Pubdate: Fri, 29 Dec 2000
Source: Scranton Times (PA)
Copyright: 2000 The ScrantonTimes/Shamrock Communications
Contact:  149 Penn Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503
Website: http://www.nepanews.com/

WE ALL HAVE A STAKE IN VILLAGE PARK COMPLEX

The nation's much-ballyhooed war on drugs involves a lot of 
hand-to-hand fighting.

Victories come slowly -- one house, one block, one neighborhood at a time.

That's why all area residents should be interested in what's been 
happening recently at the Village Park Apartments complex in North 
Scranton.

Once a haven for illegal drug trafficking, Village Park has been 
saved by concerned residents who joined forces with city officials to 
drastically reduce the amount of drug activity taking place in the 
privately-owned complex.

The residents initiated an effective crime watch effort, police 
increased patrols in the area and the city installed a barricade to 
reduce rampant drive-through drug activity.

Now, as a result of public safety concerns and a number of other 
valid reasons, the city plans to remove the barricade, raising fear 
in some quarters that drive-through drug activity will once again 
flourish along Curtis Lane, the city-owned street that runs through 
the development.

Crime watch officials and police have indicated a willingness to 
increase their anti-drug efforts in the area, but Interstate 
Management Realty Co., the firm that owns the development, has not 
yet joined the discussion about how to keep the project closed to 
drug trafficking.

It is important that the firm become actively involved not only in 
the discussion but in any resulting action plan.
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MAP posted-by: Kirk Bauer