‘You can’t run from problems:’ North Columbia community nips crime in the bud

Willie Fuller is a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran. He’s also a block captain in a cozy neighborhood in north Columbia, where the skills he learned in the Marine Corps have come in handy in keeping his community free of the crime rates that have troubled that side of the city.

Between Nov. 1, 2013, and Oct. 31, 2014, the Eau Claire community in north Columbia experienced 31 property crimes and four violent crimes, according to the Columbia Police Department. During the same period between 2014 and 2015, there were 13 property crimes and seven violent crimes.

By contrast, the residents of Northwood Hills, a neighborhood within the Eau Claire community, said the worst they have to fear nowadays is petty break-ins and occasional thefts.

“This is our neighborhood,” Fuller said. “We have to protect it.”

That vigilance came in handy when Northwood Hills residents spotted what appeared to be gang tags spray-painted in their neighborhood about 10 years ago. They called the police, who removed the markings – a move Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said is vital to prevent gang crime from spreading to an area.

“The minute you see what would be suspected gang tagging going on, you call us immediately,” Holbrook said. “We document it through photographs and remove it immediately. Removing any signs of gang activity is critical to removing crime related to it and taking away what they’re trying to accomplish by intimidation and declaring territory as theirs.”

Fuller and his neighbors kept that same cool when someone came through their neighborhood shooting a gun. Several residents called 911 immediately, prompting a quick, visible police response.

“They were looking for new territory,” Fuller said. “Well, we’ve got some elderly people out here and we’re an easy target. Surprise – no we’re not.”

Another help in fighting crime in the neighborhood was the installation of cameras, currently monitored by city police, Fuller said.

But Northwood Hills is just one neighborhood in the Eau Claire community in north Columbia, and the picture can become less rosy depending on where one travels in that region.

Rhett Anders, 50, lives in Atlanta at the moment, but spent more than a decade in the community. He also served as president of the Eau Claire Community Council at the turn of the millennium.

Anders said while he was in the area, Eau Claire residents often tried to take action, only to have it go nowhere when city officials didn’t follow up.

“We rode through the neighborhood, did a list of derelict houses, rentals that had been run down,” he said. “Did this list, gave it to the code enforcement people. Ten years later, we rode back through the houses, every one of those houses we had written about 10 years earlier, and 99 percent of them were still in the exact same shape.”

Pearl Allen, 78, came to Northwood Hills in 1964 with her husband. They built a house together, where she still lives. But she sticks it out because her home is paid off and because it has emotional value, not because she believes the city will make any worthwhile developments to the community.

“They’re sending nothing this way, except things that are marginal, as far as being something welcome and nice and well done,” Allen said.

City officials acknowledged residents’ concerns, but disagreed with their conclusions.

The issue is a matter of time, political process and consistent effort, said Columbia City Councilwoman Tameika Devine.

“I think sometimes, they feel they’re forgotten or that things take too long,” Devine said. “From the government perspective, things take time. It takes time to get the funding. It’s going to take real consistent effort and a dedicated focus, and sometimes from the city’s perspective, that’s a little hard.”

But every once in a while, residents score a victory with city policy.

One such win for the folks in Northwood Hills is the closing of Pinner Street, which served as a thoroughfare between that neighborhood and others surrounding it. The street became a hotbed of fast drivers and loud music, and a dumping ground for stolen goods, Fuller said.

After a decade of asking for the street to be closed, and a court battle for the right to do so, Fuller and his neighbors will finally get their wish. The city has blockaded Pinner Street with bright red, plastic barriers, until a more permanent solution is in place, Fuller said.

The court case was an issue between the folks in Northwood Hills, who felt the street should be closed, and those who felt the closure would hamper their travels, according to City Councilman Sam Davis.

But what troubles Northwood Hills residents most right now is not crime, but the perception of it, said Patricia Brown, 67, president of the neighborhood council. Brown has lived for 28 years in the neighborhood, where she and her husband raised two daughters.

“Some people just cross us off because they say we’re crime-infested, and also they say you don’t want to send your children to the schools here,” Brown said. “Those kinds of things have kept the perception (bad) and people aren’t readily moving in.”

Perception is a key concern for Davis, as well. The councilman emphasized that he himself lives in Eau Claire and believes in its good qualities and its dedicated people.

“We emphasize the positives, not the negatives,” Davis said. “Perceptions of things become labels, and people don’t get the true facts. It’s harmful, it doesn’t help. It’s a good neighborhood. I live here – I chose to live here.”

But with all its perks and problems, those who have chosen to make Eau Claire their home intend to stay.

“You can’t run away from problems,” Allen said. “You just have to go with them and make the best of them, and work to improve it. People who just start running, they’ll find that out when they reach a certain point.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 6:47 PM.