TERRE HAUTE —
New surveillance cameras should be in place at Terre Haute’s Garfield Towers within the next few days, a public housing official said Monday.
The cameras are a reaction to two fires – both likely intentionally set – at the public housing development, which is near 12 Points on the city’s near-north side.
The new cameras are being installed at a total cost of about $5,000 said Jeff Stewart, executive director of the Terre Haute Housing Authority, which operates Garfield Towers.
Until the cameras are operational, on-site security has been increased, Stewart told Housing Authority board members at their monthly meeting Monday evening.
A $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in setting the fires at Garfield Towers – one in May and the second on Sept. 16 – has, so far, failed to lead to an arrest, Stewart said.
The fire in May killed one person and injured several others. The September fire was extinguished by residents before it spread beyond a chair in a common area on the second floor. The May fire started with chair on the sixth floor, also in a common area.
Also Monday evening, members of the board discussed an initiative by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds and oversees the Terre Haute Housing Authority, to encourage smoke-free public housing units across the country.
In 2009, HUD issued a notice encouraging public housing authorities to adopt smoke-free policies in some, or all, of their public housing units.
No such policy currently exists with the Terre Haute Housing Authority.
The Housing Authority board of directors is made up of seven members appointed by the mayor to oversee the city’s low-income public housing. There is currently one vacancy on the board.
There are approximately 2,000 families living in home administered by the Terre Haute Housing Authority.
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at 812-231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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