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Letter to Neighborhood Services Calling for Action
I sent the following letter via email to the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Ms. Rita Murphy, on Friday, June 15, 2007.
In this letter I pose a number of questions to which I believe I will never receive an answer from any city official without my taking legal action. However, in a future posting, I will answer these questions to the best of my ability.
I also posit some actions that the City may take in order to avoid a repeat of this incident.
Dear Ms. Murphy,
I've called your office several times the last few days and have left messages requesting you to return my call, but I have not yet received a call back from you. I had a conversation with Col. Esserman this week as well as Lt. Schiavulli, our District 8 Commander. I have been told that you are the person to talk to about the break down in the system that caused the horrible incident, Sunday, June 10th.
I now have a copy of the police report. Have you read it?
What happened is inexcusable. Four officers hurt and the entire community disrupted and shamed. What my wife and I went through that day we never wish to experience again. The event was out of control from 5 o'clock on. With live rappers blasting profane lyrics about "EastSide Niggarz" "motherfucking" this and that, "fucking ho's", and "fucking bitches" while children as young as 5 and six years old milled around and listened to this.
A steady stream of drug deals took place right in front of my house on Locust St. I witnessed 4 transactions where cash changed hands for drugs. Many more took place down the street where I could not see the actual transaction. The ones I saw, I saw from my front windows and deck.
And then Camp street was blocked with over 150 people milling about drunk and high on drugs blocking both the street and sidewalk.
We would like an investigation and a written report detailing just what went wrong, including a time line detailing the following:
1) when was the permit pulled,
2) for whom was it pulled,
3) who pulled it
3) what did the permit allow
4) what type of permit is required for live or recorded music from any type of PA system
5) what is the allowable volume in decibels for music allowed under the correct permit
6) why wasn't the person whose name was on the permit supervising the event.
7) why was Camp Street allowed to be closed off illegally
8) why weren't the police notified of the event when the permit was pulled.
8) why wasn't police action taken after they received numerous calls for service complaining about the event and before the event got out of control and it took over 20 officers to quell the disturbance.
9) were the terms of the DPW permit application met, per insurance requirements, per entertainment license for music, per allowable volume per DPW guidelines as clearly stated on the DPW Street Closing guidelines on the permit application which is available online in PDF form on the city website.
Once a report is completed, we would then like to see your suggestions for protocols to be put into place that would prevent this from happening again, including:
1) a look at the permitting process,
2) a look at the way the police are notified of events,
3) a method for the police to confirm that the proper permits are in place before letting an event commence.
4) is this type of event, commemorating the death of someone involved in criminal activity, appropriate for a public park?
5) And would it be logical to require the person who pulled a permit to be on the site, with the permit in hand the entire duration of the event?
6) Would it be logical to require that the sponsoring party, the permit holder produce the permit at the request of the police?
7) Would it be logical that if a permit is not in order or if the event exceeds what the permit allows the police should shut it down immediately?
And then, after the proper steps have been taken, it would be prudent to distribute written guidelines to each and every officer as to how to handle these types of situations in the future.
I believe that it is possible for the Cicilline administration to put in reforms that would insure that the chances of such an incident happening again in this manner would be slim to none.
Am I asking for anything unreasonable given the seriousness of the problem? Will the administration wait until a policeman or a citizen is killed before acting?
I urge you to consult with Mayor Cicilline and to consider my request and my suggestions. If you disagree with anything I've written, or if you think this is not a serious matter that deserves your attention, then let's set up a meeting so we can discuss these concerns in person.
I urge you and the Mayor both to read the police report.
Ignoring a problem will not make it go away.
Sincerely,
John Twomey
Greater Camp Concerned Citizens
Posted at June 20, 2007 03:46 PM
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