Declarations from City Hall that violence is down and the murder total is down from last year weren't enough for a meeting last night looking for solutions.
The meeting at Merriweather Library followed six murders in six days recently. Speaker after speaker cited social ills, not enough jobs and other problems but wanted movement beyond that, to answers to the violence.
"I've seen babies before they were born and after they were born, come in. And, I've seen them in caskets after they die," said Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant.
"From 15 up to 40, I've seen them. And every time they die, it hurts me. I don't have any sons but every son who dies of a mother, I share that loss and I grieve and I know how you're feeling."
Within hours, there was another shooting reported on East Amherst Street.
Mayor Brown says crime is lower than it has been in many years and the homicide total is well below last year and arrests are being made, like arrests in four murders in recent days, with more promised.
