A young woman who resides on State Street in the vicinity of Lewis Place and Hutchins Place says she is concerned for her safety due to the ongoing incidents in the neighborhood, and she wants Batavia City Council to do something about it.
Speaking during the public comments portion of Monday night’s Council meeting, the woman (whose name is not being published by The Batavian) said she’s “pretty much at my breaking point with this community.”
She said she has lived on State Street for about 12 years and has volunteered her time to several organizations. She said she is dismayed by the lack of respect shown to police officers by some of her neighbors and worn out by the things she has had to endure.
“That’s why I’m here today to reach out and see what we can do about this situation,” she said.
She said she has had her garden destroyed, car windows smashed and trash dumped onto her property (which she had to pay to have removed), and has had to put up with fireworks at all hours of the day and night as well as constant commotion.
“People working at home (as in her case) have to deal with this 24 hours a day,” she said, adding that she has sent dozens of videos of these incidents to City officials. “We put our jobs and our livelihoods at risk because there are so many altercations outside – you can’t have a conversation with a customer service rep on the phone.”
She said that when she called and sent the videos, the “answer to that was to open the spray park (at Austin Park).”
“But that’s not enough. That spray park has been open for years and it has not stopped anything,” she said. “I live in constant fear. I’m afraid to be here – what if somebody sees that I was here, what’s going to happen to my house and my garden, my livelihood at that point.”
She also said she has been sexually harassed, but despite all of this, she continues “to try and try and try” and asked, “What can we do to solve this?”
The woman also talked about the declining property values in the area, specifically a neighbor whose home was assessed for $71,000, but ended up selling for $11,000.
Council members Rose Mary Christian and Patti Pacino responded to the woman’s pleas.
“I’m ashamed that people have to be harassed,” Christian said. “I want something done about it. The lady and her family shouldn’t have to be fearful.”
Pacino said she was “appalled (to know) that she is afraid to go home after coming to this meeting.”
Police Chief Shawn Heubusch said that he has added a new detail of two officers who are in that area five days a week for eight hours a day – and plans to run that detail through the end of the summer. He also said street surveillance cameras are operational in that area, and encouraged residents to continue to call the police department to report problems.
Council President Eugene Jankowski said this type of “bullying” can be stopped with the community’s help while Council Member John Canale, who acknowledged receiving a lot of phone calls and emails about the neighborhood, vowed to “get the situation under control.”
On another topic, city resident John Roach inquired about the plan for Dwyer Stadium now that the Batavia Muckdogs won’t be playing this year – and maybe not again.
“Are you going to give it away? Knock it down and put something else there? Keep it as a memorial?” Roach asked.
Council Member Robert Bialkowski said Public Works Director Matt Worth has spoken with the teams and the (New York-Penn) league.
“They do have a lease and they are working to get a straight answer,” Bialkowski said. “We do have some other plans, such as college baseball. There are some other options to look into. It is on all of our minds.”
Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski said she wasn’t aware of recent developments, noting that she has spoken to Worth many times about college or semi-pro teams that could come in to fill the void left by the departure of Minor League Baseball.
Tabelski said she understood that the lease runs through next season.
“If someone like a community group wanted to use that field or another team wanted to use it, they would still have to go through the (NY-)Penn League to get permission to do so. The city couldn’t grant that type of access to the stadium due to the lease that they have,” she said.
