Neighborhood Meeting to Focus on Crime
The peace and security of a quiet residential neighborhood, within our association, was shattered recently when several gun totting thugs went on a shooting spree leaving in their wake a frightened, bullet riddled neighborhood.
The Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association (ESPNA) does not want to see anything like this occur again in our neighborhood or for that matter anywhere else in the city. We would like to invite you to a neighborhood discussion on the shootings at the Boys and Girls Club, Thursday, September 11 at 7:00 PM. We have invited several guests including but not limited to law enforcement, the county attorney’s office, victim services as well as elected officials.
This is a nice neighborhood, a peaceful place to live, a great place to raise a family. We are surrounded by Silver Lake, Quarry Hill and Mayo parks, extensive bike trails, Silver Creek and the Zumbro river, we have nice schools, several neighborhood churches and the list goes on. This is an ideal neighborhood.
The shooters may have chosen 11th Ave and 5th St NE for the site of their shootout because of its proximity to an alleged drug house in the same location. There is a distinct possibility that the alleged drug trade going on at this house attracted the gun toting criminals. It seems that the two, drugs and guns, oftentimes go hand-in-hand.
The ESPNA has no intention of surrendering our peaceful, placid neighborhood to a bunch of dysfunctional, gun toting thugs. If there is criminal activity at this location or anywhere else in the neighborhood we will shut it down. The ESPNA needs your help in taking a stand against this criminal element.
We ask that you immediately report any suspicious activity to the Rochester Police Department at 328-6800 non-emergency or 911 emergency. Create a neighborhood watch and advertise its presence by getting the neighborhood watch signs. Contact Darrel Hildebrant, Crime Prevention Specialist at 328-6890 or go to www.coptalklive.com for more information. Let the neighborhood association know about the location and duration of the problem, and the police response times as well as actions taken. We will help you rid your neighborhood of its crime problem and to restore its sense of safety and security. Call Mike at 282-2667 or contact me at mlaplante@aol.com
What to look for: 1) anything or anyone that seems out of place for your neighborhood; 2) high volume traffic to a house; 3) lots of short frequent visits; 4) short trips around the block in cars; 5) quick handoffs; 6) gangs colors such as red or blue might be present as well as hand signals; 7) heavy activity, lots of cars, lots of people, especially at night and into the early morning hours; 8) lots of noise, yelling, fights, horns honking especially at night and into the early hours of the morning; 9) covert meetings or dealings behind bushes, trees, garages or in the shadows at night; 10) the presence of guns; 11) lots of people with backpacks; 12) cars parking down the street and people walking to a house; 13) the presence of lookouts to watch for police.
Make sure to mark your calendar for Thursday, September 11, 7:00 PM at the Boys and Girls Club. This will be an excellent opportunity to ask public officials what they are doing to make your neighborhood and our community safer. It will also provide you with a chance to learn how you can help to make our neighborhood and our community safer. The meeting will also provide us with an excellent opportunity to network and exchange names, ideas and phone numbers.
