A great South Main Association meeting at Local Gastropub last night. Here are my notes:
Reginald Milton, a Democrat running for County Commission District 2, Position 3 spoke for a minute. He’s the founder and executive director of a different SMA, the South Main Alliance, which has been helping women and children for the past 10 years. He’s asking for your vote on May 4. You can read more about him on his website.
SMA is asking its members to take a survey on the South Main Website. It’ll take about 2 minutes, and will help the leadership determine the direction the SMA’s members would like to see the organization take in 2010.
Becky Beaton spoke about beautifcation projects in South Main.
Myra & Jonathan Stephens spoke about Theatre Lite at Cafe Beignet – “all the flavor, none of the filling,” theatre without costumes and sets, allowing you to use your imagination. Next show will be “2 Across,” about a couple who meets on the BART in San Francisco. Performances will be this weekend and next, then skip a weekend, then the weekend after that. “FREE to get in, pay what you will to get out. Tell your friends,” said Jonathan. Then he added, “tell your enemies,” so I made a note to tell Brittney about it when I went to the Saucer afterward, but she wasn’t working.
A woman named Lisa came up to talk about an Alzheimer’s fundraiser she wants to have on South Main between GE Patterson and St. Paul on May 22. She was asking business owners to sign the petition to permit the fundraiser to block off that block of Main.
Terry Lynch took the podium for an update on the proposed panhandling and single beer ordinances. The first reading for both was yesterday on the consent agenda, and both passed. There will be two more readings, and we should not assume both will pass without any hitches. There are major challenges due to lobbying groups and misinformation. Terry said he was proud of the SMA and DNA for the leadership roles they have taken with this legislation. He’s trying to expand corporate advocacy for these ordinances. He pointed out that 70,000 people work Downtown, so these ordinances are not just to serve the people who live here.
Audience member asked, “How can we help?” Lynch: If you know a Council member, see them eyeball to eyeball and express your support. If you can show up for the second and third readings, and especially the final vote on the ordinances, please do. If you can’t see a Council member face to face, call them or e-mail them. Remind them that you are taxpayers, and more importantly, voters.
MPD Director Larry Godwin took the stage.
He said that one of the first things he did when he took over was change the name of the precincts, e.g. “South Main Precinct,” because the precincts belong to YOU.
When he went to his first meeting with a Downtown organization after he took over in 2004, there were 6 people in the room. “And now look at this,” he said, looking around the room at Local which was packed to capacity. “THIS is community policing. This is community involvement. This is what I’ve been working to achieve since I got here.” He gave the crowd a round of applause.
In 2009, the South Main Precinct issued 348 citations for panhandling, 498 for open container, and 23 for indecent exposure (which would also include crimes like public urination). So far in 2010, 99 panhandling citations have been issued.
In the South Main Precinct, crime was down 23% last year. Godwin put it simply, “This is the safest place in the city.”
Godwin attributes the area’s safety to this: “Y’all have such an open door policy. You know every one of our officers on a first name basis. When we promote someone, you go, ‘No! Don’t take him/her away from us!'”
Overall in Memphis, crime is down 18%. There are over 12,000 fewer victims of crime in the city than there were in 2006. “If you turn on the news, it’s not all gloom and doom like it used to be.”
Godwin said he would not shy away from the fact that there are a few bad seeds on the force. “One-half of one percent chose to go the wrong way,” he said, “and we’ll get rid of those.” This drew applause from the audience.
He mentioned again how he can’t get over how involved everyone is Downtown.
He talked about the police cameras they deploy, and how he’s sometimes asked, “Why would you want to put blue lights on the cameras?” The answer is, citizens love them. They had the cameras in the Wolfchase parking lots during the Christmas season, and there were ZERO break-ins. During special events, one Skywatch camera can do what 20 OCU officers on rooftops can.
Question: What are the biggest problems in our precinct? Car break-ins are number one. Robberies of individuals, and of course, panhandling. “The more beers they buy, the braver they get, the more aggressive they get.”
Godwin says the proposed panhandling ordinance will make MPD’s job easier. If they see someone panhandling in a designated area, it’s a clear violation.
Audience member Air Traffic Mike asked, “What can we do to help?” Godwin responded, go to MemphisPoliceFoundation.org. He then said, when he visited New York, he was jealous of three things they had:
1) A real-time crime center. Of course, we now have one, and it’s superior to New York’s. It won the IACP first place award.
2) The New York Police Foundation, which has raised $88 million, all privat funds, donated to be used to help the NYPD. The Memphis Police Foundation was set up so citizens here can donate to police efforts. You can make donations online, and it’s a 501(c)(3) organization. You can even designate how you want your dollars to be used, e.g. to buy a new skycam, or to buy a new police scooter.
