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October 20, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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October 20, 2006
 
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Fresh look at Fresh Holes... PAUL GAUVIN PHOTOS SHAKE ON IT - Town Councilor Harold Tobey, left, and Captain's Quarters resident George Sullivan share a light moment after a tour of the neighborhood last week. Sullivan thanked Tobey and others for their concern over the blighted area's problems. CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1 Hyannisneighborhood called Captain's Quarters between Bearse's Way and Route 28, and proclaimed at tour'send, "I'll be back." Will he? And will it work? From what Tobey and an entourage of councilors,school committee member Debra Dagwan,HyannisCivicAssocia- tion President Tony Pelletier and Assistant Town Manager Paul Niedzwiecki learned as they walked Fresh Holes and Hiramar roads, it will require not onlyTobey,but amultitude of other municipal officials, property ownersandthe police to return oftenif thisneighbor- hood of worn duplexes is to be wrested from gun-toting, knife- wielding drug heads that have returned oflateto makeit their playground. "We've got to keep this inthe forefront ," Tobey said. "The place needs some TLC." He took a swipe at the investors who own multiple duplexes and don't live there: "All they want is the money." He said the Housing Assistance Corp. placesmanyofthe singlemoth- ers there: "They bring guys in and you can't tell who'swho.It makes it difficult." Of 24 properties on assessor records (that would be 48 liv- ingunits) on Fresh HolesRoad alone, only three are clearly owner-occupied according to assessor records. Three other parcelshave HyannisPO.boxes and the remainder - 18 build- ings or 36 units - are rentals ownedby investorsscattered all over the Cape map and beyond to Maine and San Francisco. Eric J. Winer of Hodgdon, Maine, a former property man- ager,islisted asownerortrustee of eight duplex parcels on Hi- ramar Road and two on Fresh Holes, making him the major player in the neighborhood. Richard Murphy of Mashpee follows with several parcels. There is only one owner-oc- cupied unit listed on Hiramar. The average parcel is assessed at around $225,000. The "Tobey Tour" was a homecomingfor CouncilorGary Brown, who lived in Captain's Quarters from 1951 to 1954 "when there was grass there." He said histake of the tour was that the people were pleased for the effort but he doesn't know what will come of it. "I hope they'll call Harold or myself if there's trouble," he said. "That's very important since they're afraid to call the police. That's too bad , the wrongattitude.Thepolicewant to help." Brown noted the police were at the siteinfull force -sixwere counted - during the council walk. "If we get that kind of presence, 'specially at night, it might be helpful," he said. • • • Crimeand drugs are the most pressing, but not the only con- cerns.The current craze seems to be to decorate the streets and lawns in the aesthetically devoidneighborhood withlitter - even under trees. Wrappers here, bottles there, cigarette butts,paper,cardboard,plastic, broken glass, assorted garbage having to do less with crime than with general indifference - an outward manifestation of an inner despair. "This is clean," says Den- nis Connors, off-site property manager for the neighborhood association.Hehandsout acard -with no phone number on it. He thumbs through a series of photos showing unbelievable amounts of trash -mattresses, furniture, mounds of garbage -piled next to someofthe neigh- borhood's 18 trash containers. "Last Christmas,the containers had to be emptied twice in one week," Connors says. "It cost us $1,000 to remove a pile of furniture that had been left alongside one of them," saysConnors, adding that part of the problem is that people who don't live there are using the area as a dumping ground with apparent impunity. Vari- ous policemen have a different impression, claiming uncaring tenants contribute most of the trash. Connorssaysrecent problems stemmed from non-residents, "people whowere visiting other people who live here,"and says there was more crime in that area in the past, particularly in 1996. "We've improved since then," he says. Trustees of the neighborhood association are elected, he says, adding that he didn't have permission to release their names. Tim Ferreira, who lives next door to Captains Quarters,tells the councilors,includingJames Munafo of Hyannis and Jim Crocker of Osterville, that he has moved some 29 abandoned cars out of the neighborhood since July. The police say the relics on wheels, some brought in by outsiders, are perhaps used to store drugs and weapons. "I moved here from New Bed- ford with my bicycle to find a better