Shaken by yet another round of gun crime in Albany, elected officials, community leaders and private citizens gathered together for a downtown brainstorming session Tuesday.
"When do we stop having meetings and move forward to action?" 3rd ward common councilmember Ron Bailey is troubled by the latest in a series of episodes of gun violence that have broken out in New York's capital city. There have been many shootings over the last decade. Try as they may, politicians, police, clergymen, government officials and community activists have been unable to stem the tide of gun violence in a city with 25 percent poverty.
They keep trying. The latest effort, Tuesday night in Albany's South End. Former mayoral candidate and community activist Marlon Anderson: " I was at the meeting last evening and it was a chaotic event. A lot of sound and fury and in the end nothing was put forward in the realm of solutions or that would elevate the gun violence debate and discussion to the level it needs to be to create success."
Bailey seems to agree in his reflection on the gathering, referring to the 10-year-old girl shot and killed in 2008. "It took me back to the time when Kathina Thomas had been shot. And the city was in outrage and everybody came together..."
And there were speeches and promises. The city has no shortage of sincere anti-gun advocates, among them powerful leaders like District Attorney David Soares, activist Alice Green, gun-buyback promoter Pastor Charlie Muller, and SNUG, but they often take separate paths when it comes to offering solutions.
"We are program rich and results poor when it comes to gun violence. And that's something that we gotta turn around." Around the New Year, Anderson held a series of "community conversations" about guns, gun violence, and gun culture in Albany. The first two were well-attended, then community enthusiasm withered. He feels the latest effort to spike change was more of a "political showcase" versus genuine discussion. "Trying to funnel opnions and ideas through the same channels. Because if we keep doing that, we're going to get the same result."
Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff was in the crowd. He met earlier in the day with Mayor Kathy Sheehan at city hall to discuss four shootings this month, which he says were not gang-related.
Observers say "SNUG," or GUNS spelled backward, hasn't been as effective in Albany as it has been in other communities. Unable to shake the "SNUG" acronym, despite a name change, the group has struggled to find a voice. It has been associated with holding sparsely-attended vigils at locations where people had been shot. Perhaps reflecting the lack of a united front against gun violence in the city, the group is battling itself on Facebook with three different "SNUG Albany" and one "Albany Cure Violence" accounts. Other groups have successfully used the social network to foster awareness and involvement. Calls to Albany Cure Violence and Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff were not returned.
Mayor Sheehan tells Newschannel13 she'd like to see more people who realize that they have the power to come up with ideas and create safer communities on their own. "We learn when we listen and sometimes a community has ideas that are far better then anything that we can come up with in a conference room in city hall."
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