Take a walk down West 96th Street these days and you might not notice the change. But, someone is noticing you. For one thing, there are plenty of dogs eying passersby from behind front yard fences. But, the people who own those dogs are also keeping an eye out for unfamiliar visitors. Sitting on her front porch, Cecily Lewis says it's quite a contrast to the way this Ward 18 neighborhood was when she moved here in 1997.
Cecily Lewis: Well, let's put it this way, about every 6th or 7th house, about ten years ago, was a drug house.
She says the change came when people on the block started keeping an eye out for each other.
Cecily Lewis: We started the block watch in 1999, and for a couple of years, it was very, very hairy. Eventually, all the houses were either raided or boarded up or moved. I think a neighborhood watch is very crucial for taking up the slack in cases where the police ranks are cut and can't be out on the streets as much.
Two years ago, the city laid off 250 police officers, which resulted in a number of service cut-backs, including the extra neighborhood outposts known as mini-stations. One used to occupy a storefront a few blocks away from Cecily Lewis's home. In its place today is Ward 18's Safety Net program, which aims to encourage more citizen involvement in their own safety. Program Manager Michael McDonald says that police presence is missed.
Michael McDonald: They came in for an hour or so a day to answer phone calls, return messages and things like that, but mostly, they were out in the community following up on complaints from neighborhood meetings, towing abandoned cars. So, losing that is a big hurt for any community, because they're there to deal with those real nit-picky things that matter.
Ward 18 traces a north-south track across Cleveland's west side, running from the working class homes off of Lorain Avenue, where Cecily Lewis lives, to the higher-rent district along the lake, the neighborhood of former Cleveland Safety Director Bill Denihan. He doesn't see police staffing issues getting better anytime soon.
Bill Denihan: I think cities are going to continue to go through limited resources, and as long as there are limited resources there never will be enough police officers for everybody to be totally safe.
Denihan says his local block watch meetings are well attended. But, further south in the community, Safety Net's Michael McDonald says, that's not always the case.
Michael McDonald: You struggle against cynicism, and in this day and age, people are watching TV, they're on the internet - it's that disconnect from daily life, from being outside. Well, I say, 'Be outside!' You know? The more good people who are outside, the less bad things are likely to happen. Because they know somebody's watching.
Like Cecily Lewis and her neighbors on West 96th Street. Lewis recalls that people were afraid, and the drug dealers knew it. She doesn't delude herself that the drug boys are gone for good, but she says now they know they're not welcome.
Cecily Lewis: Now, this is a neighborhood. People watch out for each other.
David C. Barnett, 90.3.