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I hear what ya'll are saying... but let me assure you that there are concerned neighbors trying to fix the problems. The Los Angeles Heights neighborhood is working with the SAPD to combat the "out of sorts" people who go up and down Fredericksburg. Unfortunately, part of the problem is entirely the City of San Antonio's fault - they have continued to let businesses open which cater to this population. My neighborhood actually had to fight the city to have one of these businesses closed down. We won, but only after the owner tried to have various portions of the development code waived... and the city was originally going to let them do it!
The Monticello Park neighborhood association has recently met with the principal for Jefferson HS regarding truancy, and there are a few neighbors who are very diligent about calling the police when they see kids leaving the campus during school hours. Unfortunately, most of the blame goes to the SAISD who doesn't seem to think that actually keeping kids in school should be a priority.
Since I just bashed SAISD, I must give them credit for closing the middle school in the area (primarily because most neighborhood parents didn't send their kids there - true fact). It will reopen as a college prep magnet school for girls, and I believe that this single change will have a dramatic impact for the better. Because a majority of the middle school kids were not from the neighborhood, there will no longer be a reason for them to congregate in the area.
The Jefferson, Woodlawn, and Monticello neighborhood associations have just recently begun working with our city councilman, state representative, and SAPD to hold a big community meeting to discuss ways to address crime in the areas. The goal is to have this meeting sometime within the next few weeks.
As you can see, the neighborhood associations that make up the Woodlawn area are not just sitting back and ignoring the calls of residents, but are trying to actually come up with workable solutions.
Regarding Hello's comment, the crime in the Woodlawn area is actually less than that in other "nice" areas. For example, during the last reporting period in 2007, there were 112 incidents for the patrol district which includes the area around Huebner east of I-10. For the area around Bitters and 1604... 135 incidents. For the Woodlawn area... 80 incidents. I picked a random area and I realize other areas would be less, but the police department has told repeatedly told us that our area is actually the second safest area for the police substation. I am not trivializing pieceofjess' experience (I myself know what it feels like to come home to a door wide open), and I do believe that crime has recently increased; but I also believe that we can find a solution to combat it.
But aren't the patrol beats in those other areas larger? Montirob, is there any way to know who is responsible for the crimes in Monticello Park? Are they teen gang bangers, school kids who break car windows on Friday nights and giggle their way home, recovering addicts or mental patients from that halfway house near Fredericksburg, or more organized adults who drive in to commit more polished and directed crimes? In Atlanta, the burglaries are increasingly committed by SUV-loads of criminals that commute into nicer neighborhoods for the crimes.
But aren't the patrol beats in those other areas larger?
Hard to say. I just went to the SAPD website and looked at the map of districts. I would assume that the resident total would be about the same for each (similar to voting precincts) but I don't really know for sure - I will have to ask. Some patrol districts may also have more commercial areas which may spike the crime (ex: vehicle theft), so I look at it as just a general overview.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hello13685
Montirob, is there any way to know who is responsible for the crimes in Monticello Park? Are they teen gang bangers, school kids who break car windows on Friday nights and giggle their way home, recovering addicts or mental patients from that halfway house near Fredericksburg, or more organized adults who drive in to commit more polished and directed crimes? In Atlanta, the burglaries are increasingly committed by SUV-loads of criminals that commute into nicer neighborhoods for the crimes.
The SAPD has told our neighborhood groups that most of the vandalism (tagging, breaking into a vacant house to hang out during school hours, etc.) comes from the school kids, the vast majority of which don't live in the neighborhood. Our association has tried a bunch of goodwill tactics - we give $1000 scholarships, pay the kids for art projects, etc., but most of our frustration is with the school district itself. For example, grafitti stays on the school (thus encouraging more) and truants have not been dealt with sufficiently (at least until just recently).
