PEOPLE IN HIGH-CRIME AREA INVITED TO DISCUSS PUBLIC SAFETY.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer LANCASTER - City government and county Sheriff's Department officials will talk to residents and property owners on two blocks north of downtown that have been plagued with a high crime rate. Sheriff's deputies in Lan-CAP - the Lancaster Community Appreciation Project - have served search warrants on more than a dozen duplexes and arrested more than a dozen people in rental housing in the neighborhood in recent months. ``I feel we've impacted the area enough that we're going to get people out of their shells,'' said Sgt. Steve Sylvies, who leads Lan-CAP. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lancaster City Hall, 44933 Fern Ave. Letters were sent inviting property owners and residents in the two-block area - along Cedar cedar, common name for a number of trees, mostly coniferous evergreens. The true cedars belong to the small genus Cedrus of the family Pinaceae (pine family). and Corkwood corkwood: see bombax. avenues between Avenues H-8 and H-12 - to attend the meeting. Speakers will discuss law-enforcement and city-government efforts to reduce crime, Sylvies said, and they will tell residents and property owners how they can help. The target of city cleanup and anti-crime efforts since the 1990s, the neighborhood is home to many street-gang members, Sylvies said. ``We've got a lot narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. dealing and some actual violent crime,'' he said. ``We had five drive-by shootings drive-by shooting Public health A phenomenon in which one or more persons–commonly members of street gangs, open fire à la Al Capone from moving vehicles, often in retaliation for an alleged wrong-doing by a rival gang in a two-day period. We recover stolen cars over there constantly.'' Law-abiding residents feared running afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. the criminals, he said. Wednesday's meeting will be similar to others held by members of the two-year-old Lan-CAP team with apartment owners and sometimes tenants throughout Lancaster, Assistant City Manager Mark Bozigian said. ``They decided, and I agree, it is a good idea to get everybody together and talk to them collectively,'' Bozigian said about the Lan-CAP members. ``Lan-CAP is very effective. They do that a lot.'' The neighborhood of duplexes is just west of well-kept 1950s tract homes and newer subdivisions. It is also adjoins a new housing tract being built in the culmination of a city effort started more than 10 years ago to clean up the area. The neighborhood was among those assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. additional sheriff's patrols in the 1990s under Lancaster's Operation High Desert Storm, which targeted higher-crime rate areas for extra attention. In the mid-1990s, city government acquired and razed raze also rase tr.v. razed also rased, raz·ing also ras·ing, raz·es also ras·es 1. To level to the ground; demolish. See Synonyms at ruin. 2. To scrape or shave off. 3. mostly vacant small apartment buildings along Beech beech, common name for the Fagaceae, a family of trees and shrubs mainly of temperate and subtropical regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The principal genera—Castanea (chestnut and chinquapin), Fagus (beech), and Quercus Avenue in an attempt to drive out the prostitutes and drug dealers who congregated there. The city's redevelopment agency sold the cleared land in 2003 for $1.7 million to the partnership that is building the new homes. Charles F. Bostwick, (661) 267-5742 chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com |
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