<!--Rick Pfeiffer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Pfeiffer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com">rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Shabbir Hussain smiled broadly when asked about his new neighbor on 19th Street.
The owner of the Valero gas station and mini-mart at 19th Street and Ferry Avenue, Hussain was looking across the street toward the Falls Police Department’s new South End substation.
“I like it. This is very good,” he said. “This good for the community and good for us.”
Hussain has being doing business on that corner since 1994 and he’s seen trouble come to the neighborhood. Statistics show the 19th Street corridor is one of the most crime-plagued and violent in the city.
“At night especially,” said Hussain when asked what are the worse times for him. “Even when a (police patrol) car is just parked here, it’s better. I think (the substation) will help.”
City officials and community leaders hailed the opening of the substation Tuesday afternoon.
“What a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” City Administrator Donna Owens said. “This has been a long time coming and this community is the appropriate one for it.”
The new substation is located within a proposed new federal Weed and Seed area in the city and proponents of the new crime fighting district have said the Community Development Block Grant funded police presence will help their push.
“This is a new beginning for this area,” police Superintendent John Chella said. “How we got here is no mystery. When we run the crime stats, this area always had the most red dots.”
Within a hour of the substation’s opening, another red dot was added to the 19th Street corridor. A Roving Anti-Crime Unit officer spotted a man urinating on the side of a building just up the block from the new substation.
When the RAC officer pointed out that a new police substation had just opened up down the street and “there were several high ranking police and public officials in the immediate area,” the man said he was aware of that.
“I saw that,” Stephen Noto said. “That was stupid of me. I was waiting for the bus and had to go. Can you just give me a slap on the wrist? I promise I won’t do this again.”
The officer responded there would be no slaps on the wrist and arrested him on a charge of exposure of a person.
Other officers who will be assigned to the substation have warned they will have a zero tolerance policy on criminal activity, especially quality of life crimes.
“I am serious when I say we will win back this neighborhood,” Chella said. “Anyone who thinks I’m joking, test us. Be my guest. But I will guarantee you, you will be a guest at 1925 Main St. (the city jail).”