The home burglaries occur primarily during the daytime, and the SAPD says they are primarily committed by groups commuting into the neighborhood. Not necessarily organized groups, but with so much renovation going on in the neighborhood, people have assumed that a van parked in front is just doing work on the house. I know this statement is a fact because when our house was broken into about 4 years ago, some neighbors down the street saw the vehicle in front but didn't call the police because they knew we were remodeling (we didn't have an alarm yet). We were remodeling but were doing it ourselves - we ain't one of the rich folk . Oh... we didn't have an alarm yet so they had tons of time and luckily didn't destroy any furniture looking for stuff.
As far as the mental patients, we haven't had too much problem with them at all except for the occasional wandering around - they just tend to want to talk to you.
I love the information that you detailed. With what I had outlined prior to your posts, I have to say that just TYPING it made me rethink considering the area just a tad but I did take into consideration that the middle school was being closed and that attributed to all of those gang brawls we witnessed just passing through right after school. I don't say gang in the traditional sense - I mean large groups of kids pitted against each other. I doubt that it was gangfighting in the traditional sense but it was scary nonetheless.
You're right on about the burglaries during the day - that's when it happened to one of my family members as I had stated - both times. That was a bummer but it happens where I live now and it happened where I lived prior to here off of 281 and Bitters and that's a much nicer area than I'm living in now.
"The Jefferson, Woodlawn, and Monticello neighborhood associations have just recently begun working with our city councilman, state representative, and SAPD to hold a big community meeting to discuss ways to address crime in the areas. The goal is to have this meeting sometime within the next few weeks."
THAT is awesome and it's something I wish they would have done here. We really are going to consider the area. I drove through there earlier today and saw a few homes for rent that were really cute. I'm really picky though so it may take me a while, neighbor situation aside. I'd also like to remain close enough to our current residence to keep an eye on our tenants initially. The occasional "drive by" you know. . .
I sat down and counted how many family members we have living over there and it's actually 5 families in our immediate extended family (if that makes sense - 1st aunts and uncles as opposed to great, etc). I think it'd be nice to be closer to family and I like the initiative that seems to have been sparked over there as of late. It's in our top three neighborhoods for sure right now.
Would someone considering the area be welcome at the meeting that you're trying to schedule? Like I've said before, we're going to be really picky about where we move next and I'd like to see what they have on the agenda with regards to the current issues that area is facing. If I rent somewhere and I like it a lot then it's pretty safe to say within a year or two my next home will be purchased in that area.
I *love* Woodlawn Lake. We looked there but at the time felt the prices were higher than we wanted to pay for a home needing work. Then, Lavaca was still cheaper. It's switched though now. Our friends live in Woodlawn Lake - just e. of Zarzamora so the less 'ritzy' side - lovely area, wonderful homes, great community.
I think parts of Woodlawn Lake saw some typical inner city issues and white flight for awhile. And it borders and area that while not particularly 'bad', is the 'scary west side' people worry about (I say 'scary' sarcastically - there are pockets of 'bad' and plenty of good). In recent years it's really come back to its former glory. If they can fix up all those great Deco buildings on Fred. Rd, it'll be amazing.
I do wish we were near Woodlawn Lake sometimes, as it'd be wonderful to go running around the lake! But we like our downtown hood too
I haven't had patience to read all the pages of the thread... I got here to Chaka's post and basically wanted to say "Ditto!"
I, too, LOVE the Woodlawn Lake area. The Deco District is technically a different area but it all runs side by side. We would have bought a house there for sure but they were too expensive for us as well for what kind of work they'd need, but we have friends (three different families we know) in the area and they love it.
We live on the bordering "scary" West side.
Anyway, reps to Chaka, great post and great summary of the area in general.
As much as I LOVE that neighborhood (the nicer parts) and it distresses me to see the areas that could be so great looking a little shabby.
I have to say that I'm honestly torn about the area. There are so many sections that are so charming but our experiences have been both good and bad. I have an aunt who lives in a house bordering Jefferson. Her house is beautiful, very old, well maintained inside but the outside needs work because she's old and can't do it all herself. She never wants to put any effort into it because the kids, after they get out of school, tear up her yard. She's complained over and over again but nothing is done about it. In all fairness, I think ANY yard next to ANY school would have problems but that's just one of her concerns. I have ANOTHER aunt on West Kings Hwy. . JUST before the historic section starts - her home was just broken into twice, once in broad daylight and they were almost gutted both times. They disabled her alarm system. I'm not sure how.
