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Historical November 1985 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
An Operation Safestreet Neighborhood Watch meeting was held Sept. 12 at our home in the 5900 block of Pershing.
It was a successful one, and for the benefit of those who have not yet attended a block meeting, I wanted to share a few related thoughts.
The turnout was good, due to the help of a few enthusiastic neighbors who helped spread the word around: and of course, it’s always nice to see a few new faces.
Our guest that night was Mary Furst, a neighborhood liaison official from City Hall.
She gave us some statistical information on crime and crime prevention in Skinker-DeBaliviere.
The incidents of robberies, assaults, and car thefts were way down this year as opposed to last year, and that’s good news.
We can’t say the same about burglaries and acts of larceny, however. So, it’s important that we tighten up the neighborhood network now that winter and the holiday season are right around the corner.
A new City Service, called the Citizen’s Complaint Bureau, was also described by Ms. Furst.
This Bureau consists of ten operators at City Hall who will take your questions and complaints, assign a work order number to the problem, and send it on to the right department for action.
It will make for more efficient communication between the citizen and City Hall.
The telephone number is 622-4800.
The neighbors all agreed that it had been a fairly quiet summer on the block.
No major crime incidents reported—which brought up an important related point. Any crime, however “minor,” should be reported.
This includes stolen batteries, vandalism, etc., the type of crime nobody expects to be solved. Ms. Furst stressed that the police are much more effective in dealing with this type of residential crime when they have correct, documented information. What made this meeting so successful, I think, was the fact that we came out of it with some important resolutions.
We agreed to hold two meetings a year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
Our aim will be to have at least one member of each household in attendance.
We agreed to “talk it up!” and publicize the meeting among our immediate neighbors as soon as the final date is set.
After the meeting, I will see that any neighbor who could not attend gets the information that was presented.
My personal contribution to the conversation included a reminder about porch lights. Again, winter is right around the corner, folks, and the number of residential burglaries rises in the winter.
A street full of light definitely sends a discouraging message to anyone who may be lurking around.
A tight neighborhood network is our best defense against crime. Other topics, such as the neighborhood parade on National Night Out, August 13, were discussed. Next year it’ll be even bigger and better, we all agreed!
For problems like noise at night, barking dogs, and litter in the alleys, the general consensus was that nothing beats plain and simple conversation.
The neighbor-to-neighbor approach is really the most reasonable and effective way to solve some of these typical but annoying urban problems. So, for the investment of about an hour and a half’s worth of time, we got to hear some rather encouraging statistics on the neighborhood, meet a few more of our neighbors, and drink some very tasty punch, (if I do say so myself!).
The Neighborhood Watch concept is a good one.
In city neighborhoods where houses are close together and yards are small, we will all feel a lot happier and more secure when we know who our neighbors are. Block meetings are an ideal way to learn some new names, pool information and ideas, have your say and listen to others have theirs.
A big thank you to the people who showed so much support. We’ll do it again in the spring.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, November 1985.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1985_11.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
