The city's youth detective, Todd Crossett, has been asked to take a closer look at a complaint raised at Tuesday's City Council meeting about potentially race-related problems in the Pringle Avenue area.
City resident Shirley Nigro spoke to the council Tuesday and said that neighborhood kids have threatened her and her grandchildren, citing race as a motivation for their actions.
She said she and her grandchildren have been attacked while at the Pringle Avenue park and once had to be escorted from the park by police.
"Our neighborhood is getting ridiculous," Nigro said. "I've had people across the street (from the park) tell me, 'you're in the hood now. You better get used to it or get out.' ... there's a lot of hate out there."
After she complained the parents of some of the children involved, she said, the harassment of her grandson on the school bus got so bad that she now gives him a ride to and from school.
Chief of Police Shawn Heubusch said he's asked Crossett to look into the complaint, which he said is the only one of that nature that the city has received, not just from the Pringle Avenue area, but from throughout the city.
"It's very important for us to get feedback from the community," Heubusch said. "They're living there day in and day out. We're not. We're in the area as much as we possibly can be. We take any complaint seriously that we receive no matter where it comes from and we're looking into it as best we can."
He said with the weather warming up and more people out and about, there's bound to be conflicts and disputes.
"I can't think of any (complaints received) that have been race-related," Heubusch said. "There's always going to be neighbor disputes that you're going to get in any community. The more people you have, the more neighbors you have, the more there will be disputes."
