DeKALB — Members of the Annie Glidden North Revitalization Task Force expressed a need to prioritize crime and poverty as the underlying issues contributing to the area’s complications, such as poor lighting and poor property conditions during their second meeting Tuesday.

The Annie Glidden North Revitalization Task Force was established to help with the planning process for the initiative, which engages DeKalb community members and officials in hopes of improving the desirability of the area. All members were appointed by Mayor Jerry Smith and represent different aspects of the community.

Adam Rosa, representative of Camiros, a planning firm focused on neighborhood improvement, presented the committee with information compiled from the previous task force meeting and community meetings. However, the task force was more interested in discussing matters outside of the issues, assets and opportunities established at these meetings.

“I think the safety issue in DeKalb is because of poverty, but the thing here is that we’re still not addressing the issues on how can we sustain people out of poverty,” said Michael Newman, men’s emergency coordinator at Hope Haven, 1145 Rushmoore Drive. “So again, out of all we’ve done, we still haven’t talked about job stability; we haven’t talked about how people can grow from job stability and stop living in poverty opposed to making minimum wage.”

DeKalb Police Chief Gene Lowery also identified poverty as an issue in the community, as he said 32 percent of the community lives at or below poverty.

“Unless you’ve been poor or been impoverished you have no idea what people in poverty face as far as challenges–not only opportunity, housing [and] education,” Lowery said.

Rosa also reviewed the Greek Row Neighborhood Revitalization Plan that was introduced in 2002. The plan addressed many of the same issues being identified within the Annie Glidden North Revitalization Plan.

{{tncms-inline content=”<p>Adam Rosa, representative of Camiros, polled student leadership Nov. 1 about what they thought should be the top priority when revitalizing the Annie Glidden North area.</p> <p>• 68 percent voted crime.</p> <p>• 29 percent voted the lack of entertainment and nightlife amenities.</p> <p>• 3 percent prioritized the vacant movie theatre at 1015 Blackhawk Road.</p>” id=”770a34d6-6cd9-4482-8a96-febf09cbea95″ style-type=”fact” title=”Student feedback” type=”relcontent”}}

Several members of the Annie Glidden North Revitalization Task Force expressed concern about transforming the community and the overall success of the revitalization plan. Those who served on previous revitalization committees, such as the one that was established for the Greek Row initiative, feel the same issues like street lighting are still in need of addressing despite there being multiple revitalization efforts.

A review of the Greek Row plan in 2007 showed 17 of the developed strategies were completed or ongoing, while 10 had not been started, sparking discussion among task force members about how to ensure lasting effects from their revitalization effort.

“I think things have moved forward, but it’s just a matter of going back and checking out what else still is on there that may be valid that should be moved forward,” Rosa said.

Newman said before envisioning such upgrades for the community, the crime and poverty, which are the “meat and potatoes” of the task force’s responsibility, need to be addressed.

“Until we address the people who are living in poverty and the company of the people who live in poverty, we will never get to the cleanup, to the nice ice cream places and the movie theaters, and those things,” Newman said.