Post by Clipper on Feb 26, 2009 9:25:53 GMT -5
Our own Bobbbiez made the news this morning with her attendance and at a meeting on neighborhood crime issues. She is very active in her support of neighborhood watch activity and efforts to clean up West Utica. Keep up the good work Sunshine, we luv ya and are proud of ya!
Angry Utica woman to police: ‘There is a problem’
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By EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Feb 25, 2009 @ 10:57 PM
Last update Feb 25, 2009 @ 11:03 PM
UTICA —
An angry Barbara Ziezio Wednesday night demanded answers.
Ziezio, who has lived on Andes Avenue for 28 years, said she has been calling and submitting information to city police about a man who she says has been selling marijuana out of his home on her block for more than a year.
Her complaint, she says, had fallen on deaf ears.
“I’m here tonight as a taxpayer and a very angry taxpayer,” Ziezio said while at a community meeting at the Holy Trinity Church school on Lincoln Avenue.
“We are bringing things to you people constantly. There is a problem - it’s not us. You have to hear us.”
Deputy Chief Mark Williams said anyone unsatisfied with the response of police officers should call him directly, and he gave his office number to the 80 people who attended the meeting.
“I will personally see that it gets addressed,” Williams said.
Williams declined to say how many officers are assigned to the city’s metro drug unit, but said he would prefer to have more. Tips submitted through the city police department’s Web site are sent directly to the BlackBerrys carried by the department’s command staff, he said.
Later, in an interview, Ziezio, 65, pointed to low staffing levels in the city’s metro drug unit as a reason why the drug problem on her street and elsewhere in the city had not been quelled. She said she decided to speak stridently at Wednesday night’s meeting because of the Feb. 16 shooting death of Joshua Thompson, 17, on Brinckerhoff Avenue in the city.
Residents at the meeting also asked a bevy of law enforcement officials about the significance of graffiti, regulations for sex offenders and absentee landlords.
“We do have gangs in the city of Utica,” said Rebecca Beatty, a gang intelligence investigator with the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office.
She said gang activity in Utica, however, was not as significant as it is in Syracuse or Rochester.
Investigator Peter Paladino, who is assigned to the metro drug unit, said city police were working aggressively to stem street- and mid-level drug sales.
“There’s a lot of drug activity in our community, and we’re addressing that,” Paladino said. “The biggest problem in our area, I think, is crack cocaine.”
More citizens need to take the interest in their neighborhood like she does. They most likely know her as a determined defender of her hometown, and take her seriously, because they know she is not going to give up until they address her issues. Good job Barb.
Angry Utica woman to police: ‘There is a problem’
advertisement
By EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Feb 25, 2009 @ 10:57 PM
Last update Feb 25, 2009 @ 11:03 PM
UTICA —
An angry Barbara Ziezio Wednesday night demanded answers.
Ziezio, who has lived on Andes Avenue for 28 years, said she has been calling and submitting information to city police about a man who she says has been selling marijuana out of his home on her block for more than a year.
Her complaint, she says, had fallen on deaf ears.
“I’m here tonight as a taxpayer and a very angry taxpayer,” Ziezio said while at a community meeting at the Holy Trinity Church school on Lincoln Avenue.
“We are bringing things to you people constantly. There is a problem - it’s not us. You have to hear us.”
Deputy Chief Mark Williams said anyone unsatisfied with the response of police officers should call him directly, and he gave his office number to the 80 people who attended the meeting.
“I will personally see that it gets addressed,” Williams said.
Williams declined to say how many officers are assigned to the city’s metro drug unit, but said he would prefer to have more. Tips submitted through the city police department’s Web site are sent directly to the BlackBerrys carried by the department’s command staff, he said.
Later, in an interview, Ziezio, 65, pointed to low staffing levels in the city’s metro drug unit as a reason why the drug problem on her street and elsewhere in the city had not been quelled. She said she decided to speak stridently at Wednesday night’s meeting because of the Feb. 16 shooting death of Joshua Thompson, 17, on Brinckerhoff Avenue in the city.
Residents at the meeting also asked a bevy of law enforcement officials about the significance of graffiti, regulations for sex offenders and absentee landlords.
“We do have gangs in the city of Utica,” said Rebecca Beatty, a gang intelligence investigator with the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office.
She said gang activity in Utica, however, was not as significant as it is in Syracuse or Rochester.
Investigator Peter Paladino, who is assigned to the metro drug unit, said city police were working aggressively to stem street- and mid-level drug sales.
“There’s a lot of drug activity in our community, and we’re addressing that,” Paladino said. “The biggest problem in our area, I think, is crack cocaine.”
More citizens need to take the interest in their neighborhood like she does. They most likely know her as a determined defender of her hometown, and take her seriously, because they know she is not going to give up until they address her issues. Good job Barb.
Thanks y'all, but it is something I've been doing for far too many years now. Just this time I made the paper. Really getting too old for this sh*t, but got to admit it felt really damn good telling the right people off and bringing the truth out.
