Borrowing ideas from other cities
11:44 AM 4/24/04

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Murders were common and home values depressed in a big neighborhood immediately south of downtown Minneapolis in the mid-1990s. <

But a partnership using new solutions, deeper thinking and intensity of focus is turning the Phillips neighborhood around. <

In Milwaukee, a tough-love approach with landlords and redevelopment is revitalizing the neighborhood called Fond du Lac and North. <

Cities across the nation are using strategies and tactics that could help Madison deal with Allied Drive and other neighborhoods. <

Duluth, Minn., lets neighborhoods use sweat equity or their own resources to obtain matching grants from $500 to $20,000 for improvements ranging from cleanups to playground equipment. <

Fort Wayne, Ind., has a drug-house hot line that leads to police actions, evictions and hefty fines for bad landlords. <

Denver's Safe City Initiative combines a job program, curfew, leadership training and more to address root causes of violence to and by youth. <

In Minneapolis, corporations, nonprofit agencies, residents and the city created the groundbreaking Phillips Partnership, which set priorities, attacked crime, delivered jobs, created housing and rebuilt streets. <

In six years, serious crime in the neighborhood of 20,000 has fallen 29 percent and homicides dropped from 20 to five. <

The average home value of $40,000 has about tripled. <

The key was persuading corporations with resources in the neighborhood, such as Abbott Northwestern Hospital, to act in their self interest, said Mike Christenson, the Minneapolis' director of partnerships. <

Although all partners helped devise a plan, corporations delivered critical investment, training, jobs and career ladders, Christenson said. <

The city is now forming a new partnership to attack poverty and crime on the troubled near north side, he said. <

For Allied Drive, Madison could directly involve corporations with nearby outlets - such as Walgreens, McDonald's, Home Depot, Cub Foods - and other businesses with a stake in the area, as well as financial institutions that hold mortgages for the rows of apartment buildings there, Christenson said. <

"If you're going to do anything worthwhile, you've got to go across sectors," he said.Milwaukee is acting, too. <

If police handle three or more nuisances such as loud music, loitering or drug activity at a property in a month, the city can make the landlord pay for future responses. <

The city, which can seek $150 to $10,000 fines for code violations, also lets neighbors submit impact statements used by judges to set penalties. <

Code enforcement, combined with a neighborhood plan created by many partners, is invigorating the Fond du Lac and North area two miles from downtown, Department of Community Development spokeswoman Roesann St. Aubin said. <

"Involve as many people as you can," St. Aubin said. "Talk with them and really listen. You've got to keep going back and involving them."