"Decency Dead Zones" And Other Challenges Beyond The Hawthorne EcoVillage Success Story...

Image from video shot by John Hoff, blog post by John Hoff

In the midst of a new and urgent public discourse about cracking down on violent crime--especially in North Minneapolis--the amazing Hawthorne EcoVillage success story has been brought up more than a few times by public officials. This area went from being one of the MOST crime-plagued areas of the city to being one of the LEAST troubled. So the pressing question is: how? And how do we replicate that?

Recently, both Jeff Skrenes (the Hawthorne Hawkman) and The Walking Drum have weighed in with their opinions of how we pulled off the EcoVillage miracle. Click here for The Walking Drum's posting, and here for Hawthorne Hawkman.

They are entitled to their point of view, and I'm not saying it's wrong. But I have my own thoughts on where we were, how we got where we are now, and where we need to go...

Walking Drum will tell you that incessant 911 calling and meetings with public officials made a big difference. And that's true. But perhaps I should mention how this 911 calling was NOT static. It was not done all the time from behind the frilly chiffon curtains of windows.

SUCCESSFUL TACTIC NUMBER ONE: We got in vehicles and physically drove around, calling in criminal activity. We referred to this as "going on patrol."

It was a lot more fun than fishing, let me tell you that. The Bible says "I will make you fishers of men." Well, it was kind of like THAT, only we were just baiting hooks and police had all the fun reeling 'em in. When we'd drive around and see no crime to report, we always had mixed emotions. Did we just fail, or were we succeeding? In any case, we did this week after week, month after month. We did not let up. And sometimes we'd have an incredible success, like the time the police called us back and mentioned the crack hidden in a minor's, well, crack. You don't want to go there.

But the police did. They went there. God bless 'em, every one.

SUCCESSFUL TACTIC NUMBER TWO: Covert video taping.

I'm guessing about 100 hours were spent covertly videotaping problem properties to document drug deals. The photo which illustrates this post is a still from some of that videotaping. And we didn't just take our tapes and say to the police, hey, here you go. Check out these hours of videotape.

No, we EDITED the tapes to get the good stuff. In fact, one of the dudes who was editing actually made a MUSIC VIDEO. I wish he'd put that stuff on YouTube. It was heart-rending...made me think about how these poor thugs have an immortal soul which will face eternal judgment, and they'll most likely be pushing rock in Purgatory to work off all their sins for...well, pushing rock.

This videotaping was not always done under comfortable conditions. Often, it was done in a sweltering attic, in summer, with an electric fan to provide only a small degree of comfort. And not just anybody can pull this stuff off. Practicing "light discipline" like a good little soldier was important, so the thugs wouldn't see the guy with the camera.

SUCCESSFUL TACTIC NUMBER THREE: Little stuff matters. Picking up litter, getting grass mowed, calling in graffiti to 311, this kind of thing creates a neighborhood environment where order rules, and disorder slinks away to find itself a hospitable rat hole.

But there are subtle and unique manifestations of this principal which don't always make the list of bullet points. For example, leaving a piece of litter right in front of your house allows you to walk outside, pick up the litter, and (while stooping down) memorize the license plate of a car parked across the street--no doubt buying drugs. Again.

SUCCESSFUL TACTIC NUMBER FOUR: The EcoVillage had political support and stayed on the radar of public officials partially because the story of the EcoVillage struggle was being constantly written about on the internet, in granular detail.

It's hard to fail when so many public officials are paying close attention and cheering each small success, trying to figure out how they can assist. I remember the day I called 311 and--oh, my word--the city sent in a special "A-Team" garbage disposal unit to deal with the trash problem at 416 30th Ave. N., showing up with multiple trucks like a military convoy. At that point I wondered, "To what degree are we getting faster, better service because all this stuff is hitting the internet?"

I always had the strong sense that writing the story was actively helping the story to end well, and NOT telling the story was like throwing in the towel and giving up.

Want to clean up a crime-ridden urban area? Send in the bloggers.

However, the bloggers themselves are merely telling a tale. What's more important are the folks who are DOING THE STORY: people like Peter Teachout who would not back down in their fight to clean up the neighborhood, even after having a truck torched in a terrifying incident of what can only be called "domestic terrorism." Without people like Peter Teachout, the bloggers can't make a meaningful contribution, because there is no good story to tell.

So the next question becomes: where do we find folks like Peter Teachout to move into the empty houses in North Minneapolis? Well, THAT is a whole 'nuther editorial for a different time.

DIFFICULT PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: Applying the lessons of the EcoVillage, and looking at the problems we face, the first issue I see is something I call a Decency Dead Zone. This is an area like Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall, or portions of Penn Avenue North, or the area right in front of the Emerson Food Market, or the Lowry Avenue Market, where there is so much dealing, so much hanging around, so much unsavory activity that decent people avoid the area and do not stick their noses into matters long enough to call 911.

Urban geography contributes to these "dead zones." Like an Iraqi insurgent sniper who picks the perfect spot to shoot at American troops--carefully considering his line of sight, how difficult it is for the Americans to approach or shoot back effectively, how the sniper can get resupplied--experienced street criminals skillfully find areas to pimp and sell drugs where, if there are residences nearby, the folks who live in those residences are either too scared, too busy, too determined to stay uninvolved, or thugs themselves. In some cases--like the massive decency dead zone at Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall--there just aren't residences nearby where somebody will be at a window, calling 911. And the businesses in that area either have their head in the sand or apparently consider the thugs their customer base.

Unfortunately, police resources get distributed on the basis of 911 calls. So it's a vicious cycle: there's not as much police patrol in certain areas because there's few 911 calls, but these areas are full of crime...(ask the neighbors, they KNOW) which pushes the folks who would make 911 calls out even further from the area, creating a "decency dead zone."

The crime from these areas won't STAY in these areas, however...the crime will spill over into other areas. Because of a vendetta that starts in the rough and gritty world of the "decency dead zone," a shooting might happen blocks away, miles away...when some thug sees their drug-sales rival on the street and decides--spur of the moment, opportunistically--to open fire. The PROBLEM didn't start on that street...it started in the "decency dead zone" and spilled over somewhere else.

Neighbors who "patrol" can be part of the solution to a decency dead zone, but only so much can be observed whizzing past. Ultimately, involved citizens need to sit and watch the thugs for a while before the need (one might say "opportunity") to make a 911 call arrives.

The solution for the police is relatively simple: listen to the neighbors and what they say about where crime is located but NOT getting called in, instead of relying so heavily on 911 call data, and set up some kind of concealed observation point where drug dealing and prostitution can be intercepted.

And, by the way, since gung-ho Northside neighbors ARE going to participate in 911 patrols, and these neighbors ARE going to covertly videotape criminal activity, the city may as well support these volunteer efforts in various ways or, at the very least, not discourage this kind of thing or get in the way.

The historic record will show I was in the middle of things during the period of time the EcoVillage turned around. I've thought about this stuff, I've pondered it at length, and I've got it down to these points.

You want to replicate the success of the EcoVillage, do this stuff.