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$120M project, drop in crime boosts neighborhood

Dayton police Officers Brian Dedrick (left) and Ronald Gustwiller patrol the Fairview neighborhood in Dayton. Support from the Dayton Police Department is credited with helping the $120 million Phoenix Project get off the ground. The five-year project is a successful example of a national trend in urban redevelopment that partners private investors, businesses and residents to improve neighborhoods. Staff photo by Lisa Powell

Lisa Powell/Staff photographer Dayton police Officers Brian Dedrick (left) and Ronald Gustwiller patrol the Fairview neighborhood in Dayton. Support from the Dayton Police Department is credited with helping the $120 million Phoenix Project get off the ground. The five-year project is a successful example of a national trend in urban redevelopment that partners private investors, businesses and residents to improve neighborhoods. Staff photo by Lisa Powell

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How crime has declined over time since the Phoenix Project began

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Partnerships improve city’s neighborhoods

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By Doug Page, Staff Writer Updated 11:32 AM Monday, June 7, 2010

DAYTON — An ambitious $120 million public/private partnership to halt and reverse the decline around Good Samaritan Hospital has razed vacant buildings and nuisance properties, created green space and built 19 of the 33 new homes planned for the neighborhood.

But perhaps the most visible change is what isn’t happening: more crime.

Until the Phoenix Project came along, the Fairview neighborhood near Good Sam was in decline, brought about in part by lawlessness. In five years, that lawlessness has decreased.

Major crimes — assaults, robberies, homicides, burglaries and rape — are down 45 percent since 2004. During the same time, arrests coming from beat cops policing the neighborhood are up by 38 percent.

The Dayton Police Department and neighborhood beat cops such as Brian Dedrick and Ronald Gustwiller are borrowing a page from other successful urban redevelopments — including a similar but smaller reclamation project in the Fairgrounds neighborhood — by attempting to change the culture.

Dedrick and Gustwiller spend time helping residents with minor complaints and sit on the drug dealers and users that still work the neighborhood.

“Big government urban programs are a thing of the past,” said Myron Levine, a Wright State University professor of urban affairs. “It’s what works: public-spirited groups coming together with a city to do what they cannot do alone.”

Safety remains key.

“God help you if you deal crack around here because someone will report you,” said Sister Carol Bauer, vice president for mission effectiveness at Good Sam.

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