The Rosemont at Highland Park, a 252-unit apartment complex on San Antonio’s Southeast Side, is the first of likely several “hot spots” across the city that will undergo a treatment plan aimed at reducing violent crime.
Rather than relying solely on law enforcement, the city will install more lighting and security cameras around and within the complex, improve area streets and sidewalks and increase access to services such as youth and workforce programs in an effort to address the underlying causes and environmental factors that contribute to crime.
Several San Antonio City Council members said Friday during a Public Safety Committee meeting that they were optimistic that the plan would result in safer neighborhoods and encouraged city staff to expand phase two to other hot spots.
“I’m sure we all have suggestions for areas in our districts that we’d like to see this happen in,” said Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6), who chairs the committee.
“We are currently looking at the data to see what formula we can come up with to effectively identify the properties that need holistic attention like this,” said Maria Vargas-Yates, director of the city’s Integrated Community Safety Office, which will coordinate with various city departments and UTSA, which developed the city’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan.
Rosemont is a mixed-income apartment complex of 11 buildings owned and operated by the local housing authority, Opportunity Home San Antonio, which is collaborating with the city to implement the plan.
UTSA’s analysis of dozens of crime hot spots in the city found that Rosemont was the only location that ranked in the top 10 for violent crime, calls for service regarding violence and arrests for violent crimes, said Michael Smith, a UTSA criminology and criminal justice professor and director of the university’s Center for Applied Community and Policy Research.
There were 116 calls to 911 regarding violence at the Rosemont in about two years, from September 2021 through August 2023, according to UTSA.
“The shooting is pretty constant,” Erin Gallegos Reid, president of the Highland Park Neighborhood Association, told the San Antonio Report earlier this week. She said shell casings are often seen scattered around the streets.
Reid says she’s not convinced that a “passive,” infrastructure approach will reduce violent crime at Rosemont: “You need constant drive-by patrol.”
UTSA will continue to track crime metrics in the area as the changes are implemented, Smith said. “We will come back to you and report out the results of that evaluation in about in about six months.”
If the results are like those from the City of Dallas, where a similar UTSA plan was implemented, the neighborhood should start seeing results in weeks or months, Smith told the San Antonio Report.
Beginning Phase 2
The specialized intervention at Rosemont, informed by directors from various city departments, represents the second of three phases of the Violent Crime Reduction Plan launched in early 2023.
The first phase involved “hot spot” policing, where officers sat in parked police vehicles within various high-crime areas with their lights on for 15- to 20-minute intervals.
Those hot spots saw a nearly 37% decrease in average violent crime incidents this year compared to last, according to the data, and may have contributed to an overall flattening of violent crime in 2023 after four years of trending upward.
Hot spot policing will continue citywide as the second phase, known as “problem-oriented, place-based policing,” takes a more holistic approach to address the deeper issues. The third phase, called “focused deterrence,” is still under development but will focus on individuals routinely involved in violent crime.
Rosemont has a roaming and stray dog problem, a “high number of unauthorized visitors …. and [a] high level of stolen vehicles being brought to this property and left there,” Vargas-Yates said.
The city is slated to spend $405,000 on mobile cameras that can read license plates and $15,000 on an animal vaccine clinic for residents and the neighborhood, pending council approval in August. That money comes from a $3.5 million fund reserved for phase two interventions at Rosemont and other future phase two hotspots.
Other interventions, such as streetlights and sidewalks, will be covered by various departments’ existing project budgets, said Deputy City Manager María Villagómez.
“Perhaps we’ll come back and request additional funding as we develop this strategy,” Villagómez said, adding that the city is looking into grant funding opportunities.
Additional projects or services may be added after the city surveys Rosemont residents, Vargas-Yates told the San Antonio Report. The health department will send out a digital survey and “send its community health workers out to knock on doors [and ask] people to speak with them if they’re comfortable and participate in the survey so that we can better understand their needs.”
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), whose district includes the apartments, said that while hot spot policing correlates so far with reduced violent crime, that approach doesn’t change the underlying conditions that can contribute to crime.
“I’m happy to be at this point in the process where we’re discussing midterm and long-term investments,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
“True community safety … looks like a future where everyone’s basic needs including housing, transportation, health care and other opportunities are met and they’d be without the sense of hopelessness and desperation that people find themselves in often before committing a crime,” he added.
While the apartments are technically located in District 2, Highland Park is represented by District 3.
Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran (D3), who does not serve on the committee, told the San Antonio Report earlier this week that she looks forward to collaborating with McKee-Rodriguez and Highland Park residents on the plan.
“The key is making sure we have neighborhood engagement,” Viagran said.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the number of units at the Rosemont.
