Public Safety in District 1: Action Item for City Council

[Charis Kaskiris]

This is my letter to Linda Maio demanding that she takes action in City Council to block the BUSD from establishing a Community School in our neighborhood. I reframe the issue from an "academic" issue to a "public safety" and tax-base issue which the BUSD has no authority over. I will forward the e-mail to Mayor Bates as well.

Regards,

Charis

PS: I apologize as it seems that my e-mail to her was not forwarded correctly to BAS-Accountable.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Charis Kaskiris" <cha...@kaskiris.com>
To: lm...@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Cc: bas-acc...@googlegroups.com, cha...@kaskiris.com
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 1:14:30 AM
Subject: Public Safety in District 1: Action Item for City Council

Dear Councilmember Maio,

 

My name is Charis Kaskiris and I am a resident, homeowner, and landlord in your district. I reside on Francisco Street between Chestnut and West Streets. I am contacting you with regards to BUSD proposed Community School classroom (expelled-student-holding pen or “jail school” as some administrator has called it) on the Berkeley Adult School. In particular I want to demonstrate its impact on neighborhood public safety, property values, and in turn disproportionate impact on the City’s tax-base.

 

Expulsion from school is never based on academic misconduct; it is always based on criminal activity/safety endangerment grounds. BUSD liberal standards on safety have reserved expulsion as punishment for criminal activity (firearm possession, drug possession, assault, theft). My prior experience working on cases of juveniles incarcerated in maximum security prisons in Michigan always had a common theme: they all started with crimes committed on high school premises by expelled students.

It is my belief that this is not an academic issue but rather a public safety issue which needs to be addressed by the City Council and not the BUSD which lacks authority and competency in making decisions that directly impact that safety of Berkeley residents.

Property Values Impact

There is an extensive economic literature on crime rates and impact on property values. Naroff et al. (1980) found that a 1.0 percent decrease in crime rates increased housing values by almost 1.7 percent. It is conceivable that a 1.0% increase in crime rate will decrease housing values by 1.7%. Combining the loss of value for all residences within ½ a mile of the Berkeley Adult School with a median price of $724,100 (as per 2009 Census) for about 500 homes (as per Zillow) then the impact of the potential increase in crime is over 6 million dollars. Note that for the rate of crime to go up by 1% it will require just a few additional crimes to be contacted within a 180 day period.

 

Why would the rate go up by at least 1%?

·         Because those are just a few more crimes that statistics from crime data around Berkeley High Schools demonstrate that they are highly feasible

·         Because the BUSD has been underreporting criminal activity for many years and is already a target of litigation for precisely that matter

·         Because the BAS is also underreporting incidents which required police action on their premises (they only claimed 50% of incidents that the Berkeley Police has provided us)

 

The $6million assessment does not include additional costs to the community:

·         Increased home-owner insurance (burglaries)

·         Increased car insurance (from car thefts, braking into cars, etc.)

·         Increased costs of safety improvements to local properties (alarm systems, fences)

·         Decreased rents for landlords as the neighborhood becomes less desirable

·         Negative impact of local business patronage due to fear of assaults/robberies (see chart below)

 

Crime Data around Berkeley Schools:

Looking at current crime data for the last 180 days at a radius of ¼ mile centered at the Berkeley Adult School, Berkeley HS, and Berkeley Alt HS:

Based crime tracker of the Berkeley Police (http://209.232.44.42/cvc/) and older data (http://berkeleyca.crimelog.org/zipcode).

 

		Adult School			Adult School		Berkeley High		Berkeley Alt HS
	Offense	last 180 days 0.5 miles			last 180 days 0.25 miles		last 180 days 0.25 miles		last 180 days 0.25 miles
Assault/Battery Felony			5	2		4		3
Assault/Battery Misdemeanor			20	3		40		8
Burglary Auto			76	21		30		23
Burglary Commercial			12	3		10		6
Burglary Residential			23	8		18		19
Disturbance			29	10		31		14
Domestic Violence			19	8		11		8
Narcotics Violation			31	12		23		6
Robbery			9	0		29		10
Sexual Assault Felony			1	1		4		0
Sexual Assault Misdemeanor			0	0		3		1
Sexual Assault on Juvenile			0	0		1		0
Theft Felony (over $950)			19	9		45		10
Theft from Auto			28	10		6		6
Theft Misdemeanor (under $950)			45	9		136		27
Vandalism			43	14		39		25
Vehicle Stolen			34	13		18		6
TOTAL			394	123		448		172

 

The public safety situation around Berkeley High is dire to the local businesses, homes, and foot traffic. I can cite numerous articles delineating crimes committed against the neighborhood around the Berkeley High School. Most crime is opportunistic and is perpetrated where criminals or people with propensity for criminal activity are. Do not locate this people in my neighborhood. The Berkeley Adult School already have ex-convicts on it that you have allowed to come into our neighborhood by not resisting the Adult School in the first place.

 

The neighborhoods between Sacramento and San Pablo between Cedar and Hearst are neighborhoods that are recovering from high crime rates in the 1990s. Bringing juveniles in near proximity to an area which has barely recovered from high crime rate is a slap in the face of homeowners and landlords who have extended a lot of effort and financial resources to turn the neighborhoods around. As a matter of public policy it is best to prevent a loss in property values as they are the basis for property tax revenues both for the City of Berkeley and the BUSD. Because there is such a marked discount on housing located in crime areas, Lynch and Rasmussen (2001) suggest that tax dollars would best be spent in preventing neighborhoods from "crossing the high crime threshold" and reducing the size of the local tax base. Locating high-risk youth in a neighborhood that barely became a lower crime area is just bad public policy.

 

City Council needs to Block the BUSD

As the BUSD has no authority of imposing tax burden on Berkeley residents. Transferring the public safety mess they have created around Berkeley High School to the Berkeley Adult School is effectively tax transference from another district to our district!

 

I strongly urge you to take proactive action through the City Council put a stop to their proposal of locating a Community School on the Berkeley Adult School and that the City Council forces the BUSD and the ACOE to generate impartial public safety analysis and property-value impact on the neighborhood of locating a Community School (comprised of expelled students, returning truants, juveniles who have demonstrated propensity for criminal activity) in the heart of a family-oriented neighborhood BEFORE such an action is taken. A program like this one has NEVER been implemented by ACOE within a densely populated neighborhood of families. In my assessment I have identified the risks and financial impact and I consider that the City Council, BUSD, and ACOE have been informed.

 

Keep the Community School away from our neighborhood.

 

I am awaiting for your actions and response.

 

Regards,

 

 

Charis Kaskiris

 

REFERENCES:

Naroff, Joel L., and Daryl A. Hellman. "Estimates of the Impact of Crime on Property Values." Growth and Change, 22, 24-30, October 1980.

Lynch, Allen K., and David W. Rasmussen. "Measuring the Impact of Crime on House Price?' Applied Economics, 33, 1981-1989, December 2001.