Near West Side: Staying Safe Summer 2019
Along with the Near West Side hot summer months of barbecues, gardening and spending time with family, it is always important to remember that staying safe is of the utmost importance to our community.
This time of year can bring smiles but also concerns of increased public safety. So below are some of the safety tips and Near West Side projects in the works for all seven communities. Let's start with a little history.
Here is the audio version of this blog post.
Overall Decreases in Crime
Since the start of NWSP's Promoting Assets Reducing Crime (PARC) Program, incidents of both property and violent crime in the Near West Side boundary have consistently decreased. Overall crime in the Near West Side has decreased by ~25% since the launch of Near West Side Partners and PARC through 2018.
*Metrics calculated from aggregate counts provided by MPD OMAP Division. MPD furnished data on June 29th, 2019 for Part I crime incidents that occurred within the PARC boundary from January 1 December 31, 2015 - 2018 for the Near West Side Partners annual report. The PARC Boundary includes the entire Near West Side boundary.
Top Five Negative Impact Properties
NWSP has worked in the past five years with the Milwaukee Police Department, Ald. Robert Bauman and host of partners to focus and remediate the top five negative impacting properties in the Near West Side. These properties have been in some cases decades old problems for the community. Now, these properties have either been razed or have found new ownership.
Teams Supporting Safety
The Near West Side has a number of groups focused on the safety of our residents, employees and visitors. Groups include the NWSP Safety Working Team, Near West Side Landlord Compact and, the Near West Side Community Prosecution Unit. These groups include support from our Milwaukee Police Department, District Attorney's office and the NWSP Ambassadors. They focus on various activities in the Near West Side to include aggressive panhandling, negative impact properties and much more.
Milwaukee Police Department
The Milwaukee Police Department is one the Near West Side's most important relationships. MPD has partner with all seven (7) communities for various projects such as National Night Out, Neighborhood Walks, Offender Check In and much more. Most recently NWSP and MPD will be partnering to start the 21 Day Initiative highlighting repeat Department of Neighborhood Services violators and getting these property owners to pay close attention to the maintenance of their properties.
Neighborhood Efficacy
NWSP has developed both face-to-face and social media platforms to encourage resident involvement and to educate regarding how to work with our safety partners. "Brats For Your Thoughts" is a free event and with the support of Community Outreach and Safety Specialist Bobby McQuay and the NWSP Ambassadors over 100 brats are given away while residents who particpate are asked a few questions regarding their neighborhood and are connected to resources such as their local elected official and the Milwaukee Police Department.
Other ways NWSP is encouraging the empowerment of residents is throught printed materials like the postcard above, in addition to various messasges and post on Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms. These and similar postcards with door hangers will be delivered to 1000 housing units in the next few weeks. Also for the first time, NWSP has introduced voluntary opt-in texting to residents who are interested in learning more about NWSP initiaitives and projects.
Lastly, NWSP has a new webpage dedicated to safety. Residents and communtiy stakeholders are encouraged to visit the website as their are links to valuable tools like the Hot Spot form and a video outlining how and when to call the Milwaukee Police Department.
Green Team, Blight Sweeps and, Resident Committees
NWSP believes in community conscious clean-up efforts and have worked to secure a team of individual contractors (the Green Team) to clean-up areas that present challenges to our community. Tires, large furniture and overgrowth are just some of the projects that have been addressed this year with the Green Team. In coordination with the clean-ups are weekly blight sweeps in which Bobby and the Ambassadors are in the community both documenting and reporting the issues in the area to the respective City of Milwaukee departments.
NWSP has also engages renters via the Resident Tenant Leadership Committee (RTLC). Quarterly meetings with these team of renters focus on empowering renters and educating them on their rights.
Additional Activities
NWSP has worked with several business owners including Kilbourn Supermarket on 27th and Kilbourn to add additional cameras to their properties. NWSP has also invested in a mobile camera system for high crime areas. Working with residents NWSP has developed a Drive Safe campaign supported and promoted by the Milwaukee Police Department, Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney.
NWSP is committed to continued improvement in the area of safety in our community and hope that with your support and pariticipation we can continue to keep our families, friend and stakeholders safe. I encourage you to call the police, use the hot spot forms and stay involved. Have a healthy and safe summer.
