Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for the 'crime' Tag

MAYBE COLORADO SPRINGS ISN’T SO BAD AFTER ALL

December 21st, 2011, 11:27 am by

xx

A couple months ago, I was surprised to read in the Quality of Life survey that fewer than 50 percent of Colorado Springs residents surveyed feel “very safe” walking their neighborhoods at night.

This is the Springs, not Oakland, I snorted.

Well a headline last week on Forbes.com gives comfort to all those scared-y cats: Colorado Springs is the eighth safest U.S. city!

I’ve always thought the Springs was a great, safe place to live. But I didn’t think the Pikes Peak region ranked among the elite safe cities in the nation.

So I looked at Forbes’ criteria. It started with metropolitan areas of 250,000 or more and looked at the FBI’s crime data for 2010. Forbes then ranked each city’s rate of violent crime — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — per 100,000 residents. (There are some big omissions because Chicago and other cities did not submit complete reports to the FBI.)

From the 72 metro areas with complete FBI reports, Forbes then factored in traffic-fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Forbes averaged it all out and, POOF, the Springs metro area of El Paso and Teller counties ranked eighth.

According to the FBI report, the Pikes Peak region area had 462 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2010. That’s based on a  population of 626,259.

By comparison, if you pull Oakland out of the San Francisco Bay Area metro report, it had 1,532 violent crimes per 100,000, based on a population of 409,723.

That is far higher than even Detroit, which ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ “Most Dangerous Cities” list in October. Detroit had 1,111 violent crimes per 100,000.

Pueblo, with 156,522 residents, had a rate of 585 violent crimes per 100,000. (Chalk up one more reason to be glad you don’t live in Pueblo!)

While I was not surprised at our relatively low violent crime rate, I was shocked by our ranking as a safe place to drive. The  Springs’ car fatality rating was 11th overall.

Based on what I see each day from behind my windshield and bicycle handlebars, I’d have guessed our streets were much more dangerous to drive.

Not so, says Forbes and the highway safety folks.

Our region had just 43 traffic fatalities in 2010. That’s up from 33 in 2006 but it’s still far fewer than the rest of the nation.

Consider Pueblo’s rate of 11.91 per 100,000 residents is nearly double the El Paso County rate of 6.54. (See earlier snarky comment about living in Pueblo.)

Forbes explained that its safest cities shared several characteristics: wealth, civic involvement, heavily used public spaces like parks, shopping districts and museums, and a strong tax based that invests in public safety and police.

It’s easy to find things to criticize and the Springs has its share of problems.

But maybe it isn’t such a bad place after all. Ya think?

===========================================================

Posted in: Uncategorized • • • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

DEERFIELD HILLS — headed for revitalization

April 1st, 2009, 3:42 pm by

Deerfield Hills is a modest neighborhood in a triangle bounded by South Academy Boulevard, Drennan Road and Hancock Expressway on the southeastern edge of Colorado Springs.

The area has struggled for years with gangs, crime and property deterioration. It is one of the poorest neighborhoodsin Colorado Springs, based on a variety of demographic data available at ZipSkinny.com and City-Data.com.

But it has its champions, led by longtime resident Doug Jones, shown here in a 2004 Gazette file photo.

Jones has rallied his neighbors to clean up Deerfield Hills, to establish a Neighborhood Watch program and drive the criminals out of the area. Jones was instrumental in lobbying the City Council to build a “sprayground“ at the Deerfield Hills Community Center  after a city swimming pool there was closed.

In the 2007 Gazette photo, above, Amanda Schult played in the sprayground at the Deerfield Hills Community Center.

Now, Jones’ work is paying off again for Deerfield Hills. At its March 24 meeting, the City Council designated Deerfield Hills as a Neighborhood Strategy Area, which qualifies it for federal Community Development Block Grants.

There is strict criteria an area must meet to become a ore than half of its residents are designated as low- to moderate-income.

The City Council must approve a neighborhood once the financial need is certified. Only then can a neighborhood set goals and priorities and develop an improvement plan — a process that can take months.

Don Sides, who manages the block grant capital improvement program, puts the neighborhood into the mix for available grant funds — usually $600,000 to $800,000 each year. The designation is lucrative to a neighborhood. Here is a look at how three outgoing NSAs benefited over the years:

• Hillside, just southeast of downtown, won the coveted designation and has received $5.2 million in capital improvement grants over the years for infrastructure and $1 million for housing rehabilitation projects.
• Knob Hill, near Union Boulevard and Platte Avenue east of downtown, has received $1.4 million in capital improvement grants plus $2.8 million for housing rehab.
• Mesa Springs, west of Interstate 25 and south of Fillmore Street, has received $1.2 million in capital improvement grants and $1 million in housing rehab.

Click here to read a Powerpoint presentation Sides created regarding the strategy areas.

For more Information regarding designated neighborhood strategy areas please contact Valorie Jordan, manager of the city’s Housing and Community Development program. Her number is 385-5336.

==================================

Posted in: Uncategorized • • • • • • • • • • • • | Post a Comment »