Local News
NORTH TONAWANDA: Second community crime forum scheduled
North Tonawanda Mayor Larry Soos said the city will host a second forum to address residents’ concern over drugs, loitering and other citywide nuisances.
The public forum entitled “Take Back the Neighborhood” will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at North Tonawanda City Hall, 216 Payne Ave.
Participants will for the second time in recent weeks have an opportunity to hear about options such as forming a neighborhood watch group, speak with representatives of the North Tonawanda Police Department and those of the mayor’s property maintenance task force regarding concerns that seem to have reached a boiling point recently.
The last such public meeting was held Aug. 20 for a packed crowd at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on Thompson Street.
Residents at that meeting had the opportunity to address Building Inspector Cosimo Capozzi and Soos himself on the issues — ranging from neighbors with run down property to late night groups of rowdy kids buying drugs, drinking and vandalizing homes in the small hours of the morning. Police and property maintenance officials also fielded questions.
The property task force meets regularly to discuss blighted properties on a case-by-case basis and is responsible for the recent demolition of several abandoned properties as well as advertising grant opportunities and other incentives for homeowners to spruce up their homes.
Concern over vandalism, drug dealing, loitering and robbery, officials have said, are often intertwined with a declining housing stock in some neighborhoods.
Police Patrol Capt. Roger Zgolak said at the previous meeting that sporadic police foot patrols and bike patrols have helped recently. The council is now considering a budget that could come to include city funding for the patrols, which for three prior years were paid for using a federal grant the city did not receive this year.
For more information on the upcoming meeting, call Soos’ office at 695-8540.
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