Neighbors gather for National Night Out

Only six of Youngstown’s 40 block-watch groups participated in the event.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Willie Williams believes residents need to work together to let criminals know that they’re taking back their city.

Williams, a member of the Eagle Eye Block Watch group of the city’s North Side, was one of the attendees at Tuesday’s National Night Out event at Wick Park.

“I believe that if the citizens come together and work together, we can show the criminals that we’re not afraid — we will speak up,” she said.

It’s a way to combat crime and take back the city, Williams said.

National Night Out is an event that aims to focus on crime and drug awareness, strengthening police-citizen relationships and generating support for anti-crime programs. Similar events were conducted in New Middletown as well as other communities throughout the country.

The event was sponsored by the Black Knights Police Association, the city and its police department.

It started with a parade billed as a march against crime, and concluded with music, food and information.

Annie Hall, who organized the event for many years as part of her job as the city’s block-watch supervisor, came out of retirement this year to help. She’s a member of the East Side Crime Watch.

Because there was no organizer last year after Hall’s retirement, the city didn’t offer a National Night Out program.

Hall said that the Black Knights asked her to help this year.

Although she didn’t have an attendance number, she said it was down significantly from the 2007 event that drew more than 500 people. Hall attributed the lower attendance to the weather, which threatened rain.

Though it’s called National Night Out, the city’s festivities begin about 5 p.m. and continued until dusk.

Hall said the start time is in line with what the national organizers recommend. The National Night Out Web site suggests 7 to 10 p.m. as the most common time frame.

But some communities begin as early as noon or in late afternoon, it says. The Web site discourages start times later than 7 p.m. as people will have already settled into other evening activities.

There are about 40 block-watch groups in the city — with about 20 of them active, Hall said. Just six participated in Tuesday’s event.

“There needs to be more,” she said, adding that she hopes for more participation and attendance next year.

Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said block-watch groups provide a lot of useful information to the police department. They keep an eye out for unusual activity and alert the department about concerns, he said.

Problems pointed out by crime-watch members range from quality of life issues such as blight and loud music to more serious crimes including burglary, the chief said.

Lillian Morris, treasurer of the Eagle Eye Block Watch, said group members not only look out for suspicious activity to combat crime, but they help one another, too.

“There are a lot of seniors in the area who live alone,” she said.

The group conducts outreach activities to help those people. At a block-watch meeting a few years ago, the Mahoning County Sheriff’s office offered security lights that residents can use to allow emergency crews to more readily find their homes, she said.

The Eagle Eye group four years ago started Neighborhood Ambassadors, a group for youths. Williams said 12 youths, age 12 to 17, participate in the five-week program, which focuses this year on entrepreneurship.

They clean up the neighborhood and visit facilities such as the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

“They learn how — even at their age — they can be entrepreneurs,” Williams said.

A grant from the Wean Foundation funded $200 gift cards for each participant to use for back-to-school supplies. The program wraps up Saturday with a family picnic.