A resident who said he lives in Marengo Park said he feels his neighborhood is very secure.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno meets with children on Forest Park neighborhood walk.SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno did a walk-through of the Forest Park neighborhood Tuesday evening night to hear the concerns of residents and business owners.
Jane Hetzel, president of the Forest Park Civic Association, said crime is the concern uppermost in her mind.
“Last winter my concern was snow removal, then it was the tornado, now it is crime,” she said.
She praised the city of Springfield’s response to the tornado under Sarno.
“The response was amazing,” she said.
“There are a lot of concerns in the city,” Hetzel said. “We need to clean up substandard housing.”
Thomas Walsh, aid to Sarno, said the Tuesday night walk was the first of a series of neighborhood walks which the mayor will take this summer to meet with Springfield residents to help improve the quality of life in the city.
“When you walk through an area, you see things you don’t see when you drive through,” Walsh said. “We are looking for code enforcement issues. If we see children unattended, we will refer the issue to the state Department of Social Services.”
Roland Holstead, who said he lives in Marengo Park, said he feels his neighborhood is very secure.
“There is a high visibility of police,” he said. He added that the increasing gun violence in the city makes him “worried for the young people.”
William Malloy said he has been a member of the Concerned Citizens for Springfield for many years.
He called the increasing gun violence in the city “startling.”
Malloy said the Concerned Citizens for Springfield has bought some properties in the Forest Park neighborhood that were deteriorating, fixed them up and sold them for market value.
Walsh said the mayor takes the neighborhood walks because his office wants to be “proactive,” instead of just “reactive” to problems in the city.
Evening walks through other neighborhoods in the city will be scheduled for later in the summer, Walsh said.
The Tuesday night walk was not planned as a result of the three murders which have taken place during the last week in the city, Walsh said. There have been no arrests in any of the three murders. Police say all three were gang related.
One of the boys who died Sunday, 16-year-old Tyrel Wheeler, was found at the corner of Meredith and Washington streets in the Forest Park neighborhood. Police said he was shot three times before he got out of a mvoing car he was driving. Investigators have not determined yet where the shooting occurred. Wheeler’s death was the 11th homicide of the year.
An 18-year-old boy, James Rosario, was shot to death Saturday at his home at 88 Edgeland Street in the Forest Park neighborhood. He became the city’s 10th homicide victim this year.
On July 3, 38-year-old Raul E. Vera was shot to death on Lincoln Street in the city’s McKnight neighborhood.