Meriden neighborhood associations thrive

When the Action 13 neighborhood association held a meeting Thursday to provide information for residents looking to start local block watch programs, a crowd of 30 people came out to join the discussion.

Earlier this month, nearly 50 people attended the Dutch Hill association meeting to discuss quality-of-life issues and the largest annual event for the associations, the National Night Out program held at City Park in August, has drawn 3,000 people for two consecutive years.

Neighborhood associations in Meriden have been thriving in recent years, with participation increasing steadily since 2006 and groups, including West Siders, Action 13, City Park and Dutch Hill, have seen increasing numbers of regular attendees at their meetings.

Presidents of the local associations said a shift from crime to quality-of-life issues, such as keeping up good appearances and preventing kids from throwing parties on dead-end streets, focusing on children and a strong partnership with the Meriden Police Department and the police Neighborhood Initiatives Unit have led to the resurgence of these neighborhood associations. As they move toward the future, they said these factors will play a key role in the continued success of these associations.

Officer Fred Rivera, who works on patrol in both the Action 13 and West Sider neighborhoods, said it wasn’t always this way. Just a few years ago, many of the associations were struggling to maintain any regular membership.

“When I first came on to join the department seven years ago, there really weren’t many members and most of these groups weren’t even meeting regularly,” Rivera said. “Now every meeting you come to, neighbors are out and want to get involved.

Declines in participation

Standing on stage during the 2009 National Night Out event, overlooking a crowd that included nearly 3,000 people and more than 60 vendors from organizations across the community, Meriden Council of Neighborhoods president David Swedock couldn’t help but smile. Just five years ago, Swedock could only dream about having that sort of participation at any community event. By the summer of 2004, membership in neighborhood associations was so low that many of the neighborhoods did not host monthly meetings, had no real leadership and in some cases were in danger of going defunct.

Swedock said there were several reasons for the disconnect, but the toughest challenge was finding interested members when police were no longer involved. “Our main problem was the disbanding of the community policing unit in 2001,” Swedock said. “When the officers were no longer involved, it changed the way these associations were able to operate. Without police, these groups are nothing more than a social network.”

What had allowed the associations to thrive was the direct involvement of officers who were dedicated to their neighborhood communities, Swedock said. When the community policing division was cut in 2001, Swedock said that all nearly came to a screeching halt, but several dedicated officers helped keep the associations on life support, explained Swedock. Police officers, including Otero, Timothy Topulous and Michael Zakrzewski volunteered their own time to attend meetings and prevent the neighborhood associations from dying off completely.

The resurgence

When current Police Chief Jeffry Cossette took over, one of his first moves as chief was to work with union members and re-establish the community policing efforts with the new Neighborhood Initiatives Unit. With a strong line of communication re-established between the Police Department and local residents, the department was able to address the petty crimes and nuisances that mattered most to residents.

Meanwhile a move by several associations in 2006 and 2007 to address quality-of-life issues and not just crime has helped foster participation at regular meetings once again. Proactive functions and events help provide positive entertainment for today’s youth and sends a strong message to the community that there is a commitment to happy, healthy living. The associations are also giving informative presentations that can teach residents to protect themselves and their property or can introduce neighbors to the political candidates in their district, said Lisa DeDominicis, president of Action 13.

As associations move to the future, City Park association president Ethel McQuiller said attracting regular participants remains a top priority and said participation is critical in allowing these types of organizations to host annual events. In areas such as Lewis Avenue, associations have also combined efforts to deal with lower participation often triggered by resident turnover when short-term renters move out. By pairing with the Kensington area and Grove Street associations, Swedock said the Lewis Avenue association has maintained active participation.

All of the neighborhood groups have also come together to form the Meriden Council of Neighborhoods, a nonprofit group comprised of members of neighborhood associations throughout the community. Swedock said this collaboration has allowed for funding to support events that would improve quality of life, including National Night Out.

Read the full article: www.MyRecordJournal.com – Meriden neighborhood associations thrive. Jason R. Vallee, Record-Journal staff