MEMPHIS, TN – Mayor A C Wharton is cracking down on gun violence in Memphis. He held his first community meeting in Raleigh-Frayser Monday night to tackle the problem, and look for solutions. People who live and work there called the meeting a "good sign," but said they want more.
Gun violence hit home for Steve Lockwood, who works just steps away from the intersection where a woman was fatally shot.
"About six weeks ago a young mother of, I believe, five small children was murdered in the middle of the intersection 20 feet from here,” said Lockwood, executive director of The Frayser Community Development Corporation. “We think the young guys who were caught for doing it were hiding in the empty building across the street, which is unsecured and in fact doesn’t even have a front door.”
Lockwood hopes Wharton will help turn things around, and called the mayor's community forum about gun violence an important first step.
"I think that aggressive anti-gun enforcement needs to happen,” he said.
Community activist Antonio Parkinson said the problem is complex.
“How do you go after ideas like that when you can go to a gun show and purchase a gun anyway, and you don't have to register when you purchase that gun at a gun show,” he said. “And they have gun shows around here in the Memphis area almost weekly it seems.”
He said the solution is also complex.
“There is a crime issue, but there’s a crime issue all over the city,” he said, “and even worse than the crime issue is the perception of these communities. You don’t walk outside your door and see somebody get killed everyday in the Raleigh-Frayser area.
“My focus would be jobs - jobs, job creation, and workforce development,” he continued. “Getting people into trades, getting people into items they can use to bring money into their households and feed their families.
Lockwood agreed.
“Really offering access to job training to young people in this neighborhood is key,” he said, adding that he believes the mayor should also focus on dilapidated buildings.
"From my standpoint one piece of the puzzle is to get better at and proactive with code enforcement, and to really go after neighborhoods with dilapidated housing,” he said, “and to have an aggressive and effective board up program to seal up buildings that are open to casual entry. It’s been proven by academics that they are havens for crime.”
He believes cleaning up those buildings will help clean up crime.
"I think we could have prevented a murder across the street from us,” he said. “I think if there were not an empty building for people to lurk in, there would not have been 17 and 19 year olds hanging around with guns in their pockets over there."
