Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)
March 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Ahhhhh . . . . election time! One more to go, 3 weeks from now. This election had a lot of candidates that were fairly close in qualifications. The run-off election is March 22nd. Your vote will be even more important in the run-off, so please don’t forget to vote. Tampa needs to pull itself together and become a great place to live and raise our kids, once again.
The last 8 years of governance under Mayor Pam Iorio have seen a huge (over 60%) reduction in criminal activity in Tampa. Rightly so, Mayor Iorio gives full credit to former Chief of Police Steve Hoague for implementing the strategy for bringing down crime, and to current Chief Jane Castor, who assisted Hoague in the implementation, for continuing to bring about the decline of the criminal acts. One of the big things that assisted the police in this effort was the growth of the Neighborhood Watch groups. NHW was by no means a new project, but it sustained a lot more growth in the past 8 years and has played a very big part of aiding TPD in bringing down crime statistics. In the City of Tampa, NHW is considered such an important part of crime prevention that at least one of the candidates for city council has pledged to donate his salary to TPD specifically for use in Neighborhood Watch programs.
The city budget does not fund Neighborhood Watch. Most MHW money comes from the donation of its participants (we always welcome donations of copy paper to print the fliers on, or [poster board for making signs for the meetings) AND donations of used cellular phones to TPD, which the NHW Liasons then sell and the profits from this goes into the NHW support efforts, like the magnetic signs for the NHW Mobile Patrol vehicles to use when making patrols in their neighborhoods, and for the Mobile Patrol volunteers’ t-shirts, which identify them as NHW Mobile Patrol participants. Before you cast your ballot, please carefully review the platforms of all the candidates, and consider which candidate – both for mayor as well as city council -- will offer the most benefit to the needs of our neighborhoods, and thus the city as a whole.
“We need inexpensive AND low maintenance . . .”
Already in the Springtime mode? We share your enthusiasm! I’ll surely be glad when the leaves stop falling and I can mulch them up and rake them to the planter beds. The Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Office has a lot of great projects and information that you can put to use at little or no cost for sprucing up your house and yard (native planting info, rain barrels, composting, mulching, irrigation assistance) in addition to classes on managing stress, etc. View the following link for more info:
You can also obtain mulch for free from the county, to help maintain these plantings and make your planting areas look real neat. Want to know where to go? Contact the web master or call the extension office for the contact information.
FREE?????????? Yep.
Looking for something to do with the family??
There are a lot of great places to visit in Florida that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and many are less than a tank full away from home. For example, there are national, state and county parks which offer recreational activities ranging from fishing (fresh and salt water) to swimming to camping, plus the usual hiking and biking trails . . . and of course, WILDLIFE! A campsite can be rented for a nightly fee much less expensive than a motel with old, stale air, many sites less than 150 feet from the water. Some of the beach parks have lighthouses still in operation, and a handful of them are open to the public. Check out some Florida maritime history while enjoying family time! (You might be surprised to learn just how close to home the enemy DID come during WW2.) Search for Florida State Parks, Florida National Parks, or Florida County Parks (hint: Ft. DeSoto on Mullet key is a Pinellas County Park, as is Howard Park in Tarpon Springs) for a list and description of activities available within.
Show the kids a bit of “Olde Florida”!
Input Needed
As you peruse the web site, you may come across some hyperlinks that are no longer valid (sometimes, for whatever reason, the link page changes without any notification). If this happens, please notify either the web master or post on the discussion page, in order that we may make corrections. If we don’t know it’s broken, we can’t fix it.
Also, if you have any suggestions for the web site, please contact us. This is your web site, and we want to make it useful & interesting for everybody. The pictures displayed on the home page are chosen by the web master, but we’d much prefer to have picture ideas from our residents displayed here.
Otherwise . . . you’re stuck reading about the topics that interest me . . . .
Neighborhood Pride
Everyone needs to take an active part in keeping our neighborhood clean and neat with regard to the common areas . . . and especially along the main entrances to our grid (meaning Floriland/Patbur and North Ola). We all live here, so we are all responsible for maintaining a clean environment. Of special concern is the stretch of North Ola between Floriland and Busch Blvd. With all of the visitors to Chamberlain, especially during stadium use seasons and baseball diamond seasons, we don’t want folks to see this clutter of trash as an indication that we don’t have respect for ourselves or where we live. Picking up litter doesn’t cost anything but a few minutes of our time, and if we just leave it, then more will collect --- “monkey see/monkey do”. Statistics show that neighborhoods which are cluttered attract the criminal element.
How About an Olde Fashioned Neighborhood Celebration?
OK . . . . . . it’s a little early, but let’s get the wheels in motion for a grid-wide effort to come together for the holidays. Let’s try to get as many folks as possible to put out some sort of red, white and blue decorations in time to kick off what I like to call “The Patriotic Season” (the time starting with Memorial Day and ending with Labor Day). Hang Old Glory from the front porch, or a banner from the mail box or fence post; plant a bed of patriotic colored flowers . . . something festive to bring us all together in spirit.
The cool thing about this season is that once you put up patriotic décor, you get 3 months use out of it!
2011 National Night Out Will Be August 2nd
In August, we will once again come together as a nation for National Night Out. NNO brings neighborhoods together in an effort to bring crime awareness to the forefront. This year NNO will be August 2nd. We would like to see the individual blocks in our grid hold a gathering on that evening in an effort to get to know your neighbor and exchange safety information – even if it is just a coffee hour. More details to follow later this year. But be thinking about it.
Community Emergency Response Team
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a program that trains citizens how to be prepared for and respond to emergencies that may arise in their community.
In the event of a major disaster such as a hurricane, emergency services personnel can initially become overwhelmed leaving citizens on their own. CERT training enables citizens to help themselves and their neighbors by applying basic response and organizational skills during an emergency. CERT members can also serve as first responders to an emergency until professional emergency services arrive.
CERT training is conducted by local fire departments and other emergency response professionals and emphasizes personal safety while trying to help others. Organized groups of CERT trained volunteers can be an important asset to community’s overall emergency response capabilities. In addition, CERT training can help citizens in their every-day lives.
As always . . .
. . . . if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact your NHW block leader, the grid coordinator or the web master. OR, post your concerns on the Discussion page of the web site. Someone will see it and get back to you. If you don't know who your block leader is, ask your neighbors or contact the web master.
Neighbor helping neighbor.
So far, it’s working to keep crime down in our grid.
Keep up the good work.
See you on the sidewalk . . . . . . . .
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