Tenants Chow Down On Tacos To Take Bite Out Of Crime

Thu., Nov. 2, 1995

Bruce Krasnow Staff Writer

The smell of salsa reached almost to the parking lot as residents of one North Side apartment complex got a taste of both tacos and community policing.

“I was interested in the tacos and seeing what this is all about,” said Fred Roderick, 45, a resident of the Summerwood Apartments, a large residential complex at Wiscomb Street and Magnesium Road.

For community policing volunteers in the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood, the taco feed last week at the Summerwood Apartments was about getting neighbors acquainted with one another and more aware of how they can prevent crime.

Though it’s harder to do that with transient apartment dwellers, the need for community policing is perhaps greater.

The Summerwood apartment complex has 154 units, and the average tenant age is 30, with many single parents, said manager Wil’Lena Shiflett. Rents are $395 to $495, with most residents staying about three years.

The taco feed featured 40 pounds of beef, 15 heads of lettuce, 15 pounds of cheese, and tortillas galore.

Tidyman’s and the Franklin Park Mall helped pay for the event, and volunteers from Neva-Wood COPS were on hand to dish out the goodies, which included a cake.

Apartment residents who attended were also interested in meeting police officer Duane Willmschen to talk about what they perceived to be the slow response of police to their area along Magnesium Road, just inside the city limits.

Susan Mirghanbari, 35, a caterer who lives in the complex with two children, ages 4 and 6, said she and another resident try to look out for each other’s kids and speak up when they see suspicious activity.

She would like to see more residents do that.

“If you get together and get introduced to each other you’ll be less intimidated. People need to speak up and look out for each other’s property,” she said.

Crime is typical of elsewhere in Spokane with vandalism and petty break-ins on the rise.

Unlike residents of single-family homes, apartment dwellers often live far from their parked vehicles. Tire slashings and car thefts have been the most common complaints.

Preventing those types of crime requires more awareness of who lives in the complex and who may be loitering.

“Basically you have to watch out for each other’s back and pay attention to what’s going on,” said Beverly Moon, a 38-year-old single mother of three. “We’ve been doing a lot of that lately.’

, DataTimes

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