FAIRHOPE, Alabama— A small group of citizens met this month to discuss annexing all of Young Street into the city and creating a neighborhood watch in that predominantly African American part of town.

 “Young Street is a historic area,” said Calvin Hunt, who planned and organized the meeting. He returned to Fairhope several years ago where he has family, he said, following an activist period in Harlem, N.Y.

“We want to bring it back,” he said at the June 6 meeting at a local church. “In 1972 this was a black business district. In 2012 we don’t have anything.”

Among the things he wants is for all of Young Street annexed into the city.

The Young Street community, which includes a network of roads—some paved, others not—is currently about half in the county and half in the city limits, he said.

Hunt said citizens of Young Street pay the city for almost everything, but they can’t vote in city elections.

“We want someone to represent our needs too.”

The Young Street area of which Hunts speaks looks strikingly different from the nearby immaculate and flower-filled Fairhope street corners and bustling downtown business district.

“We want flowers and prosperity too,” Hunt said. “There are two flower pots with dead flowers on this street but look at the rest of the city.”

Council President Lonnie Mixon attended the meeting and said the group needed a plan for annexation to present to the council.

“Make a plan,” Mixon said. “Demand things.”

Hunt also said that safety and crime were other issues the group wanted addressed. We don’t want the problems of downtown Mobile coming to this area, he said.

Police Chief Bill Press told the group that night that there are five officers on duty for 30,000 people and 57 square miles and that Young Street is patrolled just as much as the rest of the city.

“We aren’t going to pick on people because of their color either,” Press said. “Unless we have a reason to suspect someone, we can’t do anything. Everyone has a right to walk down the street.”

Assistant Police Chief Terry Sanders suggested starting a neighborhood crime watch. There are already six watches in the city, he said.

“Community involvement is key to making a neighborhood watch successful.”

Members of the community were absent to a large degree at the meeting, Hunt said.

“We have good people here,” he said. “They don’t think change can happen though.” Press suggested getting local churches involved, their leaders and congregations. There are three churches here within half a mile of each other, he said.

Hunt said he found it “offensive” that Mayor Tim Kant was not present at the meeting, especially since members of the police force and City Council did attend.

Kant did not respond to phone calls for comment.

“I think there is a dearth of resources in that community,” said Chris Warner, who attended the meeting and is challenging Kant for the city’s top elected job in the Aug. 28 municipal election. “They should have flowers and paved streets with striping too. This is an equity case.”

Warner said he thought it “disrespectful” that Kant did not attend the meeting.