The word “safety” is bantered about Madison and other cities without necessarily a clear definition of what it means. For some, it primarily means traffic safety so that bike riders and pedestrians can proceed unscathed. Others, though, have other, broader expectations of a safe neighborhood, and this means personal safety. Rather than choose one over the other, it is important that we understand safety to mean all these things. Safety is critical to maintain and improve the quality of life that we need, in order to have good neighborhoods in the Tenney-Lapham area and elsewhere.

At some point, though, personal freedom emerges as an issue. At some point several years ago a motorists’ group lobbied for drivers’ rights without necessarily owning up to the responsibilities that come with such privileges. Recently vandalism in the downtown area and in our own neighborhood challenged personal safety. In fact, we heard from neighbors who left the downtown to find an improved quality of life in the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood, and they were put off by the behavior of their own neighbors.

“Our next-door neighbors were throwing beer bottles off of the porch. They broke the cover off of the parking lot light, and there is broken glass all over the lot. Another neighbor had called the police (we returned home while the 'shenanigans' were going on). Two officers came into the parking lot behind the building and questioned us. We told them what we had seen and they attempted to "make contact" with our neighbors, who didn't answer the door.

”The next day, we met our other new neighbors. . . . The residents from the other two apartments came down to talk to us about what had happened. We agreed that when we chose our building we were trying to get away from the kind of activity that had happened the night before, that so often happens in apartments closer to campus. Two of our neighbors are graduate students, and they fear that there are going to be noise problems. When our next-door neighbors came home, the grad students introduced themselves to the guys and then asked them if they were the ones throwing the bottles. They denied it.

”My concern is that incidents like this one will happen again, and that these guys don't seem to want to take responsibility for their behavior, and that therefore we won't be able to put an end to it.”

This account is appalling. It should not happen here, and we should have an atmosphere that invites others to move here. Rather than make a new resident wonder about problems continuing, they should be telling their old neighbors that life is better in Tenney-Lapham.

It is not that this happens all the time. Yet vandalism and other quality of life problems have emerged to suggest an ongoing situation that needs a solution. Perhaps it is time that Tenney-Lapham, like the Williamson Street area, have a beat cop to maintain a presence that reassures residents that someone is around in case there is a problem. Perhaps we need more resident landlords who can instruct residents about behavior. Even the University of Wisconsin could help, since some younger residents may not have found room in dorms where important socialization can occur. Perhaps all of us, too, could become better role models in the neighborhood by practicing good behavior and encouraging it. We can help with lighting, report problems, and do other, constructive things, instead of waiting for somebody else to do it. Only then can we begin to have an atmosphere that suggests a safe environment for all of us. With a neighborhood, the quality of life is at the core of its stability: let’s improve it!

-Salvatore Calomino, Jim Zychowicz

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