“Safe Houses”

WASILLA — The growing movement to improve the Williwaw subdivision’s bad reputation and tackle the massive amounts of crime and vagrancy is picking up momentum as the community is learning to support one another while continuing to work with the Mat-Su Borough and law enforcement to clean up their neighborhood.

More than 30 people showed up to the very first Williwaw neighborhood watch meeting. Michael Fernandez, the resident who spearheaded the movement, is meeting with Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle. Assembly member Ted Leonard, whose district includes Williwaw, and his wife, District 7 State House Representative Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, have begun to speak with Deputy Borough Manager George Hays about where to go from here. Topics like the idea of annexing Williwaw into the greater city of Wasilla, increased Alaska State Trooper presence, and Borough trash and clean up codes and enforcement will be discussed.

After getting their Neighborhood Watch sign with the iconic eyeball, which helped prompt a letter from Borough Mayor Vern Halter pleading with Gov. Bill Walker for more state troopers, Fernandez and residents like Michelle Swan are happy to see their neighborhood come together and take the first steps. They know they have a long, road to go before their vision of a safer neighborhood where kids can play in the front yard is realized. They hope that their continued efforts will be joined after hearing about other areas like Meadow Lakes speaking out about similar problems with crime, “cleaning up one neighborhood at a time.”

Belinda Bohanan has been an AST office assistant for over 10 years and currently coordinates the neighborhood watch nonprofit program in the Valley, taking it on after the Borough dropped the service about five years ago. Without the Borough overseeing Neighborhood Watch operations, Bohanan volunteers her time to meet with various neighborhoods and groups to help them learn how to start a watch in their area. She led a slideshow presentation for Williwaw residents, giving an overview of the first steps needed to start a neighborhood watch, what it takes, and how to better protect your home and deter criminals. She said it’s unfortunate that one of the oldest neighborhoods in the Valley seems “unfinished” and with such a bad reputation.

“People are afraid to let their children out after dark. It’s everywhere in the Valley. A lot of it comes from Anchorage and a lot of it is just here. Good for them to try and turn it around,” Bohanan said.

With a decade of experience at the Palmer Post, Bohanan has seen frustration on both sides, from the citizens and from law enforcement. She said that on top of working with local authorities, residents should catalogue all of their valuable items by listing them, writing down serial numbers, and taking pictures. She said that pawn shops now have a shared database and has successfully worked with authorities to recover items in the past. Proving ownerships may be annoying to start but has proven to be necessary, she said.

“People get the impression that we’re not doing anything but they need to give us something to work with,” Bohanan said.

Aside from her work with AST and coordinating neighborhood watch, Bohanan also serves on the board for the Valley’s Crime Stoppers. She’s noticed the last five years have been especially problematic with increased crime across the Borough. She’s done six presentations with Meadow Lakes in the past year. She said that in spite of the reason for gathering, her greatest reward is seeing a community come together like the residents of Williwaw, who have to do their part to take care of their piece of the Valley’s crime problem.

“We gotta step up and we gotta help our community,” Bohanan said.

She said she feels sympathy for people living in Williwaw who feel forgotten about and scared to walk the streets. When it comes to establishing a neighborhood network, communication and planning are key, as described in her presentation. She said that for this to work, everyone in the neighborhood should act like it’s the “good old days,” and greet every newcomer and get to know every neighbor, thus establishing a sense who’s safe and who wants to be in their network of “safe houses.” The theory is that in the event of an emergency or when someone needs to watch their kids, established “safe houses” will be the go to places everyone thinks of when the time comes to call on them. This idea resonated with most of the Williwaw watchers.

“When you say Williwaw, people think bad things. Not everyone there is bad. You could see that by last night,” Bohanan said.

The Williwaw watchers are planning a neighborhood clean-up day that wraps up with a big block party April 21, complete with barbecued food and a castle-shaped bounce house donated by Bouncing Bears. One Williwaw mother was thankful for feeling like their voices being heard, encouraged by Halter’s letter, the Neighborhood watch meeting and the generosity of the Bouncing Bears owner. Fernandez is making his rounds through the neighborhood to introduce himself and let people know about their movement. He said that he’s already added three new residents to the cause by knocking on doors.

“This subdivision, comprised of over 380 homes, falls outside the City of Wasilla resulting in our only means of public protection comes from our State Troopers. This area is notorious for crime, which includes drug paraphernalia, drug use, drug trafficking, theft, assault, and murder, among only some of the kinds of criminal behavior.” Halter wrote to Walker in his letter address his concerns about Williwaw, asking for more AST in the Valley.

Bohanan said that on a given shift, there are about five Troopers to serve an area roughly the size of West Virginia.

This is part two of a four-part series. In the next edition, the Frontiersman will reveal how surrounding businesses areas have been affected crime stemming from Williwaw, what the elected officials have to say after meeting with Fernandez, statistics on crime in the area, and the history of how Williwaw became what it is today.