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Taking Back A North Escambia Neighborhood
September 27, 2010
Just a few short weeks ago, Nikki Kight was afraid to walk across her street to the park with her grandson. John Argerenon would not go out at night. They were, in their words, prisoners in their homes in the Cantonment neighborhood they have called home for years.
“You wouldn’t want to come in this neighborhood at night because of the teen punks,” Argerenon said. “You would not want to be right here on this street.”
Argerenon — who has spent a large portion of his adult life in the little triangular neighborhood bounded by Lakeview, Forrest and Escambia avenues – said fear kept him and his neighbors inside. In addition to the criminal element, he said the neighborhood was plagued with trash, abandoned houses and junk cars.
“This place was trash big time,” he said.
Now, it’s a quiet little neighborhood, not far from the ballparks on Well Line Road. The streets are closely lined by little concrete block homes built in the early 1950’s. On a weekday morning, the neighborhood Harvester Homes Park is quiet while the neighborhood children are in school. Neighbors greet neighbors as they check their mail. They ask about each other, about their children.
“Neighbors can be neighbors again,” said Kight. “It’s the way it is suppose to be.”
The change was orchestrated by the Community Oriented Policing Unit of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department. The unit called for help from Escambia County Code Enforcement, the Escambia County Road Department, Escambia County Parks and Recreation and the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority.
“It wasn’t one man, or one department,” said Deputy John Moore, the Escambia County Sheriffs’ Office Community Oriented Policing officer assigned to the Cantonment area. “All of our (Cantonment) precinct deputies and all of the other departments worked together in a combined effort to clean it up.”
Inoperable vehicles were towed. About 25 residents were cited by code enforcement, mostly for trash and junk in the yards. ECUA removed “lots” of trash. And the increased presence of the Sheriff’s Office let it be known that time was up for the “thugs” that held the neighborhood hostage.
“We were not in here trying to arrest them,” Moore said. “We were in here as partners in the community and as a resource. The potential problems moved away.”
“He got out here and got to know us,” Kight said of Deputy Moore. “He knows my name. That’s the way it used to be; you would know the name of the policeman in your neighborhood.”
Kight said she knows the Escambia Sheriff’s Office will remain in the neighborhood, and she welcomes the sight of a deputy’s car on Lakeview Avenue. But, she said, the community is missing just one little thing to make it complete.
“We have a park over there,” she said, pointing across from her home. “But there’s no place to sit out of the sun now that we go over there. We need a pavilion, or a cover or something. But at least the kids can go outside now. ”
Pictured top: Deputy John Moore shakes hands with Nikki Kight in the Lakeview Avenue area of Cantonment. Pictured above and below: The Harvester Homes subdivision off Well Line Road in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
20 Responses to “Taking Back A North Escambia Neighborhood”
wow makes me wonder why the dope houses busted?
AGREE AGREE AGREE TOTALLY SAID PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!
I live in this neighborhood and pay taxes… never received any free thrash pick up or anything else. THAT’S BECAUSE I MAINTAIN MY OWN YARD. These run the streets all night sleep all day druggies don’t work or clean up their yards so they receive tax payers dollars to pay their bills, clothe and feed their kids and NOW clean their yards too!
It’s sad and pathetic! Continue to reward these people for being thrash and they will just teach their kids the same values and it will continue to occur.
I have lived here almost my whole life, raised with right values and didn’t go to drugs for a living or a hobby. It’s not the neighborhood, it’s the people and their lack of values these days. I can walk outside and point to every house in this neighborhood and tell you what they’re selling, snorting, smoking and cooking. I have seen here recently people drive by and jump out and beat people down. I have witnessed people walking down the roads with guns over drug issues. I have had people screaming in the middle of the night at the top of their lungs over money/drug issues. Shortly after all these events the cops ride thru and NOTHING happens. I have made the chain of command complaints and it seems to “die” down for a few days. It’s NOT fixed and it never will be because the people that are the continuos issues never have to pay for the laws they break, the drugs they sling or the obstruction they cause.
WELCOME TO THE TRUTH! IT’S NEVER GOING TO CHANGE, until a poor innocent child out playing in that park pictured above is shot and killed because some loosers drug deal went bad. So all of my fellows neighbors dealing your drugs and cooking your meth, I hope my home doesn’t get shot up or blown up by your lab when karma catches you.
a waste for sure!!! may have got some of the garbage cleaned up but still all the drugs n drama is still there…. i no 4 houses n that neighboorhood myself that are nothing but drugies n drugdealers….. A WASTE OF THE TAXPAYERS MONEY… This neighboorhood has been the same way since i was a kid so if u live there and just now all of a sudden having worries mabye u should get ur kid outta that enviroment…. cause the drugs trash n drama has been there for many of years…
I just know i would never let my kids grow up there
I have to admit I took a look at the pictures and just noticed that I have
talked to this cop at some time and was actually impressed with him.
