A group that was formed to help combat crime in Rochester’s Edgerton neighborhood is ready to share a report about its progress.
The effort began earlier this year, with the help of a grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation.
It was coordinated through the URMC Center for Community Health and Prevention, and program manager Pamela Bailie says that fighting crime in that northwest Rochester neighborhood doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.
She says that sometimes it’s just a matter of addressing basic quality of life issues.
“Vacant housing, or housing that was not kept up well; there were issues with lighting, especially around the Rec center and certainly also drug dealing, and people loitering outside of stores to make it feel unsafe to go in stores,” Bailie told WXXI News.
Bailie says ideas that the residents came up with can be accomplished without a lot of financial commitment.
“Most of these things don’t really cost a lot of money and we as a project haven’t run out spending a ton of money on these projects. What we’ve done instead is be able to identify the areas that needed change and then be able to work with the city to make those changes.”
Salena Boyd is among the residents who worked with that committee. She says one area they targeted was the area around a store at Lake and Ravine Avenues, where there was apparently drug activity going on in the parking lot.
She says the store owner has worked with them, and with the city's help they are trying to clean up areas like that.
“Change comes slowly and anything that’s worth having you have to work at it, sometimes when people lose faith, and you just keep trying and you don’t give up you can see the progress that you’re looking for, so , yes, we are hoping that it will spread.”
The progress report will be held Thursday from 4 to 6pm at the Edgerton Stardust Ballroom at 41 Backus Street.
