Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home residents and public officials are getting tired of crime and poor behavior in public spaces and neighborhoods throughout town, and they’re trying a variety of steps to improve things.
Beginning with the new school year, Sweet Home High School officials, police and parks officials met and vowed to take steps to reduce the number of youths and young adults hanging out on and under Weddle Bridge and in Sankey Park, smoking, using marijuana, littering and leaving behind graffiti, as reported in The New Era in September.
Residents of the Northwest Neighborhood Watch put together a short-notice City Council candidate forum on Oct. 11, and they spent most of their time discussing about crime and negative behavior in Northside Park and the pocket park at 12th and Nandina as well as their neighborhoods.
Candidate James Goble, a planning commissioner and volunteer who has primarily been focused on improving the BMX track at Sankey Park, took their complaints to the Parks Board recently, and board members responded.
Consistently, public officials say people need to be in the parks, using them if they want to improve the atmosphere. The city has been running several events to encourage the use of the parks, including three movie nights in the park last summer and the annual Harvest Festival in October.
Elsewhere, Sweet Home resident Jason Redick found his vehicle dented by a rock from his own yard. Angered, he took to Facebook to try to find a way to deal with crime in Sweet Home. He started the Sweet Home Community Watch page, which grew to more than 300 members in the first few days, 402 on Monday.
Its growth was constricted when Redick closed the group and began requiring approval for new members following some early hiccups.
Redick, who is also a member of the District 55 School Board, later discussed the new group with the police chief and scheduled a meeting of the group for Monday. Fifty attended the meeting. (See page 7)
12th and Nandina Pocket Park
Residents north of Main Street told council candidates about crime in the pocket park, which used to be a bus stop. They explained that transients sleep in the brush, defecate and urinate in the park. Among residents’ suggestions were removal of vegetation and pruning, adding portable toilets and removing the bench and cover.
Goble took the information he heard to the Parks Board, and the board talked about it, said Laura Goodrich, city planning manager. Goble asked the board if it would like to get involved quickly.
“The community expressed interest,” Goodrich said, “And it didn’t matter which park.”
The board agreed and set a work day for Saturday at the corner of Nandina and 12th.
Some 27 volunteers picked up debris around the park, Goodrich said.
They pruned low-hanging limbs, cut brush and pulled English ivy, Goodrich said. Weeds were taking over the sidewalk and portions of the park.
“The folks I talked to were (happy about) how fast this was going to happen and were excited,” Goble said.
The Parks Board also discussed improving lighting at the 12th and Nandina pocket park.
The city is planning work at Northside Park as well, Goodrich said, but that won’t happen until spring because of weather.
Volunteers will help with repairs, and Goble has volunteered to help repair the horseshoe pit, one of the topics of discussion during the council candidate forum.
That park also is slated for a new pavilion, Goodrich said.
Work continues at Sankey Park, with two dangerous trees felled in Upper Sankey, Goodrich said, and a juvenile work crew was set to pull English ivy last Saturday.
“I am ecstatic about the Parks Board quickly jumping to resolve this parks clean-up issue,” Goble said. “It should change the appearance factor and the safety factor with 12th Avenue down to the train tracks. The emails, the feedback I have received has been outstanding.”
Contact Goble at [email protected] or Goodrich at [email protected] for more information about getting involved in parks projects.
Sweet Home Community Watch
Like residents of the northwest Sweet Home neighborhoods, Redick said he is concerned about crime.
“We’ve had things come up missing at our house, bikes stolen off the porch,” he said. On a recent evening he heard a bang outside. The next morning, he found the trunk of his car dented, and a rock from his landscaping in the road behind the car.
Redick’s daughter-in-law put a post on Facebook asking if anyone might know anything about it.
“I was surprised with the responses,” Redick said. “It just got me thinking it might be nice to have a place with that information put together (a kind of Neighborhood Watch). It’s taken off from there.
“I think it’s another forum to try to get some information out there.”
It’s about encouraging people to talk about what’s going on and make changes, he said.
“It’s really about forming these relationships with people, so we don’t feel isolated,” Redick said. “I’m not trying to challenge the Police Department (although) I think there is a little bit of that out there.”
The Sweet Home Police Department, like everyone, is doing what it can with what it has, he said, and he thinks its development of a reserve program is going to help it do more.
“I want to bring everything together,” Redick said, with people supporting the efforts already under way. “There’s no sense reinventing the wheel.”
“Jason’s Facebook page is a great way to quickly get information out to a wide source,” Goble said.
Police
A lot of these activities are fantastic, said Police Chief Jeff Lynn, adding that the more information exchanged about trends in the community, the better.
“We support getting all that information out to the public,” said Lynn. “A better-informed public is better for all of us.”
That’s one of the reasons his department launched a Facebook page of its own. It’s another way to connect to and inform the public.
He praised parks cleanup efforts.
“Without a doubt, quality individuals oftentimes will push out the less desirable individuals,” Lynn said. “They don’t want to be where they can be seen.
“Citywide, getting people to engage in anything is the goal of our department. Volunteering time, that’s how you can make a difference.”
The Parks Board is developing an adopt-a-park program, one of many opportunities to get involved and take an active role, he said.
“There’s always openings on committees. I think there is a lot of momentum around the community for those who want to improve the community.”
For more information about getting involved with city committees, call (541) 367-8969. For more information about parks, call (541) 367-8113.