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ACC Police Captain Gene Mays, responding
to queries as to what the police have done
since the March meeting: “We detailed our
special operations unit over there on certain
days, and we increased the patrol. At one
time we were putting decoy [police] cars in
the street. At first that was effective, but you
have to have a plan where you only do it cer
tain days, then move them around. We’ll
probably use some of that again but have
more of a plan to it. We will have them more
strategically placed in the future.
Mel Patel, 28, clerk at Baxter Street
Package: “Actually, it’s a good neighborhood,
you know. These people are good, but they
don’t have money to spend. If your pockets
are squeezing basically you’re going to do
something unusual to solve your problems.”
Joe Causey, proprietor. Farm Electric: “We
went through a horrible time in the early
‘90s when we were burglarized 18 times in
the span of three months. There was very
poor policing at the time... now it’s better.”
ACC Police Chief Jack Lumpkin: “Of [15
serious crimes] we’ve tracked lor the first
six months of 1998, 65 have been reported.
In 1997, there were 94 crimes in that same
[six month] period. Also there have been no
armed robberies reported in 1998, while
there were two in the first six months of
1997. We would like to think [the situation is
better].”
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
On the south side of Baxter are student
apartment and condominium complexes like
Courtyard Condominiums, Wellington Ridge
and University Garden, mostly white. On the
north side: Rocksprings Homes, a public
housing project, mostly black.
Professor Waters: “Baxter Street is so
wide and it’s essentially nothing more than
a conduit for automobiles. It is a major barri
er between the two sides.”
Melvin Wade, 37, Rocksprings resident, on
what could be done to make the neighborhood
better: “They could put some more lights up
in here — in the yard, you know. And they
need to fix the basketball court and stuff,
give the kids something to do.”
Ronnie Evans, 42, longtime Rocksprings
resident employed by the Atlanta Fire
Department: “1 moved here in the 9th grade,
and I’ve just watched it at a standstill.
Before, Baxter Street was thriving. Now, to
me, it just seems like a shortcut to the uni
versity. The residents [of Rocksprings] — it’s
almost like why worry, because you’re going
to find that not a lot of residents work down
there. But most people here don’t look for
work. St(ll, the businesses don’t put the
impact in|o the community.”
Sander Heilig: “I've treated everybody
who worked for me from that neighborhood
with respect. I built good relationships with
my day-to-day business practices. I’m going
to pat my own back here, but that really
makes me an unsung hero."
Greg Beard, husband of Lynn Beard (Lynn
is owner of Perteet’s TV & Appliances): “A lot
of our employees at one time or another
came from that project. They’re hard-woik-
ing people. Very nice people. Then there’s a
bit of the criminal element, but it’s hard to
pinpoint where it comes from.”
Mattie Dious, 84, Rocksprings resident at
209 Baxter, tending to her flower garden and
pointing across the street at the liquor store
Baxter Street Package, Inc.: “They got the
devil around here. It they got rid of the
liquor store, that would help. But they’d
move the church before the liquor store....
There used to be a little grocery store over
there. Instead of a liquor store, a little gro
cery store would be nice."
Ronnie Evans: “I say bring in a little neigh
borhood store. They don’t have one. The
closest store is Harris Teeter or Winn Dixie.
A lot of old people don’t have a way to get
there.”
Unidentified Rockspiings resident sitting on
a stoop on what could be done to make the
neighborhood better: “Yeah, I’ll tell you what
they could do. They could move us out of
here to a big ol’ fine home."
PAVE IT AND THEY WILL COME
Sander Heilig: “The sidewalks, curbs and
driveways [on Baxter] haven’t been worked
on at ail in the last 20 years I’ve been there.
Milledge and Broad are getting all of the
paving that Baxter needs."
Doc Eldridge, commissioner for District 7
and Democratic mayoral candidate: “It really
needs repaving. Right now it’s scheduled to
appear on the 1999 pavement maintenance
list.”
Stan Brown, Director of ACC Public Works:
“Milledge and Broad were repaved because
they are state routes, so they're handled by
the state DOT. Baxter Street will be very high
on the list next year, [but] we don’t have any
places that are higher priority than others.
One of our pilot projects is the Brooklyn
Creek drainage project. We’ll be putting in
stormwater control facilities right there at
Baxter to take charge of flooding that hap
pens there once a year or more.
“As far as sidewalks go, we haven’t been
able to do as much maintenance as I know
we need to do. Right now we’re down to one
concrete crew. The employment situation
right now is so good that people say no
thanks, I’ll take another job rather than work
in this heat. This summer we had two
employees who stayed less than a month."
DOWNTOWN OVERKILL?
Sander Heilig “Baxter Street isn’t getting
any help. That’s where I blame Gwen
O’Looney and the whole downtown mentali
ty. It was crystallized at the Olympics. Every
event is downtown. It doesn’t have to be.”
Joe Causey. Farm Electric: “We don’t have
anywhere near the police protection of
downtown.”
Sander Heilig “After football games,
there’s no traffic [on Baxter] because police
send fans out of town on Milledge.”
Mayor Gwen O'Looney: “Historically, [the
focus on downtown] has been driven by
what the state made available. The
Downtown Development Authority was
established [in 1978] because of tax incen
tives. And it’s my understanding that those
had to be related to Central Business
Districts. There are other ways communities
have been able to work with their commer
cial sectors. But it requires the creation of
standards and principles and requirements."
THE SUBSTATION
Doc Eldridge, on whether he still supports
building a police substation on Baxter, an idea
he and Police Chief Jack Lumpkin separately
proposed early this year: “Absolutely. It did
not get into this year's budget. I'm expecting
sometime prior to the next budget for a plan
to be put in front of the commission that
would include a county-wide type program,
that would include the Boulevard area and
the Athens Regional area.
“The other thing this idea helps with is
overcrowding at the Lexington Road police
department. It was designed for the old
county police department, which anticipated
80 to 100 sworn officers. We have over 200
sworn officers."
continued on next poge
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JULY 22, 1998 PLAGPOLE H