Officials discuss North Commerce cleanup options

A city cleanup plan for North Commerce Avenue won’t include spending extra taxpayer money, but trouble along that street already has cost plenty, Waynesboro officials said Tuesday.

“We’re going to re-ship the current resources,” Councilman Mike Harris said. “We’re not going to go out and spend additional money.”

City police are spending extra already.

In the last 18 months, the Waynesboro Police Department has spent $80,000 in call responses to North Commerce, criminal investigations and increased patrols, police Chief Doug Davis said. Over a five-week span, a spate of crime related to the street included the killings of two tenants of an apartment complex at 260 N. Commerce Ave.

After the June 27 fatal stabbing of Eduardo “Piku” Herrera, authorities ordered additional street lighting and began looking for ways to lower the crime rate in that area. Harris and Councilman Bruce Allen said they’ve met with Davis and City Manager Mike Hamp, among others, to organize cleanup efforts.

One option includes creating a multi-agency group, composed of the police, the Central Shenandoah Valley Office on Youth and the city Health Department, as well as local nonprofit groups and retail stores, according to e-mails between Davis and Hamp.

City officials said they met with Jeff Gorley, a public safety consultant, and Eddie DeLapp, of the Waynesboro Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Allen initially lauded Gorley, whose track record includes leading a cleanup of troubled neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County.

The councilman Tuesday did not comment specifically as to whether the city would hire Gorley.

“At this point we still have him on hold,” Allen said. “I think what we were trying to get from him was some of what he did in Miami. As it stands, he’d be a volunteer helping with the city … to guide us along.”

Allen said cleanup efforts could include increased policing and asking Bobby Jardine, the owner of the apartment complex at 260 N. Commerce Ave., to step up his eviction standards.

Jardine, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, previously vowed that he’s committed to chasing trouble from his building.

Davis said his officers increased their presence around the structure. Calls decreased by 13 percent between May and June, coinciding with increased foot patrols, Davis said. However, the slayings of Herrera and John Kelley Miller, both of whom lived at 260 N. Commerce Ave., took place between May 14 and June 27.

Councilman Tim Williams, whose ward includes Commerce, said he has not yet attended a meeting about the cleanup.

“I don’t expect to meet with them unless they call me and think it’s crucial to be in the meeting with them,” Williams said.

The councilman said he advocates an aggressive cleanup plan, including using city zoning ordinances and issuing fines for landlords housing illegal immigrants. A suspect in the Herrera killing, David Luna Sanchez, 21, is an illegal immigrant who walked free a year ago after pleading guilty along with two others to beating Herrera with a baseball bat, according to police.

Davis said his hopes to obtain federal money to help with the cleanup were dashed after a meeting with DeLapp.

“The biggest problem is it’s private property, not public property,” he said. “I think it’s going to take a meeting or two more. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so we’ll come up with a plan.”