GreeningFrogtownNovDec

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THE SAFETY FILE Shots Fired? Who Knows? Would Shot Spotter technology improve safety, or just add cost? Regular students of the Frogtown Neighbors Facebook page know that next to lost kitties, a major concern is whenever shots are fired in Frogtown. There’s typically a fevered exchange about when, where and what happened. And the result is, well, not much. In the year from September 24, 201 7 to September 24, 201 8, St. Paul police recorded 1 38 calls from Frogtowners who reported gun shots. Reported calls and actual shots fired are, however, an entirely different matter. The criminology literature estimates that 75 percent or more of gunshots are never reported. At a recent meeting regarding St. Paul gun violence, public officials and social service agency reps wrestled with the question of what can be done. Afterward, assistant Ramsey County Attorney Elizabeth Lamin wondered aloud whether it’s time to invest in Shot Spotter technology for St. Paul. Shot Spotter uses a network of elevated microphones to triangulate on the sound of gunfire. The data is beamed to a Firecracker, slammed door, or gun shot? It's often tough to tell the difference. Newark, CA office, analyzed to separate gunfire from similar sounds such as fireworks or backfires, then sent to police squad cars in the 90-plus cities that subscribe to the service. The data often traverses hundreds of miles, but reaches cops’ eyes in under a minute, and is accurate within a few yards. A subscription costs $65,000 to $80,000 per year per square mile — roughly the area from Lexington to Dale St., and from Pierce Butler to I-94. Right now St. Paul Police spokesperson Steve Linder says the system isn’t on the department’s list of must-have items. But in Minneapolis, where the system has been in place for about five years, police spokesperson John Elder says, “It’s been an exceptionally useful tool for us. It can identify and pinpoint to a much closer degree where shots are fired. The mapping is within three meters. We know the number of rounds, sometimes the different calibers of gun. It’s got the complete faith of officers here, who truly believe in it.” Nonetheless, Elder says there’s been no formal evaluation he knows of that systematically links the technology to arrests and prosecutions in Minneapolis. In the view of Metro State criminologist James Densley, the upside of such databased policing solutions is that it gives cops tools to predict where crime happens most often, and to focus on those areas. So Shot Spotter could be useful for mapping where gunfire actually occurs, and see if or where it’s clustered. By harnessing this data, says Densley, “we can know how best to allocate resources.” Is this technology likely to deter crime by itself? Densley doesn’t think so. But he can imagine a pilot program where police use Shot Spotter within a small area that has a high number of shots-fired complaints — say, for instance, Frogtown — and then use that data to engage with neighbors about acceptable strategies to put a lid on gunfire. Asked what he made of that idea, Frogtown-area City Councilman Dai Thao said it's worth considering. The potential rub is a familiar one, he says: in a world of limited budgets, the cost is significant, both for installation and ongoing maintenance. PAGE 2 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER JULY / AUGUST 2018 6
FROGTOWN NEWS Who's That Caped Crusader? Frog‐ish Freelance Organizer Starts Campaign Dave Colling brings an organizing background to his position at Frogtown Farm. At Frogtown Farm, a New Director Frogtown Farm installed a new executive director in late September, naming Dave Colling to replace Eartha Borer Bell, who stepped down to manage a growing family. Colling comes to the job having served as director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association in Minneapolis. He also managed Rep. Keith Ellison’s 2006 run for Congress. So what does he think comes next for the three-year old urban farm, located in the middle of a city park? “The next step is to reach out and make more community connections," he said. "This is the community’s farm. We want to know what they want from us. We spent the first few years learning what people wanted to see, what it should look like, how the farm should grow. Then we built it. Now it’s time to go back and say, okay, we’re here now, we’ve done the build. What would you like to see next?" What about five years from now? “The first thing is, you’d see a nice big, energy-efficient building here. Maybe there would be a commercial kitchen in there, space for a business incubator, art space, community space. That would be the greatest thing. “There would be a real greenhouse to replace the hoop house we’ve got now. I’d want to see people who live here working in the fields. We’d keep working with Feeding Frogtown (the food giveaway at City School at Lafond and Western)." "This land could produce a lot