Pubdate: Wed, 22 September 1999
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Contact:  414-224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi
Author: Jim Stingl, Journal Sentinel staff

MAYOR HAILS SUCCESS OF PUBLIC HOUSING DRUG FIGHT

Norquist Visits Westlawn, Announces That 95 Drug Houses Have Been Shut

Harriet Kussman was basking in the afternoon sun Tuesday on her front porch
in the Westlawn housing project when the mayor walked up with three or four
television cameras in tow and handed her a bright orange sheet of paper with
five names on it.

"This is a list of people who no longer live here, that we got rid of,"
Mayor John O. Norquist told her.

Norquist had walked over from across the street, where he had just said at a
news conference that 95 drug houses were shut down in public housing during
1998 and so far in 1999. Most were in Westlawn, near N. 60th St. and W.
Silver Spring Drive, the city's largest public-housing development with 725
units.

"We are eliminating crime as fast as possible from public housing, no
tolerance for drug use at all," Norquist said. "We expect public housing to
be as good or better than any neighborhood in the city, and that is happening."

The mayor and volunteers from Westlawn, along with Housing Authority public
safety officers, distributed the bulletins in the project Tuesday. After
each name was listed the residence or block where the person was caught
dealing drugs and the amount of jail time ordered.

"I don't call it shaming. I call it a farewell party," said Donald Werra, a
retired Milwaukee police officer and chief of the public-housing security team.

Sixty-two drug houses - public-housing units where drugs were being sold -
were shut down last year. Twenty-eight of those were in Westlawn. Parklawn
was second with 10, and eight other housing projects had at least one bust.
This year, 33 drug houses were eliminated, with Westlawn again leading the
pack, Werra said.

In some instances, the people named on the lease were the drug dealers.
Other times it was someone else who was allowed to move in.

Under the city's "one strike, you're out" policy, the busts resulted in the
eviction of the tenants and the arrests of 77 people on drug charges. They
are not eligible to live in any public housing in Milwaukee, and their names
also go on a "no-trespassing list."

"It means you not only can't live here, you can't set foot on our property.
It will cost you $145 in a trespassing citation," Werra said.

Many of the tips to his office are anonymous. His officers do surveillance
and call in Milwaukee police officers who make an undercover buy, obtain a
search warrant and shut down the house. The cooperation between the two law
enforcement forces earned them an award from the mayor last week.

The neighborhood feels safer these days, Kussman said after the mayor moved
on. The retired dress-shop worker has lived there since 1953.

"Neighbors must work together. Know your neighbor and see what's going on,"
she said.

Down the street, Jessie Butler, a 25-year resident, said she often sees the
public safety officers driving past in squad cars or on bicycles. She lets
the world know she cares about her neighborhood by the colorful flower
garden, which stands in contrast to the bare appearance of most units.

Looking at the list of bad guys, she wasn't thrilled with the punishment in
every case. One dealer got three months in jail and a $150 fine for delivery
of marijuana.

"I don't think that's stiff enough. They get right out and do it again,"
Butler said.

The bulletins handed out Tuesday were about the fourth distributed in the
neighborhood, said Ellene Parks, president of the Westlawn Resident Council.
They let people know that something specific happens to people who break the
law.

"If drugs are being sold, they need to be out of here," Parks said.

The city provided two phone numbers to report drug activity. For activity in
one of the housing projects, call the Housing Authority Public Safety
Department at 286-5100. The Milwaukee Police Department vice control
division is at 935-7411.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sept. 22, 1999.

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