College Cultural group discusses master plan, headquarters for crime watch

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By Nic Custer

Friday, April 06, 2012

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The College Cultural Neighborhood Association March 15 discussed neighborhood master planning, a headquarters for the crime watch, a new approach to assigning police resources, the Genesee Health Plan and amendments to the group's articles of incorporation.

Cade Surface of the Flint River Corridor Alliance asked residents to identify neighborhood priorities which would be considered as part of the larger city master planning process. The Flint River Corridor Alliance is a nonprofit organization made of representatives from large institutions and businesses in Flint.

Surface said the group hopes to transform the Flint River into a community asset. The alliance identified the College Cultural neighborhood as one it would like to advocate for.

"Think big, because who knows when this type of process will come again," Surface said.

The last city master plan was completed more than 35 years ago.

Jack Minore suggested erecting sound barriers along Interstate 69. He said that the expressway was built right before the sound walls became mandatory in residential areas.

Other residents asked for something to be done with the vacant Whittier Academy and Central High School buildings on Crapo Street and for dead ash trees to be removed from Gilkey Creek.

Surface said that he would return in May with a questionnaire, but if members wanted to contact him with ideas, to e-mail surface@umflint.edu.

A neighborhood watch headquarters will be opened on Commonwealth Street in the same building as Double J Minimart. The office will be staffed by neighborhood volunteers.

Don Potter negotiated paying $1,000 for the first six months. Utilities are expected to be $30 a month. The building was planned to open April 1. Mott Community College police has volunteered to have patrol cars stop in the evenings to create a presence.

The association, which is accepting donations for this project, is looking into installing a phone. All checks can be made out to CCNA-Ministation or neighborhood watch in the memo line.

Officer Scott Nichols, Michigan State Police, announced that a Data Driven Approach to Crime and Safety (DDACTS) would be employed in Flint. The program concentrates state police in areas where both traffic crashes and violent crimes are more likely to occur. These "hot spots" are flooded with officers looking for traffic violations, according to Nichols.

DDACTS has fewer ethical and legal concerns because the basis of the patrols are built on real world data, said Nichols. There is a correlation of hot spots with locations of bars and liquor stores. There are three groups of state police officers stationed in the city already. The DDACTS system is based on changing data so the hot spots could be readjusted daily to remain effective. Nichols said he had been asked to attend community meetings like the CCNA to inform residents about the program.

Pierson Road, off Clio Road, is one of the six or seven hot spot locations that will be covered in the city of Flint. The program, which was being beta tested in Flint at the time of the meeting, was planned to be officially kicked off April 1. The program is already in use in seven places across the U.S., including Baltimore County, Md., Oakland, Calif., and St. Albans, Vt.

Pam Nelson, community outreach specialist, gave a presentation on the Genesee Health Plan. She told the group that the 2006 tax millage, which funds the coverage, is on the ballot for renewal this November. Nelson reported that the program serves basic health care needs to about 715 people per month and has served 60,000 people, ages 19 to 64, countywide since beginning as an independent nonprofit in 2001.

The health plan, which is the only millage supported program in Michigan, is evenly used by Genesee County residents, not just those in the urban areas. Fifty percent of its clients live in Flint and the other half live in its surrounding suburbs. The program paid for 2,880 prescription consultations in 2011, Nelson said. The prescriptions themselves cost on average $1,747.

The number of uninsured children in the county is down 25 percent and emergency room visits are down 51percent for those enrolled in the program since 2005, said Nelson.

Call the Genesee County Health Department at (810) 257-3612 or (810) 232-7740 for information.

In other news, President Sherry Hayden suggested adding provisions to the CCNA's articles of incorporation to cover crime watch volunteers that are not organization officers or the director. There needs to be a vote of the membership to change these articles.

While Hayden admitted the changes needed to be reviewed by a nonprofit or corporation lawyer, she still distributed the proposed amendments attached to the agenda for the members. The amendments to articles 209(c) and 209(e) were tabled until the May general membership meeting where it will be presented again.

Hayden also was approved to spend $75 to purchase five more lawn signs announcing the CCNA's monthly meetings. There are already 10 signs distributed among neighbors.

The group will meet next at 7 p.m. May 17 at MCC's RTC Auditorium, room 1005.

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