Jamestown police officers have been called to Fulton Street 126 times over the first six months of the year. That number has only gone up since the end of June.

August’s City Council meeting isn’t the first time Fulton Street residents have come to the council for help and we’re sure it won’t be the last. The fact that police have been called to one area of the city 126 times is ridiculous on many levels. While the city has a role to play in dealing with the continuous calls by Fulton Street residents for help dealing with issues in the neighborhood, this isn’t just a City Council or Jamestown Police Department problem.

The city can provide police presence and plans to help improve housing stock in the area, with Fulton Street included as an area where city officials would like to build infill housing due to the high number of properties scheduled for demolition. A police presence is part of the solution, but increasing patrols doesn’t solve the problem when officers aren’t stationed on Fulton Street. Police officers can only provide a cooling-off period for some of the issues under current law when they deal with some neighborhood issues. That fact isn’t going to change anytime soon. City police can’t do much with those dealing with mental health or drug addiction issues that seem to be playing a part in some of the Fulton Street issues either.

But some of this solution has to come from those who own property on Fulton Street and the residents of Fulton Street themselves. The city can deal with squatters and drug dealers – albeit temporarily. In our view, the city needs to use tools it has created in recent years to drive the rest of needed changes on Fulton Street. Landlords need to have a stake in cleaning up Fulton Street along with those who live there.

The city’s nuisance ordinance should be just such a tool. The ordinance is aimed at properties that result in neighborhood issues because they are used for illegal purposes, haven’t been properly maintained and are the subject of multiple police responses. In multi-unit properties, the finding of a public nuisance would require three arrests within a twenty-four month period in a single unit. Additionally, any conviction for a disorderly conduct violation that involves a property during a 24-month period may be considered along with the three or more arrests in the determination of the existence of a public nuisance under the proposed ordinance. The ordinance also spells out a procedure for the city to close a property that has been the subject of too many nuisance violations, with part of the policy spelling out a nuisance abatement hearing overseen by a hearing officer and the ability for both the property owner, the city and neighbors to provide evidence of illegal activity.

The nuisance ordinance may be the stick the city can use to bring property owners and residents to the table to deal with issues the city itself cannot. The threat of losing a property’s revenue potential should drive property owners to help the city deal with these problems. And, if the nuisance ordinance doesn’t provide any help, then it should be revoked and a new ordinance written that helps deal with problems like Fulton Street.