I do hope I wasn’t wrong and he is doing the right thing for this neighborhood.
Why is it that so many ppl don’t know real values anymore?
I love the part about the fact that they weren’t arresting anybody they
were just making them move on.
SO if they WERE cleaning out this neighborhood, which there seems
to be some disagreement about, then they just RAN IT OVER TO SOMEBODY
ELSE’S NEIGHBORHOOD!
i DON’T KNOW….. IS IT JUST ME…. or does this sound like a waste of
tax payers money?
I live just a couple of blocks from this area and know a few people who do live in the village and never knew there was a problem there. My children have walked to that park a number of times (daytime) and never had a problem. Glad to know now though. I see children playing down that road everytime I pass it and would have never thought a problem existed. Hopefully with this article being published it may let those “thugs” realize that these people want their safe community back and are not going to tolerate the nonsense anymore.
Are you serious? Nothing about the neighborhood has changed. The same people that are the problem are still running the show but they’re just making friends with the deputies so they aren’t caught. Ask any honest Deputy the problem houses and this interview might of gone a little differently with a different persons perspective. The drug houses are still the drug houses, the thugs are still running loose all hours of the day/night and the people that really do try hard to earn an honest living and work hard to provide for their families but are still held hostage in their own neighborhood by drug slinging-gun carrying-meth head slummin-non working-pathetic human beings that NOTHING will happen to because by time the cops do show up they’re hiding out inside their homes. Well that son is the truth. AMEN!
Its great we have law enforcement in this area. I do wonder why I have to pay to have garbage pick up . I clean my yard I cut the grass in the ditch that is owned by Escambia county I am making payments on a lawn mower Why should these people get their junk removed for free I payed 500.00 when I rented a contained to put old shed in I tore down ‘I work I pay taxes as well as my wife. . Why is this free for these people.
The neighbor hood is still in control of the drug dealers and the thugs who still run the streets at all hours of the day and knight. The increased patrolling of police has helped . There are still car,trucks,vans and Rvs in the neighborhood that don’t run and are still here.because they are in a yard are behind a fence nothing seems to happen. The park is a good thing with a steel pipe fence for a safe place for the children to play as long as the people who drink beer or sell drugs stay out it and away from it.
Hard to be anti ECSD when they do good stuff like this.
Great job Deputies!
REGARDING:
“Thuggery should not be tolerated.”
Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated. Thuggery should not be tolerated.
I just thought it bore repeating.
David for good thoughts and truth
In the late 50’s we lived on Lakeview and then it was a quiet neighborhood where we all knew everyone and helped each other. I am so happy the ECSO stepped up to the plate and helped this little community. We all need to be on the lookout for trouble in our neighborhoods and do something before it gets out of hand. Congrats. to the residents & ECSO for this clean-up.
Oh, I am so proud to see it working! People should not have to worry about where they live. That is what the poor people our boys are fighting for in other parts of the world have to live like. Maybe, somehow, they can fix up the park. I am familiar with that area and it has such a great potential to be a nicer neighborhood. Thanks to ECSO!
This my fellow Northescambier’s is the way to take back the streets from the criminals.It is done by neighbors and law enforcement working together. The citizens of this country will take back what is theirs, one street,one neighborhood,one city at a time.I am glad to see some good news.A.W THOMPSON MOSQUITO FLATS,FLORIDA
Fear kept them inside? Just what was this criminal element mentioned? What kinds of crimes were happening?
Good work Escambia Sheriff’s Office!!!
I grew up in this neighborhood 35 years ago. We used to look out after each others house and each other. We played ball at this park because there was no equipment as you see today. It started looking like a slum area 10 to 15 years with no pride taken in the houses or yard (there are some that look good). Clean up the house and yards and it will help to instill pride in the area. There are a lot of good people and parents in this area, they just needed some help from outside resources to remove the unwanted behaviours.
Cantonment has changed in alot of places. The Cantonment officers seem to care about our community. Now we just have to work with them to continue to make our community stay safe. Thanks to all of them.
This is a great story. When moms can’t take their babies to the park without fear in the day time—law enforcement is failing. Thuggery should not be tolerated.