Abstract: East Anchorage is currently the only site in Alaska under the nationwide Weed and Seed initiative, which is intended to “weed out” criminals who undermine quality of life for community residents in high-crime neighborhoods and to “seed in” positive practices, programs and institutions that contribute to a better quality of life for neighborhoods. The East Anchorage Weed and Seed site, located in a racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood in the northeast part of Anchorage, had an estimated population in 2005 of more than 37,000 people living in about 14,000 households. On behalf of East Anchorage Weed and Seed, the Justice Center conducted a community survey designed to evaluate Northeast community residents’ level of satisfaction with their neighborhood as a place to live, specifically with regards to residents' feelings about neighborhood safety, neighborhood crime levels, criminal victimization, police activity in the neighborhood, and the availability of social services. This report presents results of the survey, to which a total of 209 respondents in the Northeast community responded, and compares its results to those of an identical mailed community survey conducted in the same area in 2002. |
