http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/2 ... 60334/1007

By Lydia Seabol Avant
Staff Writer

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By the numbers

Calls for Police Service in Northport’s mobile home parks in 2006:
52: Jones Trailer Park
71: Quail Bridge
74: Willow Brook
79: Airport Mobile Home Park
791: Green Village

NORTHPORT | Patrol officers like Northport policewoman Kelly McCarley drive through the streets of Green Village motor home park seven or more times a day, answering calls and trying to keep crime down in the neighborhood.

But it’s a difficult job.

For the past 20 years, the area has been plagued with drugs, prostitution, dog fights and even murder, according to local law enforcement.

During the last 12 months, from June 2006 to June 2007, Northport City Police have responded to 791 calls to the mobile home park -- an average of about two calls a day. During the same time period, Northport had 14,831 calls for the entire city. Northport’s four other mobile home parks had 74 calls or fewer during the same time period.

“This is our number one problem area," said Northport Police Chief Robert Green.

Something might be done about it – by not just removing the crime, but by removing the neighborhood altogether.

“My goal is to have that entire trailer park removed," said Northport councilman Scott Collins. “Certainly that involves displacing some residents, and I’m sympathetic to some of those residents. But something has to be done."

With a prime location directly off of Highway 82 near Wal-Mart and the new Lowe’s, the property is ideal for commercial development. Collins hopes that the property owners will work collectively to sell their parcels together to a developer.

“Under the current situation, no one benefits," Collins said. “The residents don’t benefit because it’s unsafe, the city doesn’t benefit because it gets no revenue and it costs money in police and emergency services, the property owners don’t benefit because they can’t sell their property and can’t sell their home," Collins said.

Of the 200 mobile homes in Green Village, fewer than 10 are owner occupied, according to local residents. The majority of the homes are rented to low-income families, including a population of immigrant workers who pay $150 a month or more for a single trailer. Some of the trailers contain two or three families per trailer, according to law enforcement.

But, that could soon stop.

The Northport City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that makes it illegal for more than two adults to live in a bedroom.

Northport’s environmental officer will soon start making on sight head counts to determine how many people are living in a residence. If there are more than allowed, a notice will be sent and the residents will be forced to comply or be fined $500 or spend six months in jail.

Green said crime started before the overcrowding in Green Village began. But, Collins said he believes the two are directly correlated. He was shocked at the number of calls for police service in the neighborhood.

“I was a policeman for seven years and a chief investigator for the District Attorney’s Office, and I can’t think of another location in this area that I’ve seen that had such a high concentration of calls for police service," Collins said. “I think the crime is a result of the overcrowding, because the increase of calls coincides with the increase in the [residents] of the neighborhood."

During the early 1980’s, Green Village was relatively low-crime, Collins said.

The calls to Green Village during the last year accounted for about 5 percent of the city’s total number of calls the Northport Police received. Most of the calls are assault related, or domestic violence, Green said, although the city’s one murder during the last year occurred in Green Village.

To help target that crime, the Northport City Council passed its own local prostitution ordinance in May to target prostitutes in the neighborhood. An undercover drug bust in January also helped reduce the drug-related crime, although it is still a problem, said McCarley.

While patrol officers like McCarley drive through the Green Village streets regularly on their beats, other police officers that patrol other areas of the city are also asked to drive through Green Village..

“They’ve told us, whenever we have time to come through here," McCarley said.

But, in the short run, Collins hopes the City will soon jumpstart the demolition of Green Village by tearing down an old brick community building at the center of the neighborhood, which the city owns.

On the door of the community center is a weathered American Legion sign, although the building has been vacant for years. In the back, the neighborhood swimming pool has been filled in. Chickens sometimes run amock where the Green Village basketball court once stood.
“That area has to be cleaned up," Collins said. “I would like to see the city clear that lot, and that be the start."

Reach Lydia Seabol Avant at Lydia.seabol@tuscaloosanews

or 205-722-0222.