-------------------------------------------------- REMINDER: Only 2 Posts Per Day Per Person -------------------------------------------------- FYI Elizabeth Dickinson West Side Subject: Riverview Block Club Meeting
Next meeting is June 7, 2004 at 7pm at 123 W Isabel. Hope to see you!! We had a great block club meeting. Senior Commander McNeely attended and told us about some of his plans for the West Side. Meeting highlights: The property at 136-138 W Isabel was again mentioned as having junk cars in the alley. (One car has been moved since the last block club meeting when Officer Ortiz said he would look into the issue.) The property is owned by Russ Hamilton who lives at 1570 Van Buren. It is listed as residential property, not a duplex or tri-plex. If you want to call the City about the cars or anything else, please call 266-8989 Citizens Information Office. Commander McNeely took note of the car issue and the listing on property records as residential property. Commander McNeely stated he would have an officer check out the cars, then a report is written, a notice is sent to the landlord to abate the problem, and if the cars are not moved within the given time frame they would be towed. There have been some problems with 472 Hall but those may have been resolved through eviction of tenant. If there is a problem property in your area call 266-8989 (Citizens Information Office) or 266-1900 (Neighborhood Housing and Property Improvement) or call your city council representative. May 19 there will be a gang information session for adults at Baker Community Center, 6pm. I was happy to report that in mid-April I called the non-emergency police number and asked for an officer to come to Prospect Park and tell the young people there that it was past closing hour at the park and it was past curfew. A police officer came and the kids left. Sleep soon followed. Jocelyn VanToor sent around the crime statistics for the last month. She informed us of the graffiti clean-up program sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club. Members of the Keystone Leadership Program are willing and able to help residents clean-up graffiti. If you need help cleaning up graffiti, call 222-2212. Highlights of Commander McNeely's comments: He became district commander in December. He has been with the department for 21 years serving in the Western and Eastern Districts, the Force Unit, and other areas of the department. Because of his position in the Force Unit he has a good understanding of how to deal with problem properties, gangs, narcotics. The office for the Central District is no longer on Rice Street but has moved to Lafayette and University. He recognized that the repeated change of commanders over the last couple years has adversely affected long term planning, goals, strategies for the West Side. He hopes to remain the senior commander for a while. One initiative which he will be implementing soon is called PROJECT 45. With the help of the community (WSCO, block clubs, etc) and his officers, he wants 15 of the worst properties identified, 15 problem locations identified, and 15 residents (gang members or not) causing the most problems identified. At the next WSCO board meeting on May 10 he will again talk about Project 45. He wants his officers to become more aggressive in identifying gang members and getting guns off the street. The West Side is pretty quiet if compared to other areas in the City, however, there has been a significant increase in the graffiti and guns here. His officers have taken a high number of firearms from people just in performing routine police duties such as traffic stops, not as the result of the firearm being used in the commission of a crime. There are crimes which must be reported to the FBI yearly. These crimes are categorized as Part 1 offenses (robbery, auto theft, homicide, etc) and Part 2 offenses (vandalism, truancy, domestic violence, graffiti, etc). Part 1 offenses this year have dropped on the West Side (200) when compared to the same time period last year (280) and Part 2 offenses have increased for the same period (460 this year vs 420 last year.) In 1 week there were 18 reports of graffiti on the West Side -- this includes art graffiti and gang related graffiti. (If you spot graffiti, call 266-1111 or 266-8989.) One of McNeely's initiatives is assigning 2 officers to the graffiti problem -- they will learn to identify the artist or tagger and try to stop the activity. He also is working on assigning an officer to deal with crime in multi-housing areas. He welcomes calls from residents. Memorial Day events -- there will be permit parking again. No big change from last year. There may be fewer officers in the neighborhood in the early afternoon than there were last year, but there will be more officers in our area in the evening than there were last year. There has been a recent rash of theft from cars and garages -- he recommends locking your car doors and your garage doors. 50-70% of such crimes are the result of ease of entry --doors are not locked and access is easily gained. That's it folks! Any questions or comments, call me or e-mail. Our meeting was about 1-1/2 hours long so my notes do not reflect all that was said and may not include something that was significant -- for this reason you should attend the next meeting and get it all. Debbie Korthof-Stanton _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
