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Historical February 1984 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. has unveiled a new, multi-faceted campaign to combat crime in city neighborhoods.
The program, called Operation SafeStreet, is patterned after the successful community involvement model of the Operation Brightside program. Operation SafeStreet will be headed by our neighbor Mrs. Lu Green, who is being loaned to the City by the Ralston Purina Company while remaining on the Ralston Purina payroll.
In 1981, a survey conducted by the St. Louis Ambassadors showed that 23 percent of the respondents felt that crime was a major concern, while 29 percent thought poor housing was a big problem, and 37 percent said that St. Louis was dirty.
In response to these concerns, Mayor Schoemehl created Operation Impact, a sixpronged program to fight neighborhood blight, and Operation Brightside, the popular city cleanup program.
The third and newest program is Operation SafeStreet, which will be tested in Skinker-DeBaliviere and eight other target areas before being expanded to other neighborhoods. “Operation SafeStreet is designed to assist citizens in regaining control of their neighborhoods by placing barriers in the criminal’s way, thus discouraging criminal activity in their area.
The success of Operation SafeStreet rests upon citizen involvement,” Schoemehl said. “I want the residents to be in control of their own neighborhoods, rather than allowing criminals to dictate when residents can leave their homes or walk safely in their neighborhoods,” he commented.
The first phase of Operation SafeStreet will focus on nine neighborhoods scattered throughout the city.
The nine areas are: Shaw, Fountain Park, The Ville, Fox Park, Tiffany, LaSalle Park, Skinker-DeBaliviere, Cathedral Square, and the O’Fallon Park neighborhoods. Every six months a new group of target areas will be offered the SafeStreet programs. City-wide implementation in all residential neighborhoods is expected by January 1989.
The programs will enlist the cooperation of the Police Department, the CircuitAttorney’s Office, the Fire Department, and City Officials to insure that each area’s plan is effective and has the necessary support. Representatives from each of these groups will serve on the fourteen-person Advisory Board of Directors.
The Directors include Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr., Comptroller Paul M. Berra, President of the Board of Alderman Thomas E. Zych, Circuit Attorney George Peach, Chief of Police John F. Berner, and Fire Chief Thomas E. Long.
The other Board members are Urban League President William E. Douthit, our neighbor Suzanne Hart, executive director of the Commission on Crime and Law Enforcement, School Superintendent Dr. Jerome B. Jones, Director of Public Safety Thomas R. Nash, Community Development Agency Director Deborah J. Patterson, Streets Director James M. Shea, William L. Slaten, president of the St. Louis Federation of Block Units, and Sergeant Kirwan Young of the St. Louis Police Department Community Relations program. Operation SafeStreet will consist of the following five programs: NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH This program will be sponsored in cooperation with the St. Louis Police Department. Area residents will be trained to observe and report suspicious activities to the police.
The SafeStreet staff will work with neighborhood leaders to organize their areas on a block by block basis.
The staff will also work with police to insure proper training for interested residents, as well as to provide the initial contact between the local police district personnel and the neighborhood watch area residents. PROJECT HOME SECURITY Block Captains will survey their blocks to determine all residents interested in having their homes secured.
All homes of senior citizens over 62 and retired will be secured free of charge, others will be charged $150 for the total package.
An installment payment plan is available. Further, if you only need some of the work done, you may order only that work and be charged the itemized amounts listed below.
Please remember the crews will only be on your block one day, so if you have not yet been contacted by your Block Captain, please call the SafeStreet office at 622-3444 or the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council at 862-5122, if you want to take advantage of this lowcost program. Operation SafeStreet will install: — Double cylinder dead bolt locks on front and back doors ($30 each), — First floor windows will be pinned to allow windows to be opened 5 inches for ventilation, but will stop wouldbe intruders from opening them further ($10), — A peep hole in solid front doors ($8), — Basement doors will be barred with Cclamps and wooden braces to stop unauthorized basement entry ($24), — All basement windows will be covered with burglar prevention bars ($60), — A smoke detector ($15), — Electric porchlight cell ($5), and — All homes secured by Operation SafeStreet will be provided with window stickers. PROJECT QUIET STREET Project Quiet Street is designed to increase the neighborhood’s sense of community and security as well as to help residents identify strangers and suspicious occurances.
This program will remove non-resident through traffic from residential streets and force this traffic to Skinker or DeBaliviere by limiting vehicular access to the neighborhood.
All traffic pattern modifications have been reviewed and approved by the Fire Chief and Chief of Police. Attractive planters with evergreens and flowers will be used to modify traffic patterns within the neighborhood.
All changes will be reviewed after a six-month period, and if deemed unsuccessful, the planters may be removed. Planned modifications for Skinker-DeBaliviere are: — Remove the traffic diverter at Rosedale and Washington and re-close Rosedale by installing planters south of the Delmar alley.
The 60XX block of Washington will continue to be one-way eastbound so residents would enter from Skinker via Westminster and Rosedale. — Close Des Peres and Laurel as through streets by erecting barricades of planters south of the Delmar alley. School buses on Des Peres will be able to use the temporary “turn-around” at the site of the old Sunoco Station.
If this modification proves successful, a cul-de-sac will be built at Des Peres and the alley.
Although not part of the SafeStreet program, the long awaited permanent culde-sac at Nina Place and McPherson will be constructed this spring.
This will allow two-way traffic on Nina Place from Waterman to the cul-de-sac at McPherson, and one-way traffic east on 59XX Kingsbury, south on 59XX Nina Place, and west on 59XX McPherson. PROJECT PORCHLIGHT Every home in the target areas will be asked to turn on their porchlights from dusk to dawn every night.
The benefits of Project Porchlight are: 1) The street receives additional lighting, which is a deterrent to criminal activity, 2) Potential criminals are alerted that the neighborhood is organized to watch for suspicious activities, and 3) The visual confirmation of participation in the program will instill in the neighbors a renewed sense of security and safety. — Every person on the block is asked to turn on their porchlight from dusk to dawn, — The cost is only 5 cents per day to the homeowner for one 60-watt bulb. OPERATION SAFESTREET NEWSLETTER An Operation SafeStreet newsletter will be mailed to every resident in the target areas.
For the first six months, each new target area will receive a newsletter monthly, then quarterly as the programs are established.
The newsletter will: — Feature articles about other available crime programs, — Feature neighborhood residents who aided police, and — Provide information on new programs for community use.
In addition to the above programs, Operation SafeStreet will establish and maintain a communications network with crime prevention groups and victim assistance organizations.
Originally published in The Paper, February 1984.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1984_02.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
