Belhaven promises to be safer, with new security cameras expected to go up in the neighborhood by Christmas.
New security cameras are being installed at the entrances of Peachtree Street at Riverside Drive and Greymont Avenue at Fortification Street.
Two more cameras are being installed at Laurel Street Park, as is an emergency call button that will link directly to Jackson 911 dispatchers.
The cameras are being installed by the Belhaven Improvement Association (BIA), and are the first part of a comprehensive security plan that includes placing cameras in strategic areas, said BIA President Reed Hogan.
“Part of the plan is a comprehensive surveillance system throughout the neighborhood,” he said.
The first cameras should be in place by Christmas, he said.
Plans were drawn up after BIA held a security summit. About 35 people, including neighbors and representatives from the various restaurants, businesses and schools in the neighborhood, attended.
The meeting allowed leaders to identify the neighborhood’s “security weaknesses and how to address them,” he said.
The cameras are being paid for with funds raised by the association. BIA also hopes residents and businesses will sponsor additional cameras and call buttons.
“We hope to install them throughout the neighborhood,” he said.
Peachtree and Greymont were chosen because they’re two of the neighborhood’s main entrances, “with the highest traffic flow in Belhaven,” he said.
About 18,000 vehicles a day travel to or past the Greymont entrance, while 6,000 travel to or past the Peachtree entrance, according to Mississippi Department of Transportation traffic counts.
The cameras also allow BIA to build on previous work at the intersections. The association has plans to install brick columns and walls and landscaping at both intersections.
Some work has already been done at both sites, he said.
All plans, including the security cameras, have been signed off on by the city of Jackson.
In recent months, the city has worked to make it easier for homeowners to install surveillance systems on public rights-of-way.
Earlier this year, the Massena Heights neighborhood was hoping to install cameras. However, the process was stalled because the city questioned who would own the cameras and surveillance footage if the cameras were placed on right-of-way.
The city refused to allow Massena Heights to install the devices, citing the concerns.
“We were hoping to put up state-of-the-art cameras with license plate (reading) technology at our two entrances. We had erected stone pillars on right-of-way with city permission. The next step was to put up cameras similar to the cameras used elsewhere in the city, but we were informed that we (would be) unable to,” said Massena Heights Homeowners Association Executive Director Sally Birdsall.
Birdsall said she reached out to Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote, who contacted the city’s legal department for assistance.
City attorneys ruled that the cameras could be installed on city rights-of-way, as long as the plans are approved by public works. City legal further opined that city does not own the cameras, the tapes, footage or other data collected by them.
“Some (city) officials were being overzealous in trying to limit what neighborhoods were trying to do,” Foote said. “Once we got a clear understanding we were able to move forward.”
