrory could be about fighting crime when he vetoed a budget that supported 70 new police positions.

Those shots on Arnold Drive

WCNC provides the crime blotter report on the shots fired at Hillcrest Apartments, 2603 Arnold Drive, on July 16 (Monday night).

Details from the Merry Oaks Google group:
Veronica Dews, site property manager of Hillcrest Apartments,says the shooting occurred between 2 females (non-residents). The police know who the suspects are and others that were involved, who are also non-residents. As of last night (July 16), police were in search of at least 2 individuals. The shooting seems to have been a domestic dispute over a guy.

Officer Weaver thanked Veronica for weighing in.

The good news : Great communication among residents, the manager at nearby apartments and the police. Officer Weaver's participation in the Google group is the best source for up-to-date information. An alternative with a time lag: the Charmeck police website.

Crime note, Arnold and Draper
This place is not a crime blotter. You can go to Crime in Charlotte for that. But other places have mentioned this incident, so for those curious and as a caution to others, here's what happened May 24:

Police blotter:
"17:36
Eastway Division
2432 Arnold Drive
Victim was in her front yard looking at her flowers. Victim turned around and was confronted by a B/M, 6', slender, young, black mask, and had a small gold gun. Suspect took her purse and ran. No injuries."

More information from WSOC, excerpted here:
"A woman living in one of Charlotte’s oldest neighborhoods was checking on her garden after work Thursday when a masked man came out of the shadows, pointed a gun at her and stole her wallet....

“I had just gotten home. I’d gotten out of my car and I thought, ‘I’ll go take a look at the yard,” J.C. Honeycutt said.

Honeycutt was in her front yard in Merry Oaks, not far from the Charlotte Country Club in east Charlotte, when she saw the man in the shade.

“I saw first that somebody was standing in my yard; secondly that he was dressed in all black; third that he had a black mask on his face,” she said.

Then she saw the gun.

The man called her over and demanded her purse. He took her wallet with her cash and bank cards, and then took off....

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shows few incidents have been reported in Merry Oaks since the beginning of the year, although plenty have happened along Eastway Drive and Central Avenue outside the neighborhood.