Hilltop Neighborhood, Tacoma, Washington

The Hilltop Neighborhood is a historically diverse neighborhood in the Tacoma, Washington Central District.

The National Register of Historic Places (US Department of the Interior)specifies the geographic area of Hilltop as located within the City of Tacoma and bounded on the east by Tacoma Avenue South, on the north by Division Street, on the west by Sprague Avenue, and on the south by the edge of the bluff, which roughly equates to South 27th Street(1). Hilltop derives its name from its location on a high bluff overlooking Commencement Bay and the Port of Tacoma.

Hilltop is near the historic Tacoma Public Library main branch, Bates Technical College, the Pierce County Courthouse, and the new Pierce County Correctional Facility, all of which are located on Hilltop's east side. It is adjoined by Tacoma's more affluent Stadium District.

Hilltop has been notorious for drug-related gang activity, most notably related to the infamous Hilltop Crips. The word "Hilltop" became synonymous specifically with Tacoma's gang problems, and more generally with urban pathologies associated with the US's Crack Epidemic.

The Hilltop made national news when the US Army Rangers got into a shootout with the Crips.

The Hilltop had a reputation for drugs and violence pre 1980's. There were stories of the Mother's Day riots in the 70's. In the early 80's Tacoma Civic Leaders sought federal dollars by accepting a large number of Cuban Refugees. [On May 6, 1980, Fort Chaffee became a Cuban refugee resettlement center after the Cuban government allowed American boats to pick up refugees at the port of Mariel. Three weeks later, a number of refugees rioted at Fort Chaffee and burned two buildings. State troopers and tear gas were used to break up the crowd, and eighty-four Cubans were jailed. Riots among the Cubans were a key factor in Governor Bill Clinton's loss of the office in 1980. In two years, Fort Chaffee processed 25,390 Cuban refugees.]

What wikipedia on Fort Chaffee doesn't say, is many of the Cuban refugees had been released from Castro's prisons and allowed to leave on the condition they never return. Tacoma received many of those criminals and in the course of a year, they took over the Hilltop drug trade by murdering the established local illicit drug dealers.

Circa 1984, an unknown Los Angeles Crip association began organizing local Hilltop youth to sell primarily powder and Crack Cocaine. A year long violent struggle ensued. Eventually all the drug slinging Cubans were murdered or left town to avoid their certain impending demise.

By Sept. 23, 1989, the Hilltop Crips were in their prime. Guns shots were heard nearly every night, driveby shootings were a weekly occurrence and homicides were at a peak. They owned the night and there were few officers and supervisors who were willing to attempt to take the turf back. That all changed after the aforementioned Ash Street Shoot Out.

Neighborhood watch efforts, increased police presence, commercial real estate development efforts along Martin Luther King Way and rising real estate values in all areas adjoining downtown Tacoma have served to lower the amount of crime in Hilltop. However, Hilltop continues to have a high crime rate.

The neighborhood's population is 13,038 and remains racially diverse. 42% of residents are White or Caucasian, 31% Black or African-American, 10% Asian, 3% Native American, 1% Pacific Islander, 3% from other races, and 8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7% of the population. 32% of residents were below poverty line.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, the Tacoma City Council adopted new official boundaries for downtown Tacoma which included a portion of the Hilltop neighborhood as far west as South L Street and changed the name of the Hilltop business district to the Upper Tacoma Business District.

In 2011, the City Council recognized that Upper Tacoma was no longer Upper Tacoma. The Hilltop Business Association (formerly the Upper Tacoma Business Association), led by President Eric Crittendon, reclaimed the name "Hilltop," purchased new stationery and installed Hilltop banners along Martin Luther King Jr. Way(2).

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/28/1923694/proud-to-live-play-and-shop-on.html#storylink=cpyThe Hilltop Crips have not modified their name to reflect the neighborhood's new designation.

References

1. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form: Historic Resources of the Hilltop Neighborhood. Retrieved 6/12/12 from http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/64500701.pdf 2. Merryman, Kathleen. (November 28, 2011). "Proud to live, play and shop on Tacoma's Hilltop." Tacoma News Tribune. Retrieved 6/12/12 from http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/28/1923694/proud-to-live-play-and-shop-on.html.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/28/1923694/proud-to-live-play-and-shop-on.html#storylink=cpy

External links

• National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form: Historic Resources of the Hilltop Neighborhood
• National List of Nation’s Top Emerging Gay Ghettos Announced
• Gang arrests stir Tacoma's Hilltop
• 2 more sentenced in Hilltop Crips crackdown in Tacoma