'The other side of the tracks'

When Cheyanne Temple’s home burned down last year, her neighbors immediately responded by offering blankets and clothes. They pitched in to provide Temple’s family of five with meals.

There was no question of whether or not to rebuild the house she has lived in for more than 15 years in the section of Coeur d’Alene known by many as East Sherman.

“I never want to live in a different spot,” Temple said. “I want to grow old here.”

Here is a portion of town that stretches the length of Sherman Avenue from roughly Eighth Street to Interstate 90. Here is a place that Temple said has everything her family could ever want from a community.

But there is another perception of the area, one that Temple freely acknowledges when she calls East Sherman “the other side of the tracks.” She’s had experiences with the types of people that she said gives the place its reputation.

While her house was being rebuilt, squatters moved in.

Alcohol bottles littered the front of her home and she said the squatters prompted her family to immediately purchase new locks for the doors and windows.

“On the one hand I would like people to not have to sleep outside during the winter,” Temple said. “On the other hand I don’t want them pissing in the corner of my basement.”

It’s the visibility

Sgt. Christie Wood of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department describes East Sherman as a high activity area for police, with a higher number of incidents officers respond to.

But, according to Wood, the area doesn’t stand out.

“The stats aren’t extremely alarming in the East Sherman area,” Wood said. “They are high, but they are high because of the concentration of business, commercial and residential areas.”

Wood added that motels that offer long-term transitional housing and organizations that provide services to the homeless bring in a lot of foot traffic. That traffic leads to East Sherman having a higher rate of certain types of crime.

“We deal with substance abuse — we respond to DUIs and make arrests for possession of substances,” Wood said. “But you aren’t seeing more violent crime. You are just seeing arrests for DUIs, theft and vandalism.”

Ten percent of Coeur d’Alene’s DUI and alcohol offenses occurred in the East Sherman area last year. Approximately 10 percent of the vandalism and theft cases the police department responded to in 2013 happened in the East Sherman area.

More than 40 incidents involving drugs were responded to and the police department served more that 50 warrants in the area.

“There is certainly room for improvement and we want to bring those numbers down,” Wood said. “We want people to have a safe environment to live in and to take pride in their neighborhoods.”

In Wood’s opinion, it’s the visibility of East Sherman that leads to its reputation. She said other areas such as Appleway have just as much, if not more, criminal activity but because there isn’t a large concentration of homeless people the perception might be different.

“I’ve seen the blogs and stuff asking about when LCDC is going to focus on East Sherman,” Wood said. “That’s all fine and good if they want to put in nice sidewalks and flower baskets, that’s great. But I think to really see more improvements you are going to have to have more block watch groups.”

Neighborhood watch groups, Wood said, are an asset to the police department.

“They’re our eyes and ears,” Wood said. “The difference you can make with an organized neighborhood where people know each other and are comfortable talking to each other is empowering.”

One phone call at a time

Meryle Kuntz hasn’t had to use her telephone much this winter. It’s been a quiet year for the East Sherman resident and neighborhood watch leader.

But it hasn’t always been so quiet.

It’s easy for Kuntz, who moved to the area in 1997, to recall the state of East Sherman just four years ago. That year was a nightmare, she said.

A boat stored upside down in the front yard of her neighbor’s house became a home for several transients. It wasn’t uncommon to see a car cruising up and down the street — its occupants watching the playing children.

Kuntz would sit on her porch during the night and would witness drug deals taking place.

Something had to change.

So Kuntz and other concerned neighbors decided to form a neighborhood watch. The residents decided not to place any signs on the street to broadcast the program.

“We just let them stumble in,” Kuntz said.

And when they stumbled in, Kuntz and other residents who diligently watched the area had their phones ready.

“We really aren’t anything special,” Kuntz said. “We just work like a unit. It’s just people caring about people.”

The unity of the neighborhood is what makes Kuntz know she would miss it if she were to ever leave. Whether it’s school kids selling cookies or a sick resident who needs dinners — Kuntz said she and her neighbors are always chipping in however they can.

“Everybody on this block knows each other and works as a unit together,” Kuntz said. “We may not talk to each other for months, but we are always working with each other.”

Its own persona

Steve Adams grew up in the East Sherman area and since 1994 has operated Avalanche Insurance from a Sherman Avenue storefront.

According to Adams, not a lot has changed on the streets he used to roam as a child. Many of the same businesses are still operating out of the same locations.

“To me it’s kind of Mayberry-ish,” Adams said. “You sit in the morning and you kind of look out and see the smoke stacks and for the most part it’s quiet. It’s just more of an old-town kind of feel here.”

During the 1980s, Adams said the area was known as “kind of a bastion” for midnight prowlers who would break into homes. That, coupled with the more recent arrival of organizations that help the homeless and provide transitional housing for people battling substance abuse problems, has created a negative perception of East Sherman.

“Not to pick on Fresh Start itself, but of course Fresh Start seems to bring a certain type of individual into the area,” Adams said. “It’s put us on the map. It’s absolutely created the perception.”

Adams has had many encounters with the types of people he said create the negative perception.

“Just yesterday I was walking over to IGA (Peterson’s Family Foods) to get some lunch and I was panhandled,” Adams said. “There’s a lot of families and kids who traverse around here and that’s not something they should have to put up with.”

However when asked if he would like to see East Sherman look and feel more like the downtown area, Adams said that as a business owner, and a city councilor, he wouldn’t.

“East Sherman has its own persona,” Adams said. “If the business owners and residents came together and were interested in some infrastructure improvements that is something that could go to a vote.”

Kind of beautiful and perfect

As early as 5 a.m. on the Fourth of July, Temple and her neighbors in East Sherman begin the process of gathering chairs. These chairs, and sometimes coolers or other items that can serve as seats, are lined as tightly as possible along the road.

The neighborhood then cheers on the parade and begins a day of celebrating as a community.

“Everyone spends time together,” Temple said. “You walk around to all the different barbecues in the neighborhood and it just feels very, very close-knit.”

Temple said she feels comfortable walking around the neighborhood and letting her children play outside. She doesn’t let her 7-year-old daughter walk to school by herself, but she said she wouldn’t let her child do that anywhere.

“There’s going to be creeps in any neighborhood you live in,” Temple said.

The small community is something that Temple said isn’t found everywhere and residents of the close-knit East Sherman neighborhood work to keep the negative perception out of reality.

“All of us as a neighborhood have kind of pulled together,” Temple said. “We really watch what’s going on so we know that everything is OK.”

Temple added that with the neighborhood coming together and tackling issues if any arise, she doesn’t see a need for the city to step in and “throw some makeup” on the issues.

“It’s kind of beautiful and perfect how it is,” Temple said.