East Columbia residents address neighborhood disparities at first meeting

Dozens of east Columbia residents discussed things they believe would improve their community at the city’s first neighborhood meeting Thursday evening.

“I want my community to be better,” said Angela Whitman, who recently moved to her home on Quail Drive from Ferguson. “I want it to get better, sound better and feel better.”

“It’s really easy to complain about what’s wrong in your community,” said Holly Sturek, another east Columbia resident who attended the neighborhood meeting. “This is how change actually happens and this is how you can feel more empowered to do things.”

Many residents voiced their concerns of gun violence and not feeling safe in their neighborhoods. Others wanted to see improvements to their sidewalks and lighting in the area.

“You can’t say that one side is better than the other side if we all are a community,” Whitman said. “I want my community to look like Rock Bridge community where you walk outside and you don’t see any trash, where they got all the lights and all the sidewalks. I want that too.”

Other residents discussed needing a space for children to stay out of trouble and the city agrees it’s needed.

“We need a building, a church, something where they come and can be community,” said Judy Hubbard, a neighborhood outreach specialist for the city. “They want that, but pulling that together and having a place to call their own is really important to building community.”

The city announced Thursday it would be adding two police officers to the department’s Community Outreach Unit. Those officers will be assigned to building relationships with residents in the Slyvan Lane and Whitegate Drive area.

“This neighborhood has shown a spike recently in violent crime and we wanted to address that,” said Sgt. Mike Hestir, with the Columbia Police Department.

According to CPD, officers have responded to that area of Columbia 20 times in the past 18 months for reports of shots fired or shots heard.

In April 2016, 24-year-old Gabrielle Rhodes was shot and killed in the area. No arrests have been made in the case.

“I think the expansion of the COU team shows the investment by the city in the police department in the community policing model,” Hestir said. “We still have to go to calls that are in progress, but this unit is able to dig deeper into causes and address problems long term.”

The new officers will start with the unit in the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, residents said they felt confident that a change was possible after Thursday’s meeting.

“In order to be a successful community, you have to get involved,” Whitman said. “When people know that they’re a part of something, they’ll take pride in it.”

The city will hold another east neighborhood meeting on July 11.