Driving home from school (we'd cut through there or stop to visit friends on the way home) last year, my daughter and I started noticing that at the corner of Woodlawn and Lake, I believe it was, where the bus stop is, that there were large gangs of kids starting to form where there weren't any before. There were more times than I can count on my hands, not long after that, that we'd see police there frequently either arresting kids or in the middle of breaking up huge brawls - literally two lines of kids facing each other just going at it and I mean fighting HARD. It was the scariest thing to see that!! I have never seen so many kids attack each other at once! These were ALL middle school aged children. When it's not fights, it's middle school aged kids making out all over the place. Of course this is right after school lets out. Another friend of mine lives in a gorgeous house over there but it's closer to fredericksburg rd. She's had several people who were "out of sorts" come banging on her door in the middle of the night. One time it was gentleman yelling all sorts of indecipherable things and the other was a man demanding money for a "sick child". Needless to say she called sapd and never opened the door but up until a few years ago she says she's never had problems.
With what I just mentioned aside, the place still has this amazing charm. I know that sounds weird but it just does. It varies from one street to the next and I still see quite a few homes being renovated which is great. I also see people coming in and turning large beautiful homes into fourplexes which is what my aunt has near her now and the second time her home was broken into, she got word that some of her possessions were residing with one of those tenants. They were described to a T so she's sure they were but they weren't able to catch the guy and he moved out a month later.
I desperately want to live in an older neighborhood away from the whole "outside of the loop" and "cookie cutter home" neighborhoods. It's just personal preference but it's another reason that I"m going to rent for a few years before I decide to buy another home somewhere where I'm not going to be happy because I don't want to go through what we're going through again after we leave here.
I read this post earlier today but could not respond and have not read the new post... don't have time but wanted to post a response in defense of the Monticello Park neighborhood. You fears are totally unfounded and I think your fear stems from ignorance of this area and that is all it is because I feel perfectly safe here and love it. You just need to be here to realize that it is a very nice neighborhood even with the houses and yards that are not up to par with your standards. The homeless and psyche patients don't bother anyone and every neighborhood has juvenile delinquents and some crime. Your fears are out of proportion because you just don't know this area well. Honestly it is very quite and wholesome feeling. Maybe I live in a bubble because I have not had one bad experience and neither have any of my neighbors that I am aware of except for some graffitti and a broken window. This neighborhood is great and if you lived here your fears would disappear in time... just a matter of getting used to something that is different than what you are used to. Just on my street there are 4 nurses, 1 SAC art teacher, 1 college physics professor, a doctor, an attorney, a television personality, the mayors sister, a scientist, a physicians assistant, a retired couple from New Mexico and those are just the one's I know on my street. People seem to have the wrong idea about this neighborhood and I get tired of people making the wrong assumptions. This is a cool place to live and affordable in comparison to other areas like AH, TH, Olmos Park, MV. If you want perfection then you will have to have a very fat wallet.
Be sure and check to see if the house your going to purchase is not in the flood plane, not that many years ago, the Donaldson St and south on Wilson to Woodlawn Blvd were somewhat flooded, so check before you BUY a House in that area...
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the associations of the Monticello Park, Woodlawn Lake, and Jefferson neighborhoods have come together to have a Crime Summit to discuss possible solutions. While crime is still low compared to other areas, we all believed it was necessary to "nip it in the bud" before it grew. Councilman Justin Rodriguez and State Representative Trey Martinez-Fischer agreed to coordinate the effort, and speakers will include SAPD Police Chief McManus. I encourage those interested to attend.
Date: Tuesday, August 12th at 6:30 pm
Place: Thomas Jefferson HS auditorium
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. Oh... we didn't have an alarm yet so they had tons of time and luckily didn't destroy any furniture looking for stuff.
Crime Summit Scheduled
