MTG: 05-13-09

Hi Lake Neighbors...!

Great meeting last night. Lots to share with everyone...I'll try to make it brief/easy to get through -- try to read it all!

Guests: our PSO Scott Hewitt, Peter & Tony from 'iliketheparkway"

OUR NEXT MEETING DAY & TIME: MAY 26TH @ 6:30PM (possibly @ Regeneration Church again if that is okay? Dave?)



Please let us know what time/day is better for you if you are unable to come that night -- so if you could either make sure to be there or email me with alternative meeting times that would help me a lot. Thank you!

We have 2 new OUTDOOR MOVIE times/days:

May 30th (in the same place and time as the last one),
BTW, the winner with 8 votes for the next movie is: THE INCREDIBLES!
and… June 13th (over beside Woody's Laundromat, same time as usual)

We need a volunteer crew!!!! Please contact me if you are free and able!!!! We meet up at around 6 or so to set up.

It might also be fun if someone has a portable outdoor grill so we can make s'mores -- also, FYI, stop by someplace and get takeout for a picnic -- or even have pizza delivered right to the parking lot! Steve Ma just donated 35 bags of popcorn!!! PLEASE BRING CHAIRS or BLANKETS/PILLOWS TO SIT ON!!!!

Shawn is going to look over our current Google group site and determine how to best establish & maintain a website for all the possibilities our group can create.



We are officially joining forces as Lake Neighbors with Lake Merritt Business Association (LMBA) and iliketheparkway to make regular outdoor movies happen -- as well as other neighborhood events that claim a safer neighborhood for us all. Envision all you can about what else we can get involved with together and put it out there.

iliketheparkway's news for us: Sign onto the website to keep up to date -- the positive outcome of the tragedy is the massive joining of community over this and how we are all coming together to create something even more fulfilling to our needs in the Parkway (and hey, now we have a grassroots organization, we can go far beyond that for unlimited possibilities!). There is strong support with Pat Kernighan's office, investors are being sought & found, much news media & orgs like Oaklandish (and ours) are all joining in...there is a community meeting on 5/23 for all to go to. Over the next year they hope to see renovations @ parkway, multiple bidders on what can be put in place there, community involvement re: decisions about that, more family options there, sustainable functioning there as well...

PSO Scott Hewitt came to share info & answer our concerns/questions. What it all came to boils down to the following:
It is SO important that we call in/email everything that concerns us (you see someone standing in one location dealing, you see someone hopping a fence, you see someone paying a lot of attention to a house or car and it is not theirs -- you know -- any of that...big or small. Everything that gets called in adds up to solving many crimes much of the time. His email is: shewitt@oaklandnet.com OR you may call the OPD non-emergency @ 510 777-3333 (emergency # is: 510 777-3211 -- put it in your cell, it's faster than 911). Drug hotline is 510 238-DRUG. Call, call, call...he says. The more we make contact, the more police presence we will have in our neighborhood. ALSO...did you know that those tied-together-shoes that get thrown up on a phone line are a signal of a place to buy drugs? So is a jacket put up on a sign post. We determined that most crime in our area is goal oriented towards STUFF and it will often involve violence towards a person...not so much the other more heinous stuff we won't get into. ALWAYS look around at the faces you see -- let them see you see them and what they look like and say a greeting...it makes you less of a good target. Stay off your cell phone when walking around -- if you are distracted you are a better target OR if you are on your cell, look around you all the time and pay obvious attention to your surroundings. Lighted areas make things safer in general. Keep computers/laptops, ipods and backpacks ALWAYS out of sight in your car. Usually try to walk around at night with someone -- and still always make it obvious that you know and see what/who is around. Metal plates on doors by the mechanism make it much harder for break-ins. ALSO, keep your computer/electronics serial numbers in case of theft so it can be easily identified (it is often re-sold at the flea) and/or engrave your name.

One other great aspect was the human factor in having our group begin to know our PSO! We want to really build a real, human teamwork with them. Officer Hewitt is a Gold Medalist in the Police Olympics so people really should not bother to try to outrun him.

ONE GOOD REALIZATION we had and agreed on happened conversation included "territory X#" and other "territory X#"...and we felt that as a group we wanted to be just known as ALL neighbors of The Lake. Anyone around who feel they live at or near Lake Merritt are us.



OKAY…that is it for now! Please write and respond soon! See you at our next meeting and in the neighborhood before that!



MUCH Friendship,

Sasha