The Ansonia Housing Authority will implement a curfew, install new fencing, and open a satellite office at the Riverside apartment complex on Olson Drive under a plan the authority presented Thursday night.
The proposal come in response to two murders that occurred within the past two months at the complex.
Residents at the tenants’ meeting where the plan was unveiled said they were happy the Housing Authority was communicating, but questioned the lack of definitive time lines for the proposed actions.
“Everything was ‘We’re working on it,’ without any time line,” said Malika Mosley, the president of the tenants’ association at the complex. “Now I have to go back this way and have 1,000 tenants ask me what’s happening. And I have to say they’re working on it. They don’t want to hear that. They have to live here.”
Residents have been reeling after the recent spate of crime at the complex.
On June 21, Jennifer Lewis was stabbed to death on a balcony at the complex.
On July 15, Bernice McFadden was shot and killed after a man opened fire into a crowd of people standing outside the apartment buildings.
The Plan
Housing Authority Executive Director James Finnucan presented a list of eight specific measures the authority would take to help solve the problems at the complex.
While Finnucan said the measures would not have necessarily prevented the two deaths at the complex, the killings made the authority aware that more site control was needed.
“The strategies and initiatives are being developed as a package,” Finnucan wrote in the document, “and they balance resources that are available to the AHA against the sustainability and and potential effectiveness of the specific initiative.”
He said the Housing Authority is still working on the sequence of events and hopes to determine which “half-steps” can be taken in the meantime.
Some actions, like changing lease policies, require the authority to follow federal rules and can take more time.
But other efforts are already underway.
For example, the new housing authority satellite office is slated to open next week.
The authority’s deputy director, Larry Thomas, will staff the office for part of each day and will walk the grounds daily, Finnucan said.
“I’m confident that now that we have an office here, these things will be cleared up,” Finnucan said.
In addition to the new office, the authority plans to:
- revise the guest policy at the complex.
- establish a “soft curfew,” which will apply to any non-residents
- require any resident older than 7 to have an ID with his or her unit address.
- install security fencing
- install controlled access gates at the stairwells in some buildings
- re-establish resident community watch
- seek money to pay for more community police officers
The Tenants Respond
The authority’s proposal was not handed out until after the meeting, so during a public discussion, residents addressed many of the same concerns that were in the proposal.
They talked about wanting more fences, a neighborhood watch and better security. Residents also brought up issues not addressed in the proposal, such as smelly dumpsters and dirty hallways.
One resident, Ernest Martin, said he was concerned with the number of entrances to the complex, particularly at night.
“That’s when the freaks come out,” Martin said.
Others, like Kimmula Eason, were eager to volunteer for the neighborhood watch.
“I even had a couple of titles, or names, for it,” Eason said. “I was going to call it the Riverview Watch, or the Riverside Watch. I even thought of some colors. We would like to have on some neon colors.”
But residents said they wouldn’t be satisfied until these measures are actually put in place.
“Sounds good,” said resident Carolyn Mabery about the proposals. “But I need to see some actions put into place.”
Police Stepped Up Patrols, Still Searching For Gunman
Police have increased patrols since the most recent murder, but residents wonder how long it will last.
Some feel that as patrolling on the west side of the complex increased, trouble on the other side has also gone up.
Mabery lives in the east side of the complex and said it took police more than 30 minutes to respond to a call she made.
“Police coverage on the west side is better, but this complex needs better coverage all over,” said Mabery.
At the meeting Lt. Andrew Cota, a police spokesperson, outlined the steps the police department is taking to protect residents. More patrols with no specific pattern are in effect to deter criminals. The trespassing policy is also being strictly enforced, Cota said.
But the department still hasn’t solved the second murder.
Thursday night, Cota renewed the police department’s call for help, saying the department has limited information to work with on this crime.
“We are working on every single piece that anybody gives us to see where it leads us,” Cota said.
