Safe Neighborhoods

As a smaller city, one with an actual sense of community, we have many advantages in the area of safety. We more often know our neighbors and can look after each other. This sense of community also means that we can respond better when we share concerns about our safety. Incidents of violence in the last two years have generated an appropriate community response. As neighbors get together to talk about safety, some of the same concerns come up repeatedly. Fran Fanning, a Cherry Street resident, represents many of those concerns well. Like many Carbondale residents, Fran lives in an area where some houses are beautifully cared for and others show a lack of care by the owner. Fran recognizes that city codes address much of the disrepair, but that the codes are often not enforced. A house in disrepair makes an easy target for crime.

Most landlords work hard and take pride in the housing they offer. Better information for both renters and landlords will serve everyone. If renters can get an idea about the reliability of a particular landlord or address, and landlords can more easily verify a renter's history, the rental market will operate more effectively, better serving renters, landlords, and the entire community.

As a former prosecutor, I understand the many levels at which we address safety concerns. My goals are to promote neighborhood cohesion and increase the effectiveness of our code enforcement system, both of which should result in increased security. Promoting neighborhood associations will promote safety. Police would rather respond to a call about trespassing at a neighbor's empty house than to respond to a report of burglary when the family returns home. And effective code enforcement can eliminate the unlit doorways or broken door locks that are an invitation to crime. Stepped up code enforcement will not be free. A small fee for rental home inspections will cover some costs, but we have to be ready to pay more as a city to secure benefits for everyone. Safer neighborhoods and better housing will help us recruit and retain students, professors, doctors, workers and business owners.

Action:

1. Promote neighborhood associations through crime watch programs and neighborhood association start up kits. Make it easy for neighborhood groups to learn from each other. Designate a member of the city planning staff to help neighborhood groups work with the city.
2. Build code enforcement into an effective, efficient system, one that responds to needs of the entire community. Pay for the system, in part, through a small inspection fee.
3. Use the internet to make more information available about specific properties, specific landlords and specific tenants. Use the city's website to provide information about both successful inspections and code violations.
4. Expand the scope of the housing construction incentive program to promote conversion of obsolete rental units to owner occupied housing.
5. Enforce codes that prohibit massive dumping of trash on city right of ways when tenants move out. The city should not clean up after irresponsible landlords or tenants.

Please click on any topic above for more information and specific actions I plan to take. You may also download A Working Plan for Carbondale in PDF format.