South Stipeley

The January regular meeting of the South Stipeley Neighbourhood Association was held at the Heart of the Hammer Café on Monday, January 18, 2010.
ATTENDANCE: Paul Tetley – VP, Sarah Martin – secretary, Rebecca Doll, Deborah Munn, Gail McGinnis, Nick Weston – representing councilor Morelli’s office, Juliette De Pinho, Nathan Barrette, Shawn Oultram, Rose Coole, Cathi Moreau, Don Grunsten, Karen Walker, Scott Jacobsen, Shari Jacobsen, Heather Morrisey, Greg Dickson, Julie Hooper, Mel Griffin, Michael Walther, Lynlee Spencer, Jake, Adam, James Elliott, and Irene Reinholt.
Mike Hooper was absent with regrets; Councillor Bernie Morelli and his assistant joined the meeting in progress.
Paul Tetley called the meeting to order at 7:30 and explained that he would be chairing the meeting as Mike Hooper was absent due to illness.
Paul began by explaining that the minutes from December’s meeting would be posted to the South Stipeley website.
Old Business
Paul reviewed our previous discussion regarding the newsletter. There weren’t very many volunteers to distribute the last newsletter and we were in need of more articles. The next newsletter will be delivered on March 13th and the cut-off date for article and advertisement submission is March 4th. Greg Dickson mentioned that the church hasn’t been receiving copies of the newsletter. Mel is doing a great job of gathering ads and some businesses are even approaching us to advertise before we approach them.
Paul also reviewed the skating event that was held on December 19th.
New Business
Paul mentioned that he has tentatively set March 17th as a date to meet with the new police chief. Someone mentioned that it is St. Patrick’s Day and Paul said he would confirm the date. Paul also stated that the event would require an RSVP because we have limited space.
Paul asked if anyone had any other things to add.
Greg mentioned a new program at Prince of Wales School called “Running and Reading”. They are looking for volunteers to read and run with the children. The time commitment is approximately 2 hours starting at 2:00 on Tuesdays. One of the goals for the program is to have the children and adult volunteers run 5km at the end of the school year. Greg recommended contacting KidsFest for details. Greg will also ask Prince of Wales for an article related to their new literacy initiatives.
Gail asked Nick if he knew if skates could be donated to Scott Park to be used by children who might otherwise not have access to them. Nick said he would look into it. Gail also asked those present at the meeting to donate skates for this purpose.
Paul then introduced Mike Goch. Mike has been part of the Hamilton Police force for 12 years. He was promoted to Crime Management in January of this year.
Mike mentioned that his first two weeks on the job have been eventful. He gave the example of a car that has been repeatedly vandalized and how they have installed a camera in an attempt to catch the instigator.
Mike also spoke to the issue of prostitution in our neighbourhood. He knows it is a problem and he is doing his best to deal with it. He said the deeper issue is usually addiction. Gail asked if they are targeting the Johns. After some discussion, it was determined that she was referring to pimps. Mike says that they are targeting the Johns, the pimps and the prostitutes. It is difficult to get to the pimps because the women need to testify against them in court to catch them. Gail asked if the girls are protected if they testify and Mike said there are a variety of options for their protection. Having worked specifically with issues related to drugs, Mike said that he feels a deep compassion towards those addicted to drugs – not so much for drug dealers, however. Michael Walther asked what we, as citizens, could do. Mike suggested that taking down license plate numbers and reporting them is helpful. He was very careful to state, “Don’t put yourself at risk!” He said to call 911 if you are threatened and to go to a safe place if possible. Julie commented that it is easier to get a drunk person off the street than a drug addict. She is concerned for her 4 year-old son and also for the safety of the woman in question who has been known to stagger into traffic while under the influence. Mike agreed that it is often frustrating to play by the rules, but that they are doing their best to deal with the situation.
Rose asked, “How can we encourage the constabulary to live in the city that pays them?” Mike inquired as to why this would be important. Rose responded that she felt it would be a deterrent to criminals. Rebecca then affirmed the work that the police have been doing on behalf of our neighbourhood. She is very grateful for the help she, personally, has received. She said, “The police are doing a very good job.”
Deborah asked if there are statistics to let us know if these issues really are greater in our area of the city. Mike responded that there weren’t and that drugs in particular are a problem in all areas. Deborah then asked if there are any environmental factors that would deter crime. She wanted to know if things such as lighting, gardening, and reporting were effective in decreasing crime. Mike responded that all of those suggestions are effective together. He said that a community approach really is the key. Rose asked if we could have access to the person responsible for environmental approaches to crime prevention. Mike said that her name is Stacey Hill and he would let her know that we would like to meet with her.
Paul then introduced Councillor Bernie Morelli who had joined the meeting in progress.
Bernie said that the police are working hard on the prostitute issue. He stated that they need to be careful about how much they publicize issues of prostitution and drugs because it stigmatizes our neighbourhood and could potentially reduce our property values. There is an upcoming round table discussion scheduled to brainstorm and share ideas with other cities in North America.
Bernie addressed the issue of only hiring police that live within Hamilton and stated that we have to be careful about protectionism as it introduces as many negatives as it does positives. He is very confident in the exceptional nature of our police force and thinks we should be very proud of the work they do.
In regard to manipulating environmental factors to reduce crime, Bernie gave the example of the bushes at Gage Park being cut shorter to reduce the ability to hide criminal activity. He said the city is trying to use a very holistic approach to crime prevention. He also stated that Gage park is not only restructuring physically, but that they are also introducing new programming and re-introducing old programming such as concerts at the bandstand. James Elliott shared that he is deeply concerned by the state of the fountain at Gage Park and the safety of children as related to the construction that is being undertaken. Bernie said that he has been following up on a number of complaints related to Gage Park and emphasized that is important to report delinquent and destructive behavior when you see it.
Bernie also shared that the Pan Am games are coming and that will mean a new community centre with services for the elderly and young families at Scott Park.
Cathi then asked when the alleyway study would be completed and what would be done with the information gathered. She would also like to know how much money was used to do the study. Bernie said they are already doing a number of things to reclaim the alleyways and that he would get that information to Cathi.
Paul called for the last question of the evening. Gail inquired again about the skates for Scott Park. Bernie said he was looking into getting skates donated. Paul clarified that we are looking for space to store the skates at Scott Park and that people in the neighbourhood would donate the actual skates. Bernie promised to secure storage space.
Paul moved that we adjourn the meeting. Irene Reinholt seconded.