From Deanna Kilbourne,
Westminster Heights
CONA
Representative727 412
0144
cona@westminsterheights.com
CONA is the
Council of Neighborhood
Associations
of Pinellas County |
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August 2009
The highlight of this month's CONA meeting was a
presentation given by the Police Department introducing a new online crime
statistic information service. Using the website
www.crimereports.com,
St. Pete residents will be able to access information on crime in individual
neighborhoods and throughout the city. (You may have read about this in the
St. Pete times.) The information available on the website is similar to what
is reported in the Sunday St. Pete Times Neighborhood Times section, but the
site includes a mapping feature, so you can map locations of specific
criminal activity. This service also includes information on registered sex
offenders.
An especially interesting feature is the ability
to check Proactive Policing Activity; e.g. directed patrols, traffic stops,
etc., so you can This website will be available within 30 days. After the
site is up, we can have a representative from the Police Department come to
a Neighborhood Association meeting to demonstrate the site for us and to
answer questions. If you would be interested in this, contact me at
djkilbourne@yahoo.com. We should
have at least 10 people committed to attending before we ask a
representative to come out.
Whenever crime is discussed at CONA meetings or
at Neighborhood meetings, what I hear most often is how many thefts are
crimes of opportunity or invitation could have been easily prevented so I'm
passing on something I heard at this meeting. Lock it, light it, hide it, or
lose it!
May 2009
This month at
CONA, Crime Watch activity was a main topic. Since the shooting
of the little girl in Bartlett Park, their neighborhood Crime
Watch has been especially active, working to be very visible and
to involve as many residents as possible. St. Pete residents
from many other neighborhoods are invited to participate in
their patrols or just to find out how their group works. Go to
www.bartlettpark.net for more information.
Lately I've heard
several WH residents refer to the Neighborhood Assocation as a
Crime Watch group, which is incorrect. WH does not currently
have a Crime Watch group, which would be a separate entity
organized in conjunction with the Police Department. Anyone
interested in starting a Crime Watch group should get in touch
with the Bartlett Park group, the City, or probably best, the
Police Department for guidelines on how to go about it.
The City is
looking for feedback from residents about what to do about the
Pier and also restrictions concerning development of Al Lang
Park. Did you know that there are three different plans
proposed for the Pier? To find out more and put in your 2 cents
worth, go to the City website for information and surveys for
each issue,
www.stpetersburg.org.
Also, if you want
to hear details about the City's budget for next year, you can
attend an open meeting, July 9. We didn't get specifics about
time or place, that will probably come at the next meeting, but
I am sure it will be announced in the paper, or you can contact
the city or our Councilman for the specifics.
That's all for
this month! If you have an issue for CONA or want to know more
about what goes on at the meetings, contact me and let's talk
about it.
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City Budget - The city is
anticipating a $20 million shortfall for Fiscal Year 2010 beginning in
October. The shortfall is due to lower property taxes and lower revenues
from the state. The city will be trying to trim budgets by 5-7%. The City
Council is holding a public forum on the budget May 14.
The Tone Down program has
been successful and will be going online, making reporting on loud car
stereos even more convenient. The next phase of the program may be having
the resulting warning letters delivered by police officers rather than being
mailed to offenders. Hopefully the web address will be provided at next
month’s meeting.
CONA and the League of Women
Voters will sponsor a candidate’s forum for the upcoming mayoral elections,
more info on that next month.
Some non-CONA news, the City of St. Petersburg has several programs and
incentives to help you conserve water and save money, including rebates for
replacing high volume toilets and free indoor water conservation kits. Get
more information at www.stpete.org/water.
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