At town hall meeting, Atlantans vent about crime

At a standing-room-only town hall meeting Thursday night in Atlanta to talk about perceptions of worsening crime in the city, a woman tearfully said her home has been burglarized five times.

One man said he did not want to hear furloughs used as an excuse for not being able to track down criminals.

“I’m not going to accept that … [crime] is something we are going to have to live with,” said Steven Lee, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Merchants Association.

The meeting was hosted by City Council President Lisa Borders at Cascade United Methodist Church in southwest Atlanta.

Residents have held rallies, complained to city leaders and have set up Web sites in recent weeks to discuss their concerns about crime. The complaints are further exacerbated by recent city-ordered furloughs on police officers and firefighters.

“The perception is we are not hearing you,” Borders told the crowd of about 300 people. “We want to hear from you.”

Police Chief Richard Pennington told the audience that overall crime rose citywide by 4 percent between 2007 and 2008, largely because of a rise in property crime. The chief said burglaries increased 14 percent from 2007 to 2008 and car theft rose by 17 percent during the same time frame.

Officials asked residents to do a better job of watching out for their neighbors by setting up e-mail networks to alert each other about possible criminal activity.

“You have to get more involved. You have to pay attention,” Pennington told the audience.

Also, Borders said she wants to create a Community Improvement District along the Cascade Road business area that will allow commercial property owners to tax themselves to pay for additional police and fire protection.

— Staff writer Tim Eberly contributed to this article.