The part of Charlottesville on "the other side of the tracks," of the Amtrak train station, known as Fifeville, may not look like the stereotypical run-down inner-city neighborhood, but over the years it has had a disproportionately high number of drug arrests, including a drug bust last spring.
But now, the neighborhood of Fifeville will be safe enough for a University daycare center - one step in a series of many to improve the Fifeville economy and clean up remnants of a once-vibrant drug scene.
"The improvement of the economy had an impact on drug activity, but it's never been simply an economic problem," City Councilman David Toscano said. "There are always three parts of the strategy: law enforcement, prevention and treatment opportunities and the education of the public. If you couple these with a good economy, you can put a dent in the problem."
Charlottesville Mayor Virginia Daugherty said the city has made positive steps in the improvement of the Fifeville area, which stretches from West Main Street south to Cherry Avenue, and from 7 1/2 Street east to Ridge Street.
"We have stepped up our enforcement and put more officers on the street," Daugherty said. "We met with residents to achieve better cooperation between neighbors and police."
The University, the city and local developers have been working to improve West Main Street and the surrounding neighborhoods.
"Our goal is to make that part a center, because it's underdeveloped and that tends to breed crime," Daugherty said.
Among minor changes such as improved lighting and better landscaping, there has also been an increase in large-scale construction in the area.
Beginning with the renovation of the Amtrak train station earlier this year, the University now is constructing a daycare center for University Medical Center staff in the heart of Fifeville. Construction for the daycare center already has begun and is scheduled for completion by the spring.
Although the site is just down the street from two boarded up houses that were at the center of drug busts several months ago, those involved said they thought the daycare center is a positive move for the University and the neighborhood.
"I think that the University doesn't feel the area is that bad if they are building a daycare center there," said Herman Key, a Fifeville resident and member of the Charlottesville Planning Commission. "The neighborhood gets a bad reputation because you have a few drug busts. There are some hard-working people there trying to earn a decent living."
Lisa Gentry, local resident and owner of a Lisa's Daycare Center for the past five years, also said she was glad the University was moving in and was optimistic about further business opportunities that may result.
"If the University has anything to do with it, it's going to be clean," Gentry said.
But Key stressed that not all areas of the city's efforts toward improvement are aimed at drug and crime reduction.
The Planning Commission "doesn't focus as much on drug problems as smart development. We encourage home ownership and an active street life, and hopefully drug dealing out in the open won't be as appealing," he said. "Our goal is to make any community a vibrant one."
Other efforts to foster a thriving community come in the form of adult education.
Through the combined endeavor of the University, Charlottesville, the "Weed and Seed Program" and Piedmont Virginia Community College, an associate degree program has been developed to help local residents learn the skills necessary to gain competitive jobs at the University. "It's a buyer technology training program that will train people to work in the biology laboratories at the University Biology department and the University Medical Center," University Microbiology Prof. David Brautigan said.
Brautigan developed the idea of a training program earlier this year, and proposed it to the city in March. After months of planning, the class met for the first time Tuesday.
"It is an ideal collaboration between the city, [PVCC] and the local foundation. It is a new opportunity for local residents to gain employment at good paying jobs at the University," he said.
The Weed and Seed Foundation, a federally funded program, determined that residents from eight neighborhoods of Fifeville qualified for scholarships to the new training program. Upon graduation from the two-year program, students will receive an Associate's degree from Piedmont Virginia Community College, and be eligible for jobs at the University.
"The Weed and Seed program is a federal grant strategy to weed out drug trafficking, violence, and related crimes through coordinated law enforcement and community policing," said Ayana Conway, director of the local Weed and Seed Network.
Conway said the Weed and Seed program helped to recruit students from the Weed and Seed communities in Charlottesville and offered scholarships and student support services to eligible residents. The Charlottesville network received $250,000 in federal aid for this year.
"We are going to look to U.Va students to work as academic mentors and tutors" for the new program Conway added.
The Weed and Seed program has also been developing local children's programs to clean the streets of drugs and crime. One such program is the Drug Education For Youths or DEFY program.
"The DEFY program is a drug education program for youths. They spends one week at a summer camp at a military installation, and then 10 months of mentoring with military people and students."
(Cavalier Daily Staff Writer Jessica Collins contributed to this article.)
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