CLEVELAND — We’ve been talking a lot recently about security at Cleveland apartment buildings and renters having problems with car break-ins. We sat down with one property group that’s trying to combat crime and is getting a little help from the city in the process.
“The area is still working its way up as far as crime,” said Donnell Stephens, who is the Senior Property Manager of Glenville Circle North apartments on East 105th Street.
There have been some recent car break-ins, so Stephens said he put in bigger, brighter lights in the past six months.
“The amount of lumens on those lights, kind of, very powerful to the point that it shines all the way across to the buildings behind us," he told us while walking around the property.
He said even with the fenced-in parking lot, he’s seen more and more young people from different areas walking near the property.
“Other places where other people are coming from through here, through this back alley here or they will sometimes walk through our parking lot,” he said.
“You’re never going to bat 100%, but you try to bat as high as you can bat,” said Wes Finch. He is the Founder of The Finch Group based in Florida which owns Glenville Circle North and other properties. He told us they have increased security patrols. Stephens showed us new cameras and the key fob entrances as well.
“You have to provide it for a variety of moral, ethical and financial reasons,” Finch said.
He told us just recently that financial assistance from the city of Cleveland to help fight crime at his complex and other properties had run out. However, he’s working with Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell and the Famicos Foundation to secure $50,000 each year for two years to help pay for security.
“When that area is safe, then we can bring in more businesses and when you bring more businesses to the community you can hire people in the community also,” said the councilman.
They hope to have the funding within the next month.
In the meantime, Stephens told us they’ll keep at it.
“This is just the world that we’re in right now. So, don’t leave your valuables in your car. Take those things out,” he said.
Finch told us this is all a cooperative effort that includes the residents. He said he knows Cleveland police are short-staffed right now, so more people working together is the best solution.
