The Daily Camera
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Neighbors working hard to improve Hill
By Tom Russell
The
University Hill Neighborhood Association was pleased to read last week's guest
opinion from channel 54 videographer Donna Marek (Daily Camera, Jan. 13) titled
"Hill Residents Must Reach Out to
Students.” We couldn't agree more.
The
University Hill Neighborhood Association is an organized group of neighbors working to make
University Hill a safe, diverse, clean, and peaceful neighborhood. (We refer to
our members as Hill Neighbors. See www.hilIneighbors.com) Many Hill Neighbors
grew up on the Hill; some have lived in the neighborhood for more than 50
years. Others among us have young children, and we look to older Hill Neighbors
for guidance. We hope our children may also enjoy growing up in a beautiful,
safe, neighborly community.
The
more than 200 members of our association have made reaching out to
students a priority. The association has hosted meetings open to students,
helped students deal with uncooperative landlords, distributed three
newsletters to student residences, cleaned up student sections of the Hill,
assisted student leaders in preparing pamphlets for student tenants, and
incorporated students into our online discussions. We are eager to enlarge our
conversations with student neighbors and hope that this guest opinion will
prompt some to contact us.
Forging
ties between students and their non-student neighbors is also a priority for
the University Hill Action Group (UHAG). Some have confused the University Hill
Neighborhood Association with UHAG - an easy mistake. UHAG is a City
Council-sponsored task force that includes students, no student Hill residents,
landlords, CU administrators, and Council members. UHAG has made
recommendations about the neighborhood, but UHAG is not a neighborhood group. The
University Hill Neighborhood Association, neighborhood group, supports UHAG's
recommendations.
One-third
of UHAG's members are from CU. UHAG's mission was to "recommend actions to
the city council to improve the quality of life and sense of community
for all in the University Hill neighborhood." One of UHAG's five
themes was "to promote more social activities involving students and
neighbors." UHAG also recommended that the city council "support
events that appeal t6 students and other young people" and "educate
CU students about their responsibilities as good neighbors." UHAG thus
complements the Hill Neighbors' goal of joining with students to improve
the Hill.
Hill Neighbors and UHAG seek enforcement of existing ordinances
in order to better the lives of all Hill residents, including students.
Noise, trash, alcohol, and over-occupancy are issues that we must address to
improve the neighborhood for everyone who lives on or visits the Hill.
Along
with many Hill Neighbors, I am working closely with the Municipal Court on an
innovative approach to neighborhood crime based upon the principles of
Restorative Justice. The aim is simple. In place of heavy fines and weekends in
jail, Restorative Justice substitutes a balanced, facilitated process in which
victims, offenders, and affected community members share their stories and
begin to understand one another.
Restorative
Justice seeks to make offenders accountable, educate them about their crime's
impact upon the neighborhood, repair the harms to the extent possible, and
support and encourage the offenders to make better future choices. Already,
criminal justice professionals around the country are looking to the Hill
Neighbors-Municipal Court Restorative Justice project as a model for use in
other communities.
Hill Neighbors are very supportive of Sergeant Stewart
and her new team of Boulder Police Officers on the Hill. The new Hill officers
introduced themselves at our most recent meeting and impressed us with their
positive attitude toward all members of our neighborhood. When we can, we help
the police keep our neighborhood safe. We also worry about the safety of our
Hill officers, remembering that in 1997, Hill rioters dropped a cinder block on
a police officer's head, permanently disabling her.
We
cooperate with the police. However, last week's guest editorialist falsely
claimed that our members have infiltrated students’ parties with hidden
cameras. Never have any members entered student parties uninvited, and we have
not secretly filmed violence and/or underage alcohol activities in order to
provide evidence to the Police. We do have cameras, and we have taken startling
pictures of piles of newspapers and other trash.
We
feel increasing momentum in the Hill's improvement. The members of the
University Hill Neighborhood Association are pleased to continue working with
our student neighbors, UHAG, City Council, the Boulder Police Department, city
employees, the municipal court, University of Colorado, and Hill businesses.
Working together, we are preserving University Hill's tradition as great
neighborhood.
(Tom Russell is a Hill resident, father of two young
children, and a University of Denver law professor. Contact him at HYPERLINK "mailto: tomrussell@hillneighbors.com
" tomrussell@hillneighbors.com
To learn more about Restorative Justice, call Loree Greco at the Municipal Court, 303-441-4039)
January 20, 2001
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