3) A police headquarters. We’re the 16th largest police department in the United States, and we do not have a police HQ that bears its name. Currently the MPD HQ is stuck in an office buiding Downtown. Officers only go there for HR stuff. Having a police HQ would raise morale, because officers would have more contact with the chief. “I won’t see it in my day, but I really wish for it one day.” Godwin would like the HQ to be Downtown.
Due to PDA technology, officers went from an hour and 15 minutes taking reports to 12-18 minutes. Reports now get to the bureau in 3 minutes rather than 3 days. “New York doesn’t have that,” said Godwin.
Joan Robinson commented that the South Main District is not in the panhandling and single beer prohibited zones, and asked if MPD has a plan to protect South Main. Godwin replied yes. Their tracking of crime data will allow them to pinpoint the spots that need to be watched, Then he continued, “This is not a homeless problem, in my experience. This is about money. This is how they make money. This is how they do it. IN MY OPINION, IT NEEDS TO STOP.” (Huge round of applause) “We’ve got to reach out to the real homeless. And we did this year. Social workers got involved, and we did not just lock people up. But the panhandlers are not all homeless.”
An audience member also responded to Joan’s question, quoting Dr. Janikowski who helped draft the panhandling ordinance: It’s not a matter of displacement. You take away their customer base, and they go away. “You look at the CCC, you look at Larry Bloom, they brought in Dr.J,” Godwin followed up. “This was well done.” Another heavy round of applause.
Audience member asked about people feeding the homeless in large central parks like Court Square, about MATA buses speeding at 45-50 MPH on Downtown streets, and about graffiti. Godwin said he’d call Will Hudson and get the speeding situation addressed.
As for graffiti, if it’s on public property, send to Community Enhancement and the city will clean it. If on private property, MPD will provide officers to block traffic for its removal if necessary.
“The key to gang graffiti is to get it down as quickly as possible,” and let gang members know it will not be tolerated in your area, said Godwin. If you are not sure graffiti is gang-related, e-mail photos to Godwin. Tennis shoes hung over phone lines are another way gang members mark their turf. If you see these, call MPD and they will be taken down.
(I noticed he never addressed the matter of groups feeding the homeless in Downtown parks. This may have been an oversight as he was being bombarded with questions from a very enthusiastic audience.)
Audience member asked about figures for successful prosecutions. Godwin admitted that for panhandlers, it’s not very good.
Quick story I want to add here – on Sunday, my friend Mike King had one of our local bums, Fake St. Jude Donation Guy, arrested because he had a warrant for criminal trespass. St. Jude Guy spent Sunday night in jail and went to court Monday morning, in District 9. The judge found him guilty of criminal trespass, and sentenced him to 18 days in jail, with credit for 18 days served. So St. Jude Guy was back on the streets panhandling by Monday afternoon. What good does it do to arrest them, if judges are going to give them credit for time served?
Back to Godwin – in more serious categories, Memphis exceeds the national average for successful prosecutions. The only category that is up is rape. He addressed the recent rape kit controversy. “We do take a report on ANY rape,” and they always send in a kit for unknowns. When the suspect admits sex took place but it wasn’t rape, there’s no point sending in a kit, because the suspect is already known.
Audience question: “It seems like the homeless disppeared in December. Now they’re all back.” Godwin admitted that was true. The push in December was due to the onset of inclement weather. “We can’t force them to go to a shelter,” Godwin said. If they’re on your property, Godwin said, you can call MPD and they will remove them, although you have to understand calls are prioritized.
In 2006, MPD handled 817,000 calls.
In 2007, 822,000 calls.
In 2008, 852,000 calls.
In 2009, 941,000 calls.
Usually, when calls are up, crime is up. But in Memphis, calls are up and crime is down.
In 2008, burglaries were way up. “I had a problem with it,” said Godwin. “They call it a property crime. It’s kind of personal if they kick in your door and rummage through your stuff. I have a problem with that.” So he got with AG Gibbons to get the burglary law changed. “Before, if an individual committed 10 burglaries on the same street in 24 hours, one report was taken. We got that changed.” Burglary is down 14% now.
There’s a tradeoff though. MPD is trying to get the violent felons of the street. Godwin wants a minimum of 6 1/2 years for using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He wants to put burglars in local facilities to free up beds in Nashville for the violent offenders.
A South Main resident offered compliments. “I’ve seen MPD more on South Main. Officers watching, arresting people.” Round of applause.
Audience question: Any chance of getting more walking officers on the beat? Godwin: As you know, the only place we currently have them is EDU. There are pros and cons to walking officers. New York literally has an officer on every street corner, but they have 37,200 officers. The problem here is when they’re walking and there’s an incident – they have to be able to get from Point A to Point B. That’s why Godwin wants to purchase more T3s (the Segway-like vehicles you may have seen Downtown). In the summer when foot traffic is heavy, Godwin wants more temporary assignments Downtown.
That was the end of the Q&A session, and Godwin received another round of applause. Meeting was then adjourned.