The third time was a charm for Little Rock Director Ken Richardson's ordinance that makes misdemeanor marijuana offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement. Richardson, who represents Ward 2, had failed to pass similar ordinances in 2018 and 2019.
It would be a mistake for Syracuse to outsource animal cruelty investigations (Your Letters)
Posted May 14, 2021
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A shining star of Syracuse community policing may be going dark.
The Syracuse Police Department is considering dismantling its Animal Cruelty Unit to save money and realign staff. Instead, they would contract with an outside agency for cruelty investigation.
When services are outsourced, the gains must outweigh the losses. In this case, they would not.
What’s to lose? Community policing. Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner and Mayor Ben Walsh promote it as the pathway to improved public safety and quality of life for residents. Why then would they outsource a model program of community policing?
Syracuse Police Department will crack down on fireworks, dirt bikes
Deandre Gutierrez | Contributing Photographer
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Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and Syracuse Police Department Chief Kenton Buckner announced Tuesday that the city will implement special police details to crack down on “quality of life” violations, which include fireworks, street racing, dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles.
“The Syracuse Police Department is committed to making our streets safe and free of these disturbances,” Buckner said in a press release. “We’re putting additional enforcement in place now so the offenders get the message: this unsafe and inconsiderate behavior won’t be tolerated,” said Walsh.
Skyline tenants, neighbors give City Hall an earful: ‘It’s very dangerous in there’
Updated May 10, 5:43 PM;
Posted May 10, 4:18 PM
Syracuse, N.Y. Ann Marie McCheyne is fed up with drug dealing at her apartment on the fifth floor of the Skyline Apartments. She uses a wheelchair, lives alone and has to keep her wits about her each time she leaves.
“It’s very dangerous in there,” the 71-year-old testified in a packed nuisance abatement hearing Monday morning. “You can very easily get in trouble.”
Recently, she returned home to find about a dozen people lined up in front of the apartment she’s most afraid of, she said. Strangers on the floor sometimes ask her unsettling questions, like whether she lives alone, and knock on her door late at night.
City Hall wants to keep Skyline under its thumb for at least a year
Posted May 11, 2021
Syracuse, N.Y. City officials hope to keep the owners of the Skyline Apartments complex under a microscope for at least another year, saying owner Green National has not demonstrated it can provide safe, clean housing there weeks after a 93-year-old woman was found murdered.
Security and maintenance issues persist at the 365-unit Skyline complex, tenants and neighbors said in a four-hour nuisance abatement hearing Monday. That’s despite added police patrols, the recent hiring of a 24-hour security company and increased efforts by Skyline staff to keep common areas clean.