Pubdate: Sun, 25 Dec 2005
Source: Star-News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: John DeSantis

AS CITY GROWS, CRIMES, DRUGS STAY ON MOVE

Club H20 Shut Down . . . For Now

Closure of an unlicensed social club in the 600 block of Red Cross
Street should make life more bearable for residents who said the hot
spot turned their quiet neighborhood into a hot zone for street brawls
and gunfire. But authorities and residents caution that the brief life
of Club H2O and the violence that occurred in the area were but
symptoms of larger problems Wilmington must face. The cityscape's
rapid change, attributed to heavy real estate development and
resulting gentrification, is moving open-air drug dealing and other
criminal activity to new territories. "That was the worst thing that
could have happened in this neighborhood was that club," said Larry
Rogers, a culinary worker who saw his block degenerate in a matter of
weeks after the club opened. "After 8 p.m., it was horrible." Public
attention focused on the club and the surrounding neighborhood after a
Dec. 13 shooting claimed the life of 19-year-old Anthony S. Williams.
Terrill A. Lloyd, 26, also was shot and wounded that night. Lloyd now
faces a gun possession charge but will not be prosecuted for shooting
Williams because authorities are convinced Lloyd acted in
self-defense.

Eviction Served

The shutdown of Club H2O occurred not because of legal action by
authorities, but from concern by its landlords after the shooting incident
made headlines. "The tenant has been notified of eviction for breaking the
lease," said Todd Toconis, whose real estate company managed the building at
614 Red Cross St. that Club H2O called home. Toconis said the building's
owner leased out the space, which houses several commercial establishments,
as a "game room." According to police officers, the club's patrons were
welcome to bring their own alcohol, however. If not for the eviction, city
officials acknowledge that a forced closure would have been tough to
accomplish. For the city, the line can be blurry between enforcing rules
equitably and outright harassment because an establishment is unpopular yet
not illegal.

License To Vex

Police slapped the club with a noise violation for loud music, in
response to complaints from residents. After the shooting, the police
department contacted a variety of city agencies trying to determine if
the club was a nuisance.

The fire department reported no violations. Alcohol control officers
began an investigation, but the club's lack of a license to sell
alcohol proved a barrier to enforcement. Ted Carlton, the N.C. Alcohol
Law Enforcement Division's Wilmington area chief, said clubs with
licenses can have them revoked or suspended when rules are violated -
including those that relate to nuisance establishments. Those without
licenses, however, are tough to close down unless illegal sales of
alcohol can be proved. "We would first have to do undercover work to
see if they are selling alcohol," Carlton said. Law enforcement
officials acknowledge that the law usually has not been violated if an
establishment is not selling alcohol but just charging a fee for
people to gather there and consume their own beverages. Law
enforcement officials - like Wilmington Deputy Chief David Conklin -
acknowledge that legal loopholes allow questionable clubs to remain
open. The idea of approaching neighborhood crime problems in a
multifaceted way, for example, improving street lighting as well as
beefing up patrols, is now a popular one. Conklin said cooperation
among agencies in Wilmington will go a long way toward helping
neighborhoods improve. "The cooperation between different agencies has
improved tremendously," said Conklin, noting that other logistical
issues are challenges to a strong effort by Chief Ralph Evangelous to
attack quality of life problems block by block and neighborhood by
neighborhood.

Taylor Connection

Police refer to one problem as "displacement," the tendency of
criminal activity such as drug sales, when suppressed in one place, to
pop up in another. Police end up chasing the problem from block to
block instead of stopping it in its tracks. Residents believe that is
what happened on Red Cross Street. After Taylor Homes, a drug- and
violence-plagued housing project, was demolished last year, they say,
conditions deteriorated. "Taylor Homes, that's when the bad things
happened in this neighborhood," said Rogers, who has lived on Red
Cross Street for more than a decade. Once rife with open-air drug
sales and violence that made life intolerable for its predominately
law-abiding residents, the Taylor Homes site no longer echoes with
gunshots.

It is a grassy field where the only sounds usually heard are those
generated by construction of a new police station. Likewise,
renovation of housing and new construction in some formerly blighted
neighborhoods, real estate professionals and law enforcement officers
say, means some criminal enterprises are moving to other locations.
Wilmington's game plan, Conklin and other officals said, is to keep
checking back to make sure problems that are dashed stay that way. Red
Cross Street residents say that while they are glad the club is
closed, they don't want law enforcement to think it is the end of
their problems. Law enforcement officials say they are well aware that
they will need to stay on top of it. Sgt. Jeff Allsbrook, a Wilmington
police officer who has worked extensively to combat drug sales, said
increased willingness by residents to work with the police by
notifying them of problems and supplying information makes all the
difference. "We need help," he said. "We can't do it alone."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin