Improvements planned to boost pride, further reduce crime in public housing development

By William D'Urso

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Just two years ago, Sheriff Doug Gillespie thought of broken windows, shootings and drug deals when the area containing Sherman Gardens Annex came to his mind.

His thoughts changed to ones of hope Wednesday as Metro Police officers, the Southern Nevada Housing Authority and other partners broke ground on a new makeover project for the public housing development on Doolittle Avenue, near West Lake Mead Boulevard and H Street, northwest of downtown.

“This is a piece of the puzzle that is going to look like other pieces of the puzzle,” Gillespie said. “I don’t want to say it’s finished yet because you can see we still have a lot of work.”

The project has been in planning for two years and is the brainchild of a coalition consisting of Metro’s Safe Village Initiative team and the Southern Nevada Housing Authority. Their focus: to rehabilitate the outdoor spaces of troubled areas.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has chipped in, too. Patrick Wilson, a conservation administrator with the Water Authority, said the partnership plans to pay for half of the $400,000 project with water rebates. With the makeover, the housing community will avoid using 17.5 million gallons of water a year.

The other $200,000 needed for the project, Wilson said, will have to come from donations.

Preliminary steps have been under way for several weeks, with the more major work expected to begin in the next three weeks.

In nine months, the old and cracked basketball courts will be updated and a grass field will be laid for youth football games. Tenacious Bermuda grass soon will be gone, and authorities hope any lingering crime will be, too.

Doug Bennett, conservation administrator for the Southern Nevada Water Authority said the goal was to get people to have pride in their living space. Trees, landscaping and an outdoor movie area are intended to help foster the pride.

“The key is to get residents to take ownership,” Bennett said.

For Capt. Larry Burns of Metro’s Bolden Area Command, the area’s rehabilitation is becoming complete. There are no longer shootings every month, and the broken glass that once littered the area is gone.

He’s proud of the direction of the community. With the community and the police reaching out to each other, problems are calming in the area, and progress is ready to be made.

“I think this will work (if we) make it feel like something they want to be a part of,” he said.

Violence in any place in Las Vegas is unacceptable, Gillespie said.

“If we’ve become calloused,” he said. “We need to take a hard look at ourselves.”