life," says Ferreira, who has since started a business towing abandoned cars to off- Cape sites. He removes them from the neighborhood streets at no charge, but clarifies that junk dealers on the other end pay him. The neighborhood associa- tion has since placed "no tres- passing" signs at the tenant parking lots. "We have people taking down registration num- bers," Connors says. The as- sociation fee is $100 monthly to cover the trash bins, snow plowingand other services that leave little for improvements. Connors claims. Farther up Fresh HolesRoad, where bullets have slammed into houses and a woman's face was slashed with a razor- like instrument just recently, Barnstable Patrolman Eric Drifmeyer straddles his police bike,looking at some sixyoung children, barely beyond toddler age, playing in a front yard bordering a blacktop sidewalk strewnwith shards of glassfrom a broken beer bottle. "The kidsweretalkingto me," he says with evident empathy, "and a lady came out and told them not to talk to strangers." Drifmeyer is dressed in full po- lice garb. "It makes it seem like the police are bad," he says. Drifmeyer saysthe police "are in here all the time. Most of the people here are hardworking, but there's a few who engage in illegal activities. We suspect who they are." More officers that day are parked up the road in a truck. Another stands alone in apark- ing lot. People saythere are "illegals" renting there, which might explain why they don't want their children talking to the police. Sometimes kids say the darndest things -and parents, particularly those with some- thing to hide, know that. Two motorcycle officers are parked on Bearse's Way adja- cent to the duplexes. They are stopping speeders. In 45 min- utes they give out five tickets and catch several drivers with- out licenses or registration. Tobey, cane in hand support- ing bad knees, knocks on a few doors during the stroll along Fresh Holes and Hiramar roads. He talks to several women who prefer anonymity lest they face some sort of retribution. They tellTobey they haveto givetheir name to police - against their better judgment - when they call to report illegal activity. They claim Town Hall doesn't respond to their complaints.To- bey hands them his phone num- ber and says to call him when that happens. "Maybe there's a rule about that," he says. "I'll find out."CouncilorBrown takes notes on a clipboard. Asked if the town could pursue some initiatives admin- istratively, Niedzwiecki says, "We're talking about it. It calls for a comprehensive, commu- nity-wide response," one that will not interfere with police strategy for the area. "We're working on it." He issurprised that $850 rent for two bedrooms isconsidered "affordable." Along the street a young mother and a male companion sit on a stoop, the door open, smokingcigarettes in the noon- day sun and watching the kids play. The say "Hi" to a photog- rapher embedded in the tour group. In one of the parking lots that form the backyards of the duplexes, a young man takes a quick look at the assembly and returns to feverishly shoveling rubbish into a bin. In another yard, a somber-looking adult man lovingly polishes an old red car. In some yards, people just stop and stare at the en- tourage and remain aloof. Walk by one unit, the door is wide open, nobody in sight , a boom box doing what it does best - booming. After roughly an hour and twenty minutes, the group crosses Bearse'sWay.A police- man holds up traffic. Councilor Brown continues taking notes as an elderly woman across the street says she fears leaving the house at night, but has not been victimized by the activity across the way. There is talk in the group, which also includes activist Ralph Dagwan, about hope- lessness for some of the young mothers and their children who live in the development that oncepeacefullyhoused military families. There iswishfulthink- ing about "cleaningout the bad apples."The police say they've been doingthat.Tworepeat of- fenders, they say, were hauled in before summer on probation violations and jailed. School committeewoman Dagwan says she is concerned for the school children,the lack of parenting skills. Pelletier, of the Hyannis Civic Association, says the single mothers seem to be in an "impossible situa- tion." Councilor Munafo says he'll try to do what he can as a councilor to keep Hyannis a safe place. As the council contingent disappears into Bobby Byrne's Pub down the road for lunch, there is no mention of bold ini- tiatives by the local government to uplift the neighborhood. Maybe pressure on owners to improve their properties will come later.Maybe.Aspredicted by one woman, the police leave shortly after the council group disappears. Tobey says he will be back, which begsthe question: "Then what?" fPMH Ralph G. 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