A survey intended to gauge Binghamton city residents’ reaction to community issues and identify crime hot spots will help the city secure a $1 million grant to address both criminal and economic issues, officials say.

The Weed and Seed survey conducted in late October examined a small sample (220) of Binghamton’s 47,380 residents.

The survey questions ranged from issues of crime, public safety and gang activity to public transportation, education and health care. Of the 220 responses received, 65 percent of residents felt drugs are the most serious law enforcement issue throughout the city. Other major concerns were lack of affordable housing, job skill training and employment opportunities ‘ especially for youth, whose lack of supervision during after school hours may have a direct connection to drug use as well as gang-related and violent crimes.

‘By taking a focused, comprehensive approach to quality development, we’re confident we can turn this neighborhood around,’ said Tarik Abdelazim, executive assistant to Mayor Matthew Ryan.

The survey ‘ which was conducted by volunteer community members ‘ is only one example of the Weed and Seed initiative’s commitment to active community involvement in addressing issues and implementing citywide reform.

The proposed Weed and Seed site would affect 10,560 individuals ‘ about 20 percent of the city’s population ‘ within a space of three square miles. Nevertheless, by cracking down on heavy crime in these specific areas, the impact for Binghamton as a whole would be significant.

According to Abdelazim, a major goal of the Weed and Seed project is to identify specific areas of the city that are especially impacted by crime, unemployment and drug- and gang-related activity.

Money received from the proposed grant would enable the administration to ‘concentrate large amounts of housing, infrastructure, parks, small business and crime prevention dollars in a few key action areas,’ Abdelazim said.

Binghamton’s West Side, a popular location for student housing, is included as one of the key areas of the Weed and Seed initiative, whose overall ‘target areas’ have been responsible for 30 percent of citywide drug arrests over the past three years.

But while drug use and related criminal activity are problems that the city’s administration and public service officers have been long aware of, other survey results were less predictable.

‘If there was one statistic that surprised all members of the committee,’ Abdelazim said, ‘it was the unemployment statistic. And for those employed, the income levels were on the low end.’

Jerrine Wyman, who assisted in conducting the survey and analyzing its results, said that as much as 61 percent of the small sample who completed the survey were unemployed. This statistic, however, is contrasted with the unemployment rate cited by the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau ‘ a much lower 3.8 percent.

Approval of the proposed grant will allow the local administration and community to take immediate steps toward making changes. While much of the funding received from the grant would be allocated toward youth supervision and crime prevention, money would also go toward improving the physical and economic attraction of the area.

In his State of the City address this past January, Mayor Ryan noted that ‘resources need to be leveraged to create a Binghamton that attracts jobs, capital, young professionals and families.’

Ryan added that he also wants to focus attention and resources on community organizations such as Southern Tier Celebrates and the Binghamton Gang Prevention Program.

‘Connecting art organizations and youth-servicing agencies to neighborhood development is a strategy that we feel addresses safety concerns on a multitude of levels,’ Ryan said.

As Ryan told community members, ‘If you think Binghamton can be brought back by the mayor alone, then you don’t understand my reason for wanting to run. The vision of this administration is about us working together to move this city forward. A community rises or falls as one.’