more food that we currently do. It’s a question of finding a balance between food production and programming.” For all the chatter about block-by-block organizing in Frogtown, it’s rare that anyone does much about it. A recent exception is the freelance organizing effort that Frogtowner Abu Nayeem is undertaking from his Sherburne Ave. home. Nayeem was born in Bangladesh, raised in Queens, NY, and moved to Frogtown about a year ago. After landing here, he decided that he wanted to start organizing neighbors about issues important to them. Abu Nayeem gets wardrobe help. He started with a few simple strategies. He published a survey on Facebook asking neighbors to list their big concerns. He organized a series of evening walks for neighbors to meet each other and take in the local sites. He showed up in a home-made frog costume at events such as National Night Out, then patiently suffered the children who grabbed his headgear. He called a meeting at the Rondo Library for people to meet and talk about his survey results. The library meeting revealed the rift between what people say they want — block-level organizing — and what will get them to leave the house. A meeting at the library wasn’t it. It drew a pair of residents and a Greening Frogtown reporter. and party slated to be held at a local cafe, the Tin Cup. The fundraising effort raised $4,000. The money went toward paying for a year’s worth of service on about 25 Xcel-installed alley lights, 20 of which have already been put up. The same could be done here, Nayeem says, but it will take a group of activists to learn whether a significant number of people want their alley lit, make sure that the light distribution is equitable, and then work out the details of raising money and getting lights installed. Interested? Email him at anayeem1 @gmail.com The goal isn’t so much to light the alleys. “It’s to build relationships and have an authentic conversation among people here,” he says. Nayeem’s latest maneuver was to nominate himself to the Frogtown Neighborhood Association board, where he’ll join a slate of eight other new board members. What does he hope to accomplish there? “I want to make sure that community members know what’s going on, and that we treat people here with respect.” One of those residents was Johnny Howard, the former director of the Thomas Dale Block Club. That organization, active in the late 90s and early 2000s, once included about 600 members in a network of block clubs. Howard’s advice to Nayeem: don’t get discouraged when nobody shows up. He recalled meeting after meeting in the TDBC’s early days when two people would have been a crowd. NEW FEATURES AT HMONG MUSEUM: Above, Hmong Cultural Center’s Txongpao Lee and Mark Pfeifer show off a new interactive feature — an iPad-based video collection (right) depicting aspects of Hmong culture — at their museum located in the second floor office at 375 University Ave. The videos explain traditional embroidery and story cloths, depict people playing various instruments and show their roles in weddings and funerals. Along with panels that set out the Hmong path from Southeast Asia to St. Paul — plus a rich display of clothing, farming and hunting tools, instruments, and household objects — the museum is a great introduction to the quick and radical changes that occurred in the lives of Frogtown’s Hmong residents. Walk-in visitors are welcome from 9 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday, with a suggested donation of $5. Find out more at hmonghistorycenter.org, or call ahead at 651 -91 7-9937. The other resident at the Rondo meeting, Lynn Kensy, said that for her, poor street and alley lighting was a major safety issue. Nayeem’s next move was to conduct a street and alley lighting survey with Kensey and Frogtowner Norma Hakizimana. They’re method wasn’t strictly scientific. They prowled the streets at night and declared a section underlit when it was so dark they couldn't see any shadows. Using the data they collected, Nayeem put together a map that identified the darkest alleys. He then connected with Dee Walsh, a North End resident who started an alley light campaign after a shooting outside her house. Walsh made contacts with North End businesses, asking them to donate prizes for a raffle GREENS ROYALTY: WHO WILL IT BE? Get set for the social event of the season — the third annual Greens Cook-off, set for 4:30-7:30 pm, Saturday, Dec. 1 at new, larger venue this year, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, 451 Central Ave. W. Last year's champ in the celebrity judging category was Carolyn Brown, above, while Yeng Moua took the people's choice title. This year promises to be another hard fought contest, featuring a meal, a mountain of greens, plus music and speechifying. It's all free. Don't miss it! NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 PAGE 3
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GreeningFrogtownNovDec

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