About two dozen boys and girls wait anxiously in a parking lot of Fairmont Terrace, shouting and pointing when they see the yellow bus pull into the sprawling apartment complex.
They eagerly file into the bus decorated with bright hand stickers and slide into seats for a field trip to the Tulsa Zoo. A few moms traveling with the group bark out orders to the fidgety children to stay in their seats.
Tracie Salerno, a volunteer for HANDS Changing Legacies ministry, takes a head count of children on the bus. Her husband, Mike, loads boxes of food and drinks donated for the day. A teen girl passes out doughnuts with sprinkles and juice pouches to tiny, outstretched hands and the chatter grows quiet.
Jessica Harshbarger, sitting with two of her sons on the bus, said the zoo field trip Wednesday is one of many things people have done to help residents of Fairmont Terrace in recent months. City councilors Jeannie Cue and Arianna Moore joined the residents for the trip and helped gather food donations.
"It's good that we have people like Mr. Mike involved doing things for the kids," said Harshbarger, who moved to Fairmont Terrace from Gulfport, Miss., a year ago.
The 336-unit government-subsidized apartment complex was the scene of a quad-ruple homicide in January. It is in an area plagued for years by high crime rates - especially violent crime - drugs and poverty.
However, police, community groups, businesses and some residents have worked together to reduce crime in and around Fairmont Terrace. Violent crime has decreased in the area where four women were shot to death Jan. 7, a Tulsa World analysis of crime data shows.
While the area near 61st Street and South Peoria Ave-nue remains one of the most crime ridden in the city, the numbers and even the lives of residents are showing signs of improvement, according to the World's data analysis.
Harshbarger and others who live and work in the area say they've noticed a difference, though there's still much room for improvement.
"There's going to be trouble no matter where you go. I've noticed a lot of cops around here and that's a good thing. ... I feel safe with my kids being able to play out there," Harshbarger said.
Residents at Fairmont Terrace have worked to build a sense of community, raising and sharing vegetables from their community garden, hosting family movie nights on the complex lawn and throwing a pot-luck cookout.
Even before the shootings, Fairmont Terrace resident Rochelle Remesar said she felt safe in the apartment complex, attributing that in part to the company she keeps. Remesar, who moved to Tulsa after Hurricane Katrina, said a lot has changed in the complex.
She points to enforcement of a 10 p.m. curfew in the complex. While the curfew was in effect before the shootings, it was not enforced by security, she said.
Now, security guards shoo away youths and adults who congregate after 10 p.m., Remesar said. The complex population has also improved through evictions of those involved in crime, she said.
"Overall, it seems quieter," Remesar said.
Since the quadruple slayings, violent crime in the one-mile radius surrounding 61st and Peoria has declined by 30 percent compared to the same period in 2012, the World's analysis shows.
A portion of the decline can be attributed to a citywide decrease in violent crime.
The number of violent crimes reported citywide has declined by 9 percent since Jan. 7, compared to the same period in 2012, the data analysis shows. Citywide, all major crime, including violent crime, has been declining since at least 2011.
What were large hot spots of violent crime in 2012 have shrunk not only in the 61st and Peoria area, but all across the city. The decline is even more evident in the 61st and Peoria area.
During one month included in the World's analysis, a law enforcement task force was focused on making arrests in the area.
The violent crime initiative was a partnership of agencies, including Tulsa police and the Northern District of the U.S. attorney's office. At least 110 arrests were made during the operation, officials said.
In 2012, some 108 violent crimes were reported within a one-mile radius of the intersection during the time studied by the World. That number declined to 76 for the same period in 2013.
Since the quadruple homicides, one additional killing has been reported this year. Police arrested a man in connection with the shooting of 23-year-old Ronald Dion Harris in the city's 31st homicide of the year.
Harris was shot May 25 in an apartment complex two blocks south of 61st Street on Peoria Avenue.
Most of the reduction in violent crime came from felony assaults, which dipped to 46 through May 31, compared to 72 assaults the during the same period one year ago.
Abdul Wodud, a clerk at a convenience store on the southwest corner of 61st and Peoria, said he has noticed a slight decrease in crime. Wodud said he moved to Tulsa from New York eight months ago and didn't know the area where he was working was among the city's highest crime neighborhoods.
"I think it is a little bit OK, a little bit better," he said, stooping down to talk through an opening in the store's thick glass enclosure surrounding the cash register. "We need to have more, more police around here."
Police Chief Chuck Jordan said police have had more cooperation from owners of Fairmont Terrace and other area complexes than in the past.
"We've never not worked it," he said. "We've had varying degrees of cooperation from the management, depending on who that was. It's hard for the police department to effect social changes."
Midwest Development Partners LLC of Joplin, which has ties to Oklahoma-based Crossland Construction, is purchasing the 336-unit complex at 1111 E. 60th St. from its current owners, two California limited liability corporations.
The company has said it plans to overhaul security and landscaping at the complex and conduct a survey of residents. A Crossland official said the sale has not closed and is awaiting review by HUD and others. A groundbreaking has not been set.
Jordan noted that "tragedy tends to bring focus on problems."
"I think this was a wake-up call for the management. I think it was a wake-up call for our community."
Fairmont Terrace homicide case
Date: Jan. 7
Four killed: Misty Nunley, 33; Julie Jackson, 55; Rebeika Powell, 23; and Kayetie Powell Melchor, 23. Each was tied up and shot in the head in an apartment at Fairmont Terrace, in the 5800 block of South Owasso Avenue.
Arrested: Brothers Cedric Dwayne Poore, 39, and James Stanford Poore, 32.
Charges: Both face four counts of first-degree murder.
61st Street/S. Peoria violent crime, Jan 8-May 31
| Crime |
2012 |
2013 |
| Homicide |
3 |
1 |
| Rape |
5 |
2 |
| Robbery |
28 |
27 |
| Assaults |
72 |
46 |
Crimes stats show decline in 61st and Peoria area
Following the deaths of four women Jan. 7, violent crime has fallen in the area surrounding Fairmont Terrace Apartments, where the deaths occurred.
The decline is not dramatic, but police say they are encouraged that their efforts are paying off.
During the first five months of 2012, the violent crime rate in the area within a half mile of 61st Street and South Peoria Avenue was 44 to 52 incidents per square mile.
In 2013, the violent crime rate in the same area had declined to 34 to 43 incidents per square mile.
The list of crimes reported during the nearly five month period in 2012 included three homicides, five rapes, 28 robberies and 72 assaults that include assaults with firearms.
Since the quadruple homicides, one additional killing has been reported this year. Police arrested a man in connection with the shooting of 23-year-old Ronald Dion Harris.
Two rapes and 27 robberies have been reported this year in the area. One of the rapes reportedly occurred in Fairmont Terrace Apartments, where the quadruple homicide occurred, records show.
A woman told police that she and a female friend went to a party on May 25 at a unit in the complex, according to TPD spokesman Leland Ashley. Sometime that evening, the woman, who was heavily intoxicated, said she was in a room with two men when one of the males raped her, Ashley said.
One of the robberies occurred April 5 at the Joy Mart convenience store, 6336 S. Peoria Ave.
The store clerk told police three black males walked in the store about 5:50 p.m., grabbed five bags of potato chips and then tried to leave without paying, Ashley said. The clerk told police the ensuing altercation with the three left the worker with a laceration and bump on the left side of his head, Ashley said.
- CURTIS KILLMAN, World Staff Writer
Ziva Branstetter 918-581-8306
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Crime rate falls, hope rides high
