Organizers are happy with the showing after a special meeting was held on Wednesday evening, focused on the Wallace Street neighbourhood in Wallaceburg.
Approximately 20 people showed up at the Moose Lodge to listen to a presentation by the Chatham-Kent Police Community Mobilization group, focused on building associations in neighbourhoods and the positive impact it can have.
“This is a good turnout,” said Marjorie Crew, a former Chatham-Kent councillor and the coordinator of the Mobilization group.
“You only need a few people to get the spark going.”
Some issues brought up by those in attendance, included:
– Drugs in the neighbourhood
– Problem houses
– Landlords living outside the community
– Lack of development of a trail along the Sydenham River
– Garbage build-up along the river
– Underdeveloped space
– Negative reputation and perception
Crew said in her experience, when associations are formed in neighbourhoods, positive things start happening.
“When people get together and people start talking to each other and getting to know each other, good things happen,” she said.
“People like that feeling of safety and well-being and associations are sustainable and they are a positive way to get things done in the community. Neighbourhood Watches are great, but it is really hard sometimes, especially if there is a feeling of being threatened, that if I put that sticker up in my window now I’m a rat.”
The group discussed other associations that have formed across Chatham-Kent, and the successes they have had.
Some of these groups include the Chatham Central Association, Wheatley Concerned Citizens, East Side Pride and a group at the Westcourt Apartments in Wallaceburg.
“The reason why we were created, there was a study done and they looked at the types of calls police were involved with right now, and we found the majority of our calls and the majority of our time was taking up with social disorder calls, that were not criminal in nature,” said Const. Lynette Hodder, about the forming of the Chatham-Kent Police Community Mobilization group.
“We became a pilot for the Ministry. I believe there is six, possibly 10 other pilots within the province, but we are the only one in southwestern Ontario. So as a pilot we thought, ‘what can we do to make a significant impact on the community.'”
Hodder said the Chatham-Kent Police Service, under the leadership of Sgt. Jim Lynds, decided to start the with the neighbourhood association in Chatham.
“We were able to rally a number of service agencies around the table and we talked about the area, what we could do, how can we find out if there is an actual interest there in the neighbourhood, to get them together, to find out what they want in their neighbourhood and rally everybody and see what we can do.”
Hodder said the Chatham group has thrived since they started, with leaders stepping up, neighbourhood becoming active, people becoming friends and plans being created to further improve the community.
“We can help do that here,” Hodder said. “If there is interest.”
Another meeting is being setup in the next few weeks to further discuss what action the neighbourhood and community want to take.
We’ll provide those details when they become available.
