By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterFROM A choking 79 murders for the first six months of 2002, and 40 for the same period last year, the communities of Tel Aviv and Southside in central Kingston have now become the envy of other inner-city communities.
Both communities have recorded no more than two murders since January, thanks to social interventions by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a desire by citizens to reclaim their communities, and the police implementing more user-friendly law enforcement activities.
DIFFERENCE
Persons inside and outside these communities are seeing the difference and have had much to say about it.
One such person is Francis Kennedy, chief projects officer at Grace, Kennedy and Company Ltd., which is located near Southside.
He said the company last year developed the Grace and Staff Development Foundation in which staff members make monthly contributions to the Foundation. This, he said, amounts to $250,000 monthly, but increases to $750,000 a month when the company triples double the sum.
As part of the initial thrust to get the two warring communities together, the management of the Grace and Staff Foundation invited leaders of both communities to regular meetings.
"We found that nobody was talking to each other," Mr. Kennedy told The Gleaner.
That was the melting point when the acrimony and ill-will began to fester.
"We never closed a meeting without hammering out a solution to a particular problem or issue," he said, noting that past meetings have often gone on up to midnight.
Victor Cummings, the Central Kingston Member of Parliament, said yesterday that a lack of communication between the former rival communities resulted in the unacceptable number of murders that frequently dogged the communities.
That has changed, he said.
EXCHANGED NUMBERS
"They've (residents) exchanged numbers with each other in contrast to the fact that they weren't talking to each other, so anytime there's a problem, they reach out to each other and talk," he explained.
This month end the constituency will have its website up and running, to highlight some of the positive happenings there.
For his part, Superintendent Carlton Wilson, head of the Kingston Central Police Division, said very little crime had been reported in Tel Aviv and Southside since the police implemented a police post in the south of the division last April. He also acknowledged the important role NGOs have been playing.
"That (effort) more or less got the warring factions speaking to each other and implementing measures to prevent crimes going on," he said.
The superintendent told The Gleaner that no more than two murders had been committed in both communities, but the suspects, for whom arrest warrants have been prepared, have fled the area.
"This is a success story given the history of both communities," declared Supt. Wilson.
