When Karen Nelson-Hughes saw her 8-year-old son cowering in fear on the floor of her car, she knew she had to say something.
Nelson-Hughes stepped to the microphone at Frederick Lutheran Church on Wednesday night and recounted the story of how a man aggressively panhandling outside her car door at Wendy’s verbally assaulted her with a string of profanities.
She said that as she drove off she turned around and didn’t see her son. He had climbed down from his seat to hide on the car floor.
“My son was terrified,” said Nelson-Hughes, an employee at International Capital and Management Company. “The real problem needs to be addressed. It’s the same people at the same location all the time. I feel very strongly about that.”
Downtown Revitalization Inc. held a forum in downtown Charlotte Amalie for residents to speak about security concerns in the area. This is the third forum DRI has held. The theme of the night was “Feeling Secure In Our Downtown.”
A panel of interfaith clergy spoke about attempting to “spiritualize” the city. A panel of mental health officials talked about issues related to the mentally challenged and drug dependent. And a group of school students talked about writing letters to President Obama.
However, most of these conversations were eventually diverted back to the issues of crime, vagrancy and homelessness downtown and what to do about it.
Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church Senior Pastor Harvard Stephens Jr. led a discussion on how spiritual leaders can positively impact downtown culture but invariably the discussion led back to their experiences with crime. Stephens said his church no longer holds New Year’s Eve services because of fear of shootings.
The Rev. Jeff Neevel of Reformed Church of St. Thomas said break-ins in the church’s parking lot are a weekly occurrence, so much so, they’ve installed several surveillance cameras to supply the police with footage of the culprits.
Capt. Daniel Hazeldine, pastor and Salvation Army regional coordinator, said an individual pulled a knife on someone recently in the soup kitchen.
Rabbi Stephen Moch of Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas said that last month after a meeting his church members walked out to a gun battle on Garden St.
“That was an interesting scene seeing all of us duck into dark alleys,” Moch said. “
The Rev. Franklyn Manners, superintendent minister of St. Thomas/St. John circuit and pastor of Christchurch Methodist, stressed not to despair over security issues downtown.
“We get the good, bad and ugly but one step in the right direction is to promote a sense of community,” Manners said.
DRI President David Bornn encouraged spirited dialogue but also to address problems with solutions.
“Its time for us to look at ourselves,” Bornn said.
After moving for DRI to pass an amendment to its Articles of Incorporation expressly designating itself as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization, Bornn outlined DRI’s mission statement. He pointed to DRI’s five-step plan toward downtown revitalization: parking and traffic control, harbor transportation, mixed-use development, public safety and beautification/historic preservation.
“Each has its own element to promote revitalization that has sub-elements that compete with each other,” Bornn said.
Mental health professionals discussed the psychological effects of residents who sense a lack of security downtown while suggesting ideas to help the mentally ill on the island. Dr. Lori Thompson of Insight Psychological Services of St. Thomas suggested creating mobile units where nurses give out prescriptions or free transport of patients to and from treatment facilities.
Elise deNova, assistant director of Division of Mental Health, Alcoholism and Drug Dependency Services, challenged the crowd of 30 to refrain from blaming all of downtown’s problems on the homeless, mentally ill or chemically dependent.
“No matter how you see them, they do have rights,” deNova said. “A person who is mentally ill or chemically dependent may be smelly, dirty and grimy but they are not stupid. They know when they’re being made fun of.”
DeNova also pointed out the territory applied for a federal grant in 2011 to upgrade the system that provides mental health services to children and their families. The grants would’ve helped the Virgin Islands establish a System of Care framework for treatment – a holistic approach involving collaboration between government and private agencies, providers, families and children. She claims the funds were withdrawn for political reasons.
Students from the Yvonne Bowsky Elementary School talked about their project to write letters to the White House, which President Obama eventually responded to. Fifth-grader Robert Philpot read his letter imploring the President to fix the city’s crime problem and answered questions on why he chose that topic.
“I just really don’t want to see people acting like that here,” Philpot said.
