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| The Ellery Place townhomes. |
Is the Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter a magnet for crime in the neighborhood? Not that much, according to three nearby residents who happened to be outside on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
The shelter is “no problem” said a man working on the garden in front of his townhouse on Ellery Circle around the corner from the shelter. The resident, who preferred to be anonymous, said, “we hardly ever see anyone from the shelter. The police go by every day. We really can’t complain.”
He bought his townhouse three years ago knowing the shelter was there and says he’s never heard of any home or car break-ins. A bigger concern to this resident is the lack of parking at Ellery Place and the increased traffic likely to result from the AvalonBay apartments planned for the shelter site on Moncure Avenue.
Fairfax County is relocating the shelter to a field behind the Lincolnia Senior Center on N. Chambliss Street to facilitate redevelopment of the Southeast Quadrant on Columbia Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads. Safety issues are a real concern, as a security assessment prepared for Fairfax County recommends strong measures, including armed guards and metal detectors.
Fairfax County is relocating the shelter to a field behind the Lincolnia Senior Center on N. Chambliss Street to facilitate redevelopment of the Southeast Quadrant on Columbia Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads. Safety issues are a real concern, as a security assessment prepared for Fairfax County recommends strong measures, including armed guards and metal detectors.
Another resident of Ellery Place, Noah Alotaibi, said he isn’t aware of any crime associated with the shelter, and said, “I don’t have any problems with it.” He didn’t know the shelter was there during the entire first year he’d been living in the community. “When homeless people walk around, they say hi to everyone,” he said.
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| A resident of Hoffmans Lane. |
“They normally stay by the shelter but sometimes they walk through the neighborhood,” said a resident of Hoffmans Lane. “I haven’t been seeing them lately,” he said, but in the past had noticed them “walking around drinking and throwing trash on the ground.”
A while ago, a homeless person broke into his cousin’s house further up Hoffman’s Lane. His cousin was home at the time and called the police, who caught the suspect. Despite that incident, he said he didn’t have any problems with the shelter. It would be worse if it wasn’t there; “then they would have nowhere to go.”