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ALTON -- The former police "substation" at Sixth and Ridge streets is getting spruced up to reopen in April as a community center to bring neighbors together and discourage crime.
"It will be a spot where there is positive activity in the neighborhood," said Bruce Bertolino, site coordinator of the Alton Weed and Seed Strategy. He said Weed and Seed and other community groups would be able to use the first floor for meeting space at the future Ridge Street Community Center/Safe Haven.
Bertolino also said Alton police officers and cadets, as well as parole and probation workers, also will be able to use the facility as a place to meet with people or write reports. He said when the authorities’ vehicles are parked in an area, their presence discourages criminal activity, at least during that time.
A former police chief in the 1990s established the substation when he implemented a community policing program. Police, then Weed and Seed, have used the storefront space on and off since then, but they discontinued its use about 18 months ago when the furnace went out.
Since then, Ed Kreitner bought the building.
On Feb. 26, the Alton City Council voted to allow Alton Mayor Don Sandidge to sign a letter of agreement with Weed and Seed strategy, the Alton Police Department and Kreitner Properties and Leasing to rent the first floor for $6,000 through March 31, 2009.
The money is what is left of the funding for Alton’s five-year, Weed and Seed program from the U.S. Department of Justice, Alton Police Chief Chris Sullivan said. Although the federally sponsored program has ended in Alton, Weed and Seed activities continue. The Police Department is paying Bertolino’s salary through this year, and his office is remaining at Saint Clare’s Hospital..
The future community center/safe haven is getting coats of paint and new windows, Bertolino said. Some of the work crew also were working on the building’s exterior last week.
The main floor of the building has a kitchenette and restroom; Bertolino said there is an apartment upstairs that Kreitner will rent to another tenant.
Bertolino said he has yet to work out hours when the community center/safe haven will be open and specifics of its use.
"We are going to work out how we use it as we go along," he said. "This will stabilize the neighborhood, if nothing else."
linda_weller@thetelegraph.com
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