©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Residents and civic leader fight back after drive-by hits street
by JENNIFER KATZ

Residents joined community leader Vernon Price (far right) singing hymns as they marched in unity on Friday, July 7, to send “a quiet but strong and positive message” that the neighbors will not tolerate criminal activity. Pictured leading the group with Price are (from left) David Weld, Robyn Brooker and Robyn Young, all of Durham Street. (Photo by Kristin Pazulski)

Residents of East Mount Airy came out in force at a community meeting to discuss the drive by shooting on July 3 that left two people shot and littered the 200 block of East Durham Street with bullets.

Much of the neighbors’ anger and focus was concentrated on landlord Mark Ricketts. Ricketts is the owner of 228 E. Durham St., the residence of the two people believed to be at the center of the shooting.

According to Vernon Price, administrator for Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and a longtime resident of the immediate vicinity, the occupants of 228 E. Durham St. and the occupants of 248 E. Sydney St. were involved in an altercation at the Sedgwick train station that escalated into the shooting hours later. The shooting wounded Leonard Brown, 19 of the 200 block of E. Sydney St. and Kory Backus, 26, who was reportedly visiting Brown from Delaware.

Police Capt. Winton Singletary, of the 14th District, said that all of the individuals involved in the shooting have been identified however, no arrests have been made. According to Singletary, the victims are not cooperating with police and refuse to identify their shooters.

Neighbors expressed anger with Ricketts for failing to understand the severity of the problems his tenants, a young woman and her brother, were creating on the block. Michelle Williams, of the 200 block of E. Durham St., said there were constant problems with the tenants’ pit bulls, loud music and fighting. Williams said that when she called Ricketts to complain he told her it was not his responsibility to watchdog his tenants. Williams said that Ricketts further suggested she approach the individuals in questions directly, which left her dissatisfied.

Ricketts shrugged off the insinuation that he is an absentee landlord and defended his interest in the community. “I screened the young lady carefully. I did hear the complaints and I tried to address them each and every time,” said Ricketts, who bought the property a year ago. “I cannot be there everyday. Nor can I monitor them [the tenants] constantly.”

Ricketts said that he had asked the tenants to vacate the house at the end of July after repeated attempts to resolve issues surrounding the dogs were unsuccessful. At this point, Ricketts said, the young woman and her brother had been given 15 days to move out.

The meeting also served to highlight some of the ongoing problems in the neighborhood with drug activity and police responsiveness. Vanessa Ingram, who lives at Durham St. and Chew Ave., said she has witnessed drug activity in the area and believes police need to focus on Chew Avenue in particular. She said she is concerned that police are not responding efficiently enough.

Ingram added that she recently witnessed a fight break out by her house with one of the assailants yielding a knife. Ingram called 911. No one showed up, she said.

Erika Evans, a resident of the 200 block of E. Durham St., said she also called the police to no avail just last week. After the shooting, Evans said she saw several youths hanging out in the alley behind her house. She believed that at least one of the young men in her alley was involved in the shooting so she called 911. She said she called twice but no one came.

Singletary said everyone should ask to speak to a supervisor in similar circumstances. Explaining that the 911 priority system is somewhat flawed, Singletary instructed the audience to be persistent. “The system isn’t always as efficient as it should be,” the police captain said. “There can be breakdowns with the dispatchers, patrolmen availability and the process itself.”

Singletary further explained that frequently he hears complaints from residents that patrol cars will pass by people who have called 911 for assistance. “People say three cars drove right by,” he explained. “But the police officers in the cars don’t know that you’ve called.”

Emergency calls are all taken by central dispatch in Center City, Singletary explained. Officers are only alerted to a situation when assigned to the call.

Singletary said there are steps the neighbors can take to keep criminal activity off their block. “If your block is organized,” said Singletary, “criminals won’t hang out there.”

Price added that the result of the meeting, he hoped, would be an increase in police patrol as well as the creation of a town watch. SEPTA agreed to step up its police protection of the Sedgwick train station, which is under the transportation authority’s purview, Price said. Further the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections has agreed to do an evaluation of the block to ensure that all homeowners are in compliance with L&I standards, a process that helps reduce the amount of nuisance issues in any neighborhood, Price said.

For the next step, Price organized a unity march down Durham Street on July 7 to show unity against criminal activity in the neighborhood, he said.

Williams asked that the residents receive therapeutic assistance to deal with the trauma. Both Price and Singletary said that help would be on its way through Councilwoman Miller’s office and the 14th district’s victim assistance office.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Katz at 215-248-8804 or jenn@chestnuthilllocal.com.