Steering committee meeting minutes - Sept 22, 2010
The meeting to plan the next steps for the Carole Highlands Neighborhood Association was convened at 7:00 p.m. at the Cronins’ house. Present: Jason Clayton, Jeff Cronin, Stephen David, Kay Engman, Aniko Makranczy, Nancy New, and Marilyn Schotte.
Yard Sale: We talked about getting word out about Saturday’s community yard sale once more. Nancy has spent a lot of time distributing flyers to block captains and hand-making signs. An ad has been placed on Craig’s List and info has been shared with Hillwood Manor and Lewisdale neighborhood associations. Scheduling the same day as Sweep the Creek was inadvertent, but people who want to do both certainly can. Saturday, Sept. 25 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. is the yard sale at Carole Highlands Elementary School on Hannon St.
Policing: Corporal Shawn Cooke has been assigned to the detective unit and is no longer our community policing officer. Our new officer is Cpl. Kurt Schnitzenbaumer. His email address is KNSchnitzenbaumer@co.pg.md.us and he’s been told about our listserv and about some of the upcoming events. We look forward to working with him. Nancy and/or Jeff will try to attend the next monthly policy meeting at District 1 headquarters in Hyattsville and circulate whatever news results from that. We said we would ask him to advise us about the noise problems coming from one of the University Blvd. nightclubs.
Street lighting: We talked about revisiting the work Nancy and Aniko had done on faulty (or missing) street lights. Pepco has been responsive replacing bulbs but certain streets aren’t as bright as they should be. Aniko provided instructions for reporting outages: Go to www.pepco.com; in the box labeled 'Alerts and Outage Information', click on 'Street Light Problems'; then click on 'For Pepco lights' and fill in the form. You will need the number that's on the pole (it's on a piece of metal nailed to the pole) and the address of the house the pole is in front of. In the past, they have responded pretty well. It will also ask for type of light; ours are “Cut Off Flat Glass.” We will connect with Pepco and our elected officials when we determine whether we should ask for new lighting in dark areas. Kay noted that car-breakins on 16th Ave occurred when a street light was out.
Upcoming Events: We updated a list of future events for the CHNA, including:
We also noted that the Turner AME Church is having its community day on October 9 and that we would put a notice on the listserv and that some of us would try to attend.
Miscellaneous business. We talked about having block captains on each block, and re-circulating to them the materials that Kay developed for her block on 16th Ave. We talked about phone lists for each block and the re-energizing the neighborhood watch program. We noted the nice new sidewalks installed on the blocks immediately next to the Carole Highlands elementary school—which the association helped push for. And we decided to explore with our Hillwood Manor neighbors and the State Highway department the feasibility of having a Left Green Arrow added to the traffic lighting in the southbound lane of New Hampshire Avenue at the intersection of Erskine. We agreed that we should more regularly distribute flyers with news about the neighborhood association’s activities.
District I – Citizen’s Advisory Council meeting minutes – March 31, 2010
Cpl T. Jensen
Major Dusseau began the meeting by talking about Cpl T. Jensen’s passing and how it affected other officers.
Entertainment Bill
The State has proposed a bill for PG County regarding liquor licenses. The bill would require the requestor to present a security plan to the police. The need for this plan stems from large parties that turn violent (for example, a party Tuesday night at Julito's Restaurant & Discotec- on University Blvd.- where 250 teenagers spilled into the parking lot and streets and shots were fired).
The police would decide if the plan was viable.
CMAST – County Multi Agency Services Team
This is an effort by the police to tackle multi faceted issues by coordinating with other agencies to effectively address problems. When the police get a complaint that falls within the jurisdiction of county agencies, they would pass it along to this team. The team would then do some background research on the issues before going out together with members from the various agencies to address the problems.
National Night Out – August 3, 2010
These will be held in neighborhoods. More info. to come.
Citizen’s Police Academy
Applications are now being taken for anyone who wants to participate in a series of classes that resemble the type of training police officers receive. The intent is to help citizens understand more about how police work is accomplished.
Observer Training
Cpl. Shaun Lewis conducts ‘observation’ classes, to help citizens learn how to more accurately report to the police incidents they witness. There will be several classes on this coming up soon.
Carole Highlands Neighborhood Association
Minutes – Jan. 27, 2010
Attendees: Jeff C., Nancy N., Jim & Mildred T., Johanna & Keith W., Kay W., Jason C., Marilyn S, Stephen D., Aniko M.
The meeting began with introductions and brief talk about the Association's mission and activities.
The first item on the agenda was whether to form a Neighborhood Watch program. A number of suggestions were made about how to share information about crime or suspicious activities, including the listserv and a phone tree. We talked about using block captains to help contact people who don't have access to emails. People agreed that the most important thing the Association could do was to help people in the neighborhood to get to know their neighbors better.
We discussed the importance of sharing information with the police, including calling 911 or the non-emergency number as appropriate, and asking them for more visibility in the neighborhood.
Specific problems were discussed on some of the blocks adjacent to Carole Highlands on 17th and 18th Avenues, including multiple trucks and overcrowding in illegal rentals. (Jeff volunteered to raise those particular issues with Councilman Campos' office.)
Several members of the association reported on their attendance at monthly meetings of the Prince George's County Police Department's Citizens Advisory Committee and smaller meetings with our community policing officer, Cpl. Shawn Cooke. If there is enthusiasm for it, possible options for future Neighborhood Watch efforts could include organized groups walking throughout the neighborhood. Aniko volunteered to contact Dottie McNeill of the PGPD to set up a meeting to discuss a more formal Neighborhood Watch program.
The next item on the agenda was recruiting Block Captains on each block to disseminate information via flyers or phone trees, and to let more people in the neighborhood know about the Association's activities. Eventually block captains will need to have a phone/email list for their block. We want people to know what is happening in the neighborhood and what actions to take if they see something that needs attention.
Marilyn volunteered to be Block Captain for 15th Ave. from Erskine to Drexel. Jason volunteered to be Block Captain for 15th Ave. from Erskine to 16th Ave. The Association spreadsheet has been updated including other people that had previously volunteered to be the contact for their block. (Let Aniko know if you can do this on your block.)
The next meeting will be a neighborhood social at Jeff and Karen's house on Sunday, Feb. 21st at 6:00 p.m. Watch for a flyer and listserv announcement soon! The purpose will be to get to know our neighbors and begin to solidify the CHNA and ask people if they want to get involved as a block captain or at other CHNA events. We talked about putting together a calendar of neighborhood events including a bulky trash day in April, yard sale, a candidate's night in the summer, a neighborhood picnic, litter cleanups, and more.