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‘Second City’
Stress
Suburbs seek new methods for combating encroaching urban pressures
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Business New Haven
8/10/98
By: Elizabeth Guertin Regan
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An abandoned building sits on the corner lot. Graffiti decorates the walls, and broken window glass lies next to the foundation. Trash is strewn about the overgrown lawn. Teenagers in baggy, dark clothes gather behind the building for who knows what.
Sound like a snapshot of the big city? Increasingly, this scene is being played out in the suburbs that abut Connecticut's cities.
Once among the most convenient and accessible of the 'burbs, those towns directly adjacent to New Haven, Bridgeport and Connecticut's other big cities are seeing their communities invaded by urban problems like crime, traffic congestion, and blight.
“We've got all of that stuff,” according to Sgt. Joe Buonome, spokesperson for the East Haven Police Department. Nonetheless, Buonome believes East Haven's reputation as a tough town is unfair.
“We have a certain amount of overflow crime from the city, but Branford has a certain amount of our overflow,” Buonome explains. He acknowledges that in the Eighth Circuit Court, where most cases from the shoreline end up, East Haven is “a little busier” than Branford, North Branford or Guilford. But Buonome, a 26-year veteran of the police department and a life-long resident of East Haven, is quick to point out that East Haven has one of the area's best clearance rates - the ratio of solved crimes to unsolved crimes.
Shoplifting is the most common crime committed along the streets that point toward New Haven, according to Buonome. The commercial district of Frontage Road provides several prime targets for shoplifting and quick get-away onto Interstate 95. Add to that a few purse snatchings, a handful of holdups and lots of bad checks.
“It's a double-edged sword,” he says, pointing out that the shopping centers are also a boon to the town in taxes and employment.
In Trumbull, Deputy Chief of Police Joseph Edwards believes that “Anywhere that there is a greater population, there is a greater propensity for more crime.”
He says his department tries to take a proactive stance on issues like gangs and drugs by working with school officials. But being proactive isn't always easy. Trumbull police have recently come under fire for allegedly “profiling” drivers. Accused of targeting African-Americans driving in town, the police department is defending itself to civil rights leaders and the public, arguing that they are merely being aware of strangers in the community.
As far as the racial tensions that East Haven has been accused of, Buonome says the problem doesn't exist. Last year's shooting of a black teen from New Haven, Malik Jones, by white East Haven officer Robert Flodquist incited protests about the department's treatment of African-Americans and the lack of minority employees on the town's payroll. But it also brought support from the historically Italian community of East Haven.
“The public is behind us on almost everything we do,” Buonome boasts, referring to a demonstration of support held on the town green.
In Hamden, crime is more prevalent in the southern end of town, near New Haven, than near the northern border with Cheshire, according to Hamden Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. William Gibson. The reasons are varied: Gibson believes that geography, demographics and the sheer length of the border are factors, and the main thoroughfares of Dixwell and Whitney avenues and State Street mean more mobility for perpetrators of crime. Isolated areas like West Rock and densely populated places like Dixwell Avenue are both affected.
As with East Haven, Hamden's crimes are mostly crimes against property. But Gibson says, “If there is a crime against a person, it's likely to happen in the south end of town.”
East Haven and Hamden police officials say that community policing is the key to crime prevention.
The term “community policing” was brought to the forefront of the media several years ago in New Haven but the idea is as old as “Officer Friendly” - work with the public, work with the kids, have a presence on the streets, be proactive.
In West Haven, the commissioner of planning and development has some other ideas about preventing urban problems by eliminating potential locations for crime and blight.
Jim Hill boasts of “the best program in the state” for addressing issues of urban blight, and says that by working with agencies from coastal management to the economic development commission his department is creating nicer neighborhoods.
West Haven was the first municipality in Connecticut to adopt the national Building Officials Code Administration (BOCA) into law in 1996. The BOCA addresses everything from building, electrical and plumbing codes to maintenance and demolition for residential, industrial and commercial property.
“It allows us to go civil or criminal [in pursuing violations] and to charge the landlord, the tenant or whoever is responsible,” Hill explains. In the past 30 months, the city of West Haven has brought nearly 40 cases to court - and won every time.
Since 1996, Hill's inspection team has investigated 7,000 complaints regarding everything from overgrown lawns and abandoned buildings to missing smoke detectors. Complaints come from landlords, tenants and neighbors. The city has condemned and torn down buildings and cleaned out properties - all at minimal cost to the taxpayer.
For example, on first inspection of a complaint at a rental property, responsibility for repairs falls on the landlord. If the violations are repeated within six months, the tenant becomes responsible. If the repairs are left undone, the city will perform them and lien the property owner. If necessary, the city will seize the property to cover the liens.
In most cases, Hill says, the landlord (or the landlord's lender) is interested in getting rid of the property. A whole industry of buying and redeveloping abandoned properties has sprung up in West Haven. Working with community development block grants, Hill's team has arranged rehabilitation of properties where, for example, an elderly owner is unable to take care of the property properly.
“Our goal is not to tear down property,” Hill says. “We're not in the business of remodeling houses.” But, in getting the right people together, sooner or later, “There's a nice house in the neighborhood again.”
Hill began as a city planner in the South and has worked as a housing inspector. He takes his cues from larger cities such as Chicago where a similar program exists. An important element, Hill says, is working with the public. Explaining the system to neighborhood groups and investigating every complaint is paramount.
“People are concerned with the stability of their neighborhoods and their property values,” Hill reports.
East Haven's Buonome reports that participation in block or neighborhood watches is exceptional in his community, as it is in many towns. Educating neighborhood groups and responding to their concerns has become an important element of the community policing and in reassuring residents that crime is being addressed.
In many cases, the police and government agencies are doing their best to fight urban crises with suburban budgets. Most police departments have turned to federal grant money to support crime-prevention and intervention programs.
“We can always use more,” is the sentiment echoed by officials in Hamden, Trumbull and East Haven. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is funded almost entirely by federal grants. Through the DARE program, an officer is regularly assigned to the middle school to educate students about the dangers of becoming involved with drugs.
East Haven's grants have included everything from “Buckle-Up for Safety” programs to one that established a new position in the department for a victim's advocate. Hamden recently used a grant for an identification program at the middle school.
Local governments rely somewhat on state and federal funds for roadway repairs and traffic solutions, as well. State projects on Route 80 in East Haven and the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Hamden are expected to alleviate congestion - just another thread in a complex fabric.
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