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GREENSBORO — Law and order issues took top billing Tuesday at a town meeting aimed at discovering what is on voters' minds as local elections approach.

The forum, hosted by The News & Record, packed a small room at the Glenwood branch of the city library with a diverse crowd of Greensboro residents.

Some issued pleas for a stepped-up police presence in their neighborhood and for more cooperation between residents and the police department.

Mitzi Griffin , who lives in the Glenwood neighborhood, said residents there are not getting enough help from the city.

"We don't have enough police," she said. "They've spread them thin."

Prostitution has been a long-running problem there. She said many of the prostitutes have become familiar faces to residents.

"We know them all," Griffin said. "Some of them, I think, should have retired years ago."

Other residents sounded similar themes.

Sharon Hightower , who lives in the College Forest neighborhood near N.C. A&T's farm on East Lee Street, said she is sometimes "afraid to live" in her neighborhood.

She questioned the need for additional police officers downtown when other areas have more serious problems.

"What have they stolen? Who are they robbing? Nobody," she said.

Other residents pointed to police issues that go beyond manpower.

Donald Hilton said he has lost confidence in the department in the wake of allegations of wrongdoing within the police department.

Other residents said they aren't sure that more officers are necessarily the answer to some problems, and they expressed concerns about what a new gang unit might do. Those issues aren't necessarily solved by arresting more kids, some said.

While many of the comments dealt with police issues, others attending the forum addressed jobs and economic development.

Andrea McLamb said not all parts of the city are faring equally.

The southern part of the city is in need of investment and new jobs, whether in the form of industrial or retail development, she said.

In such places as New Garden Road, development is booming, McLamb noted. Elsewhere, it's a different story.

"Here, Randleman Road is just stagnant — stagnant and people are moving away," she said.

Resident Gail Stroud also touched on the issue of the city's vitality.

"We don't want to be Charlotte or Raleigh, but we want to be something like that," she said. "A growing and thriving community."

Some of those attending the forum slammed Greensboro's leadership.

Resident Lem Cox said current leaders haven't addressed many of the city's problems. He cited a recent report of millions of dollars of uncollected traffic tickets as an example.

That wouldn't be a problem, he said, if cars owned by someone with several unpaid tickets simply received an immobilizing boot.

"We have no leadership, folks," Cox said.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jhardin@news-record.com