Copyright 2006 Chattanooga Publishing Company
By YOLANDA PUTMAN
Chattanooga Times Free Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga Housing Authority officials said they plan to work with parents and enforce trespassing laws to deter gang activity at public housing sites.
“If they’re on the trespassing list, we’re taking them to jail,” said Felix Vess, CHA’s chief of public safety.
Residents such as 25-year-old Lakizzie Brown said police officers need to do something to control gang violence, but they are taking a wrong approach.
“They do it (enforce laws) at the wrong time,” she said.
Ms. Brown said police officers sometimes put visitors’ names on the trespassing list for nonviolent crimes such as breaking an open container law. Other people listed as trespassers are people who lived in the Westside, went to jail and have come back.
“We accept our own back” she said. “It’s a difference between enforcing rules and harassing people.”
Ms. Brown said people are more reluctant to commit crimes because they are beginning to see more police in the area, but she thinks officers should be as visible even when there is no problem.
“What works is when people see the police,” she said. “Until this year, I didn’t know who Felix Vess was.”
Mr. Vess said his goal is to find a balance that allows him to provide enough security to make residents feel safe “as much as we can without them feeling like they’re surrounded all of the time.”
Mr. Vess and housing officials said they will step up their enforcement of trespassing laws after several residents complained of gang activity in public housing sites. About 65 percent to 70 percent of crime in public housing sites is caused by people who don’t live there, Mr. Vess said.
Housing authority officials have developed a list with more than 100 names of people who don’t live in public housing but have been involved in criminal activity on the sites, he said. If any of those people are stopped on the property again, they automatically will be arrested for trespassing, Mr. Vess said.
Housing officials said they plan to issue new CHA resident identification cards before the end of summer. The cards will show police officers if a person lives there. Guests of residents are expected to stay with the residents they are visiting until they leave the housing site, Mr. Vess said.
“Public housing sites are not public property,” Mr. Vess said. “It is private property, and we’re there to make sure it is safe.”
Billy Ford, a public housing resident of 12 years and CHA commissioner, said it’s not unusual to hear shooting twice a week in College Hill Courts.
“It’s like a battleground,” he said. “Guys who don’t live on the site come here and bicker with people who do live here.”
Many of the people causing crime are youths ages 14 to 17 who congregate and may fight, but they are not equivalent to the Crips and Bloods gangs in larger cities, Mr. Vess said.
“They are kids, and they are not organized,” he said.
Mr. Vess said he plans to work with parents to make them more aware of how their children are behaving. He said he also plans to be involved with implementing more activities for youth in public housing sites.
CHA officials said they are in the process of planning more youth activities.
Ms. Brown said gang problems began escalating at College Hill Courts about a month ago. A group of boys dressed in red gathered at the flag pole, a common meeting location for gang members who dress in blue. The two groups eventually started fighting, Ms. Brown said.
“I came home and there were so many people that I couldn’t get in my house — about 200 people with red shirts and 50 guys in blue,” she said. “It’s just been escalating. Now it’s like we’re prisoners in our house.”
Mr. Vess said there hasn’t been one incident in College Hill Courts but many. However, most of the people involved are young teenagers, he said.
“When it’s warm, people want to hang out, and if they don’t see the police and there is not enough adult supervision, they fight each other,” he said.
Housing officials say they’re working with police officers and hope to have more programs for youth at the James A. Henry Resource Center.
“We’ve had positive conversations with the city of Chattanooga’s Parks and Recreation. I’ve also had conversations with Stop the Madness headed by Rev. Ternae Jordan,” said Jermaine Harper, chief of community development for CHA.
He said CHA’s goal is to develop a comprehensive approach not only targeting teens but overall youth development.
“I think our service today is fragmented,” Mr. Harper said. “We want to create a seamless delivery so we keep our young people from falling through the cracks.”