Core value

Back in November, I wrote a series of posts about the challenges facing one of Lincoln's fragile neighborhoods. The posts ended with Outside the bubble on November 16. It was a plea for help. There simply is no way, given the economic and social problems this area confronts, that the police acting alone can restore its health and well-being. In January, the Lincoln Journal Star published an insightful week-long special report, The Core on this same issue.

Help is on the way. Mayor Chris Beutler, flanked by the heads of a bevy of public and private organizations, announced yesterday at a morning press conference that the City is launching “Stronger Safer Neighborhoods”, an initiative aimed at attacking these issues in a more holistic manner. Former planning commission chairman Jon Carlson has been hired as a mayoral aide to coordinate the diverse activities, and he will be assigned to the police department, which will direct the project.

We will continue to devote some major police effort to this area, but the approach includes other elements, such as codes enforcement, social services, and economic development. It's going to be a block-by-block, alley-by-alley, and even building-by-building effort to identify problems, and figure out what resources can be brought to bear to improve those conditions. This could be making life miserable for a resident crack dealer, getting outpatient mental health care for a problematic tenant, training a landlord on how to do a decent background check, forcing an owner to bring a deteriorated building up to code, getting a graffiti-covered dumpster replaced, or finding a low interest loan for a resident who needs help rehabilitating a house.

Although his job title is administrative assistant to the mayor, Mr. Carlson is being assigned to the police department. We've cleared out a vacant office right down the hall from mine for his command post, and he'll be ready to hit the ground running on day one, next Thursday. He will be assigned as a member of the Southwest Police Team, because that's the place we intend to start this initiative. We've done similar work before, including Free to Grow in the Center Team Area, and the work we've been doing in the Southwest Team Area with Project Safe Neighborhoods. But this is clearly something more comprehensive than our usual problem-oriented policing projects.

Law enforcement has a clear role to play, but you might think that it's not exactly the bailiwick of the police to manage a project of this scope where social services and economic development are major thrusts. I think the Mayor asked us to take on the coordination of his initiative simply because he trusts us the most to make it happen. His faith is well placed.

Job one will be to lay out the baseline data that will be the indicators of success, and I am confident we can make a huge difference in the core with the collaboration of others, and the infusion of human and financial capital. We look forward to the challenge.