Morgan's Corner: Jersey City needs to provide more recreation to fight crime

February 15, 2012, 6:35 PM
By Earl Morgan/For The Jersey Journal

Yeah, we've heard it before. Crime is down in Jersey City, so says Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Police Chief Tom Comey.
They've been saying that for some time.

Several years ago, I was in the audience at the Bethune Community Center in the city's predominantly African-American Ward F, and the chief ran off a string of statistics to back up his assertion that violent crimes, especially murders, had dipped. After Comey concluded his presentation, I glanced around to gauge the reaction to his report and the audience looked like an oil painting, disbelief clearly etched on their faces.

Last week, the City Council was visited by a contingent of constituents clearly not impressed with statistics that they deemed cold comfort for crimes, violent or otherwise, occurring all around them. Only days before the council meeting, a shoot-out occurred in a vacant lot at Martin Luther King Drive and Wilkinson Avenue, across the street from the Urban League of Hudson County building. Fortunately no one was hit by the flying bullets.

For years, shootings, stickups, robberies and muggings have been routine in Ward F and neighboring Greenville. In fact, the West District Precinct that covers this part of the city has been called the busiest in the state.

Crime is not just a concern in those areas. The Heights and West Side have seen more than their share of violence and mayhem.

Bill Braker, who chairs the NAACP Public Safety Committee, has mounted a petition drive to demand more police be assigned to patrol high-crime neighborhoods. The theory being that the presence of cops on foot, patrolling intersections such as Wilkinson Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive, will deter criminals and troublemakers.

However, getting a handle on the crime problem may not be so simple. Perhaps It's time for a more holistic approach.

The idea of walking police patrols might be a start but since most of the crimes are being committed by young males, why not implement a suggestion I've made many times in this space? Find ways to engage city youth by reinvigorating recreation facilities. The city has access to the YMCA building on Bergen Avenue that is in Ward F. It has a gym, and other athletic facilities, including a swimming pool that's been out of use nearly a decade.

The YMCA pool is only one of two indoor swimming facilities in the city -- the other is at Pershing Field. State Sen. Sandra Cunningham is looking into the possibility of reopening the YMCA pool that closed for reasons that include falling ceiling tiles, a problem that's certainly correctable.

The city might finally get around to completing renovations on Bayside Park in Greenville. The promise of park improvements has been a sore point with area residents for the entire 32 years I worked for The Jersey Journal.
I won't repeat the cliche about idle hands and the devil's workshop, but it applies here. More recreation is not a final solution to the crime problem, but it can't hurt.

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