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Last weeks’ murders of two Oakland residents in south Berkeley have left the residents of the area calling for the city to clean up what they say is a chronic problem with crime in their neighborhood.  

On Wednesday night, the Berkeley Police Department and a number of city officials responded. 

The BPD hosted a town hall meeting at the Philips Temple CME Church, located at the corner of Adeline and 62nd streets, to discuss the shooting and what residents can do to protect themselves. 

The meeting seemed to portend the birth of a south Berkeley anti-crime coalition, with around 100 residents, representing several neighborhood associations, in attendance.  

Officer Rob Rittenhouse, the BPD’s new area coordinator for south Berkeley, presided at the meeting, and introduced two of his fellow officers: Sgt. Steve Odom, who spoke on personal safety, and Detective William Badour, who gave an update on the investigation into last week’s murders (see sidebar). 

Mayor Shirley Dean, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, representatives from the offices of Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek and Councilmember Margaret Breland, and Tom Myers of the city manager’s office also attended the meeting. 

The heavy attendance by city officials underscored the gravity of the crime situation in south Berkeley – a situation that some say has spun out of control in recent years. 

The BPD recently reported that the area received 259 complaints of drug-related activity in 2001 – far more than in any other area of the city. 

Sgt. Odom’s personal safety presentation was well-received, but several residents became impatient. 

“Why should we have to feel unsafe?” asked area resident Andrea Cesar. “Why can’t the city clean this up?” 

Several groups offered their solidarity with the 62rd St. Neighborhood Association, in whose neighborhood the shootings occurred.  

Ron Casimere, president of the Alcatraz Avenue Neighborhood Association, said that there had to be more communication between south Berkeley neighborhood groups.  

“This whole corridor has a problem,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s taken this incident to get us together.” 

Several community activists that recently fought to close Brother’s Liquors on Shattuck Avenue came to listen and offer their support. The City Council voted to shutter Brother’s Liquors last month, which neighbors alleged was the center of drug and other criminal activity in their neighborhood. 

“There’s a bunch of communities in south Berkeley that are fed up to here,” said Byron Onisko. 

Frank Davis, Jr., president of the Black Property Owner’s Association and a 63-year resident of south Berkeley, said that BPD officers should be assigned to the area for several years at a time. It takes that long, he asserted, for the officers to know the area and be effective. 

The situation in south Berkeley was dire, he said. 

“I look around and I can see this area beginning to blossom in drug activity,” he said.  

After the meeting, Mayor Dean listened to residents’ complaints about several blighted and abandoned homes in the neighborhood, which had become magnets for crime.  

Dean told the residents to write to her and the city manager with the specifics of their problems. She promised them that their concerns would be handled. 

On Thursday, Dean said that the city – with the help of neighborhood residents – would do its best to clean up the area.  

“I’m of the theory that crime will thrive in areas where people are not organized, and where there is evidence of blight,” she said. “What we need to do is make sure that if trees are not trimmed, if there’s run-down houses, if street lights are broken, the city will be there to fix them.” 

On the way out of the building, a resident of 63rd Street cornered Mike Berkowitz, an aide to Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek, who represents the area on the City Council. 

“I’m just questioning (Shirek’s) involvement in our neighborhood,” the 63rd Street resident said. “We feel like we have no representation.” 

Berkowitz said that Shirek was an active supporter of the Berkeley Police Department. He said that she had voted to increase the size of the force, for community policing, and, not least, for the activation of the Communications Tower behind the Public Safety Center. 

“That was a big issue,” he said. “We took a lot of flack for that.” 

Officer Rittenhouse said on Thursday that a follow-up meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 20 at the Philips Church. Interested parties can contact the BPD at 981-5700.