Police address Norton Avenue problems
By Maggie DeMellier
NORTON — Long before residents and business owners in the Norton Avenue area addressed Norton City Council and officials at the June 26 council meeting, police have been aware of and addressing problems in the area.
Police determined many of the problems involving vandalism, theft, loitering and other crimes stemmed from individuals living in a house on Norton Avenue across from Cristo’s House of Pizza, a restaurant whose manager spoke at the meeting, asking council for help in dealing with criminal activity in the restaurant parking lot and surrounding area.
Residents living on Gardner Boulevard,
Hawthorne Avenue and Overlook and Hartzell drives also
complained about people who appeared to be living at
that address.
“We learned that the house
in question is a Section 8, under the control of the
Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority,” said Norton
Police Chief Greg Carris, “and we inquired of
them whether the rental was being used according to
their guidelines.”
He said police determined the
woman who rented the house was allowing young men and
women to stay in the garage, and added that the house
had become a flop- house
for known troublemakers. Ironically, Carris said, the
woman told police she moved from Akron to Norton to
get away from neighborhood problems with crime.
Police contacted a Lakewood man
who owns the residence and were eventually told an eviction
notice would be sent to the renter.
“We aren’t sure,
but we think they have moved out,” Carris said
in an interview July 17. “We haven’t had
recent calls regarding
trouble with that house.”
No one answered the door that
day, and no one appeared to be there. Neighbors said
they thought the people who lived there had moved.
Carris said police were continuing
their increased patrol in the area and that a trailer
park in the neighborhood also generates additional police
calls. He urged residents and business owners to be
vigilant and keep police informed. “Just
the fact that neighbors keep their eyes and ears open
and call us if they notice anything suspicious goes
a long way toward resolving the problems,” he
said. “For example, we were dealing with the problems
at that house, but residents’ complaints gave
us more information we could act on.”
Norton Community Development
Director Jeff Pritchard said the city attempted to establish
a housing maintenance code that
would have been helpful in dealing with the problems
in the Norton Avenue area, but council voted it down
after some residents complained it was too restrictive.
He was referring to an ordinance
to adopt a new Building and Housing Code regulating
the maintenance of properties and structures, which
was up for vote at the April 10 council meeting.
At that meeting, councilmen Tom
Jones, Ken Braman, James Price and
William Mowery voted against the ordinance after citizens,
who perceived it as governmental intrusion, voiced their
opposition to the legislation at council and committee
meetings.
“Had that ordinance passed,
it would have given us (city officials) a tool to use
to investigate and, if necessary, act on citizen complaints
about neighboring properties,” Pritchard said.
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