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Green Light Ministries is an ambitious collection of programs that aims to alleviate some of Azle’s most tenacious problems.
So perhaps it is no surprise that negative response to one program – prisoner “re-entry” or a halfway house for parolees – has spilled over to other, less controversial programs.
The Azle Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) is a sales tax-funded entity that siphons one quarter of one per cent off of sales taxes that would otherwise go to the state and directs the funds to expenditures and programs that help prevent crime. Many of the crime district’s grants have gone to the police department, for technology such as in-car computers, and to “less lethal” weapons like Tasers. CCPD also purchases new vehicles for the department and recently funded a K-9 officer unit with a drug dog. CCPD also pays for the “Shattered Dreams” program at the high school every other year, and last year began funding a portion of Project Graduation, a drug and alcohol-free stay-in party for AHS graduates.
Planned purchases in the next fiscal year include a new electronic ticketing system that will record vehicle and driver data electronically and produce a “ticket” that looks something like a grocery store receipt. The new system will allow officers to issue citations much more quickly and will produce a typed rather than handwritten citation. “We’re not looking at it like ‘How many tickets an hour can we write?’ We’re looking at as a way to get officers off the side of the road as quickly as possible,” Chief Steve Myers told the council in April. “It’s an officer safety thing.” City council got the CCPD’s proposed budget for 2010-2011 in June, and last week approved it, with one dissenting vote from June Earp. CCPD’s board of directors approved the budget unanimously before sending it to council, David Johnson, president of the board said last week. The council chamber was packed with Azle residents who were there in opposition to a proposed prisoner halfway house, which Green Light Ministries executive director Cindy Bishop Reynolds had announced she was withdrawing in June. The ministry has a house in Castle Hills that was originally planned for the halfway house. GLM had also been offered a home in Timberlake, just across Wells Burnett Road from Castle Hills – and most of the audience members in the July 6 meeting were concerned about that plan. Reynolds said she has no plan to use it for prisoner re-entry, and has rented a structure on FM 730 North that used to be a large-scale foster care home. It is located in Parker County. CCPD’s proposed budget grants $77,000 for GLM’s expenses related to a youth center at 404 W. Main, across the street from Azle Memorial Library and Central Park. At least one CCPD board member has expressed distrust that the youth center is serving many of Azle’s youth. Reynolds reports more than 2,000 kids in the center over the past year. Kids sign in every evening when they come in, and their signatures are counted – but the number does not represent 2,000 unique individuals. GLM’s grant from CCPD includes $29,000 for a proposed youth activities director as well as funds to help pay for utility costs in the massive building, which also houses Azle Community Center, a meeting venue that is rented by area organizations. Chamber luncheons, the Teen Challenge recognition banquet in May and other events have been held there, providing some revenue to GLM for the building’s overhead. CCPD funds are provided to GLM on a reimbursement basis, after the expenditure. Crime districts were authorized by the state legislature years ago and many cities, including Fort Worth, have one. Shoppers in Azle pay the same sales tax with or without the CCPD, Johnson said. The city holds an election every five years to reauthorize the crime district. CCPD’s next election is in May 2011. |
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