Mayor Dave Cieslewicz lauded the City Council's decision to bid up to $5.87 million on housing property in the Allied Drive neighborhood as a positive step toward renovation. However, the troubled past of the area may make solutions more complex.
Gunshots fired Wednesday evening were reported by the Madison Police Department, but they are nothing new. Allied Drive has had problems with drug use, theft and property damage for the past several years, according to Public Information Officer Mike Hanson.
Hanson said Madison police have deployed enough resources to the troubled area to create a small police department.\
Cieslewicz spokesperson George Twigg said the West police district spends about 25 percent of their resources in Allied Drive. The district houses 3.2 percent of the district's population.
Twigg said that transient occupants of the neighborhood were a problem, adding the City Council's bid resolution poses a solution by promoting more ""ownership-occupied"" housing.
He said greater ownership would facilitate a long-term interest in improvement in the neighborhood.
Twigg said the city is bidding for 20 percent of the housing available in the neighborhood, allowing private investor Stefan Varo and non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to build high-quality, affordable housing.
""It's a chance for us to get in the neighborhood and do something that will have a positive ripple effect,"" Twigg said.
Hanson agreed rental housing is a problem, but noted better tenant screening by landlords would help fight crime. He said landlords often allow those with a criminal record to live in apartments for three or four weeks before fleeing police.
Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 1, who voted against the bidding, was concerned the city is not addressing social and unemployment issues of minorities.
He argued the City Council's focus on housing would only build ""gentrified housing,"" displacing minority residents.
""We're not solving a problem,"" Skidmore said. ""We're moving it somewhere else.""
Hanson, meanwhile, said not all these problems can be solved by police, and that several initiatives have worked positively with the community.
""There needs to be a community-wide effort to try and fix major issues,"" Hanson said
For example, the Teen Court Initiative allows juvenile offenders to be judged by peers in an informal process to ""keep them in track"" so they don't have to deal with law enforcement, Hanson said.
In addition, Twigg noted the Mayor supports the new Boys and Girls Club, which is going in later this year.
""It'll give a constructive place for kids in the neighborhood to spend their time,"" Twigg said.\
