I am a student of Columbia Secondary School in Morningside Heights, and for a recently assigned civic action project, I decided to start a petition to reduce crime in Morningside Park and the surrounding neighborhood, which is currently at an unacceptable level. This has become much more than just a school assignment, though, because on March 6th of this year, there were two shelter-ins (not one, but two!) at my school due to gun violence in the neighborhood, which were witnessed personally by my fellow students and school staff. Just last school year (along with a number of nearby gunfire incidents) a parent was violently attacked during a robbery while picking their student up from school. In the past, there have been murders, such as the killing of Tessa Majors, Barnard freshman. Robberies are still common in the park and the rest of the neighborhood. 

But the worst part? This crime is coming from kids. That’s right. The notorious crime in Morningside Park is largely due to teenagers - 12 out of 17 robberies in the park in 2019 were committed by youth perpetrators, who went to school in the neighborhood, according to the West Side Rag (2020). We need to fix this! No one should have to feel unsafe in and around their school, and no one should have to be afraid of being attacked in their own neighborhood. New lights, cameras, and patrols were implemented to address this problem back in 2020 (West Side Rag 2020). These safety improvements may have reduced crime initially, but they don't address the root problem.

We need an actual change, one that does address the root problem, such as free programming for teenagers in our neighborhood. This would help the teenagers that are at high risk of committing crimes to be good citizens instead of criminals, and provide resources to families to reduce robberies. Sign this petition to show Shaun Abreu, our New York City Councilman, the magnitude of this issue, so that an effective change may be made in the community, rather than just implementing a temporary solution.

Image Credits: Wikipedia