Friday, November 13, 2009

Haskell Lives Again


The Haskell Community Center, second home to many Civic Park kids over the years, has been revived yet again.

Laura Angus of The Flint Journal reports:
The Haskell Community Center, located at 2201 Forest Hill Avenue, is now home to a police mini-station serving the city’s 2nd Ward.

Mayor Dayne Walling announced the mini-station’s opening on Wednesday. The center has also been the Police Activities League’s headquarters since July.

Walling said the station is a “no-cost solution to fight crime.” It allows officers to file police reports without driving downtown, and serve as a hub for neighborhood volunteers. “This is what community policing is all about, and it starts with having a place, a center, and anchor in every ward,” said Walling.

Thanks to Randy Gearhart for passing this along.
at 4:53 AM
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14 comments:

  1. That's great. Mr. Thomas and Bob Boch(sp) would be pleased.
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  2. I think it is ironic that the city turns a community center into a police station, instead of opening a community center for it's original purpose. A place for people to be together as a community instead of learning everything on the streets. Maybe they should just cut out the middle man and open neighborhood prisons.
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  3. I'm happy to see that Haskell lives on. Bob Boch (sp) is a name from the past that brings back great memories. He helped lots of kids; especially the ones who were a litle rough around the edges.
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  4. Gerry people won't come to community centers if they are rife with nefarious activity. No one wants a police state but until the crime numbers go way way down parking cops at centers is a mirror of what they did in the South Bronx in the 80's. It certainly was not perfect but at least provided a safe atmosphere for those borderline kids who could stay off the streets "if they wanted too." A lot don't have the choice so this is a step. A giant step.
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  5. It's vital that they expand the P.A.L. activities at Haskell to go along with the mini station. I hope they can find the funds to do it.

    One thing I noticed about Civic Park this summer was how empty it seemed. There was a lot of activity at the stores on Welch Blvd. — almost every single store was occupied by a functioning business — but no one was out on the street. I didn't see any kids. The population, especially in that neighborhood, really seems to be plummeting.
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  6. This may help stabilize and possibly energize a deteriorating neighborhood.
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  7. GeeWhy - it doesn't matter what neighborhood you go to these days, kids are not outside. They are inside watching TV or using some form of gaming system. In my neighborhood, I thought it was mostly elderly people who lived here, until I followed a bus home and it was like a clown car with kids who just don't go outside.
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  8. These days, if you're a parent of an early-teenager and you have the $$$ to get them hooked on *anything* that will keep them indoors... video gaming, posting on this blog, whatever...you're going to do it.

    Particularly if the alternative is for them to go "out" and potentially be exposed to gang culture, drugs, weapons, and the wrong friends.
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  9. I really want to avoid the cliche of being a middle-aged dude who talks about how things were different in the ol' days but...it amazes me that the rule was pretty much I left the house to play in the morning and was expected home before it got dark. Now I didn't always disappear for the entire day, but if there was nothing planned that day, it wouldn't be unusual to be outside for long stretches. I was usually on Delmar Street playing football or whatever, or maybe over at Haskell. Although the cross-city bike rides or races to the Fair on Clio Road and back were also a regular occurrence. And there was the pyro phase when we were setting things on fire or blowing things up, but it was all pretty innocent. And a lot of fun. Not saying I'd ever let my kid do that now, but it is fascinating how quickly the whole dynamic changed, and not just in what are considered rough neighborhoods. Umm, what happened?
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  10. To: geewhy. LACK OF PROPER PARENTING. If they don't get it, they won't give it. They won't know how. unclebuck
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  11. 24 hour news happened. People hear there's a child abduction in Kansas and they think it will happen next door.

    We are also a child-centered generation. I am guilty of having bought every FP toy that I never got for my kid (Ebay and a reason, that's all I needed).

    Some of us have less kids than our parent's had, so we have more focus on one than say... managing
    5's whereabouts.

    We also, don't know our neighbors, and if we do, they aren't like us and so we don't feel comfortable around them. That's my brainstorm on that subject.
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  12. I just hope they don't start knocking down our old buildings like Haskell, Civic Park and the Civic Park homes. We will see.
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  13. WOW, DOES THIS BRING BACK GREAT MEMORIES. TIMES SURE HAVE CHANGED. I REMEMBER WALKING FROM COPEMAN BLVD TO CIVIC PARK, CROSSING BALLENGER HWY AND CUTTING THRU THE WOODS ON THE LONG PATH TO GO TO SCHOOL AS YOUNG AS KINDEGARTEN. I CANNOT HELP BUT REMEMBER BOB BOCK AND JIM DICKEY AT HASKELL. THEY WERE THE GREATEST. WHAT ABOUT THE POT LUCK DINNERS WITH CARTOONS UP ON THE STAGE AFTER DINNER.
    MAN, DOES THIS BRING BACK FANTASTIC MEMORIES. I LISTEN TO OUR GOVERNMENT SAYING THEY NEED TO FIND THINGS FOR CHILDREN TO DO AFTER SCHOOL. IS THAT NOT WHAT THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL PROGRAM PROVIDED YEARS AGO. WE NEED TO LISTEN TO AND REMEMBER OUR HISTORY. DAVID HARTLEY
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  14. I don't blame kids for not going outside any more. I went to Civic Park and Holmes in the 70's and 80's. It was dangerous bank then. I cant imagine what is like now.
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