I would like to let you all who read this know that I may have stepped out, but not very far. Being many of the Block Captains feel that nothing will get done think again. I will always will be looking for problems and codes is a big issue with me... Bill please go back to the meetings as I feel your input is important. I have and will continue emailing the city with code problems and anything I feel can and will assist in making the neighborhood a safe and clean place to live. Crime Watch will do what ever they feel is correct and I will do their dirty work. I may have dropped out of sight, but I can get more done from behind the wall than in front of it. So next time you are knocking your head against the wall look out I might be watching

Hi, Pete!

Well, apparently I'm a tad sloooooow, because I never knew it was you who was ''greenthumbs''! How cool! I'm glad to hear you are staying involved in the 'hood. I personally did a similar kind of triple reverse double half gainer toe loop a few years ago and decided I prefer ''behind the scenes'' stuff for the most part to being, say, on the board. Too many manipulative, game-playing, bullying personalities in politics--even on the neighborhood level--and I'm not cut out for it because I'm a terrible combination of too honest and waaaaaaaaay too sensitive. Glad I found out on the neighborhood level before running for President or something (I'm sure the country as a whole is relieved, too *lol*). Anyway, you are right: You can often get just as much done behind the scenes and/or at least you feel free to be true to yourself. These days I put my energy, time, money and focus into my particular house and positive neighborhood things, like the high school clean-up of a while back, and let others duke it out around tables in the board room. Fixing up one's own house is a way of helping Kenwood. So are things like donating to historic designation, being a drug marcher, and picking and choosing one's battles as far as what to get involved with in Kenwood. In other words, while I have no idea of the specifics of what led you to resign from the Crime Watch, I can recognize how you feel, and all I can say is: Follow your heart and be true to yourself. If you did that, then you are on the right path! I can do behind the scenes and I can do my OWN thing (like writing a letter to city council or the editor of the Times or whatnot) and I can do being a rabel-rouser and chaining myself to a tree and/or in front of city hall for a cause I truly believe in. But I can't do being a ''politician'' on any level. As Bill Cosby once said when asked why he didn't get into politics: ''I don't have the stomach for it.''

Edna

I dropped out to try and save the crime watch due to stepping on some folks toes too hard. I've lived here since 1983 and being I too am honest and have a thing when someone is right or wrong and takes advantage of others. There are many in this neighborhood that dislike me but there are also many that do. As Bill stated I'm dammed if I don't and I'm dammed if I do. At least the hood got new alley lights, trash picked up in alleys trash cars gone and some other stuff. Jill took over only to become very stressed because her dad is dyeing. I wish the neighborhood would do something to show her some support in this time of pain. I'm going to buy a card tomorrow and give it to Sandy hoping the folks of Kenwood would sign it showing they can understand her pain.. If we are a neighborhood it would be nice to express it by signing this card. thumbs

Speaking of alley trash....

...this is a pet peeve of mine. The thing that bugs me is that throwing trash IN the trash dumpster instead of placing items NEAR it, is something that doesn't cost any money. It is something we can ALL do. Why do people insist on placing things like televisions NEXT TO the can? Hello? It fits IN the can. Also, some of us in the 'hood association went around a few years ago and placed EASY TO UNDERSTAND stickers on the cans, clearly stating that items must be placed IN the can or they won't be picked up, and if you have a special pick-up item, it gives the number to call. But still people place appliances, trash, tree cuttings and yard waste NEAR the dumpsters. This is so infuriating. Aaaaaah! Me and my bad back usually end up out there cutting up other people's tree limbs and putting them in the can, or hoisting up televisions, stoves, bags of trash, mattresses and goodness knows what else. Once there is ONE appliance of trashy clump of something out there, it is like a beacon to all the dump-inclined people in the greater St. Pete area and, like moths to a flame, they all come and dump THEIR stuff NEXT to the can, too. Oy vey. In my alley, one thing we fought long and hard to get done (and it is such a little-seeming, simple thing it is almost funny what we went through--unless you went through it *lol*) to get two cans that were placed next to each other spaced out so that one was moved to the top of the ''T'' alley it actually serves. What a difference! Instead of people seeing the two together and thinking ''A DUMP!'', now it looks like one yard with a can behind it and another yard, waaaaaaaay a little ways away with one behind it. CPTED approach is critical: If an area looks cared for and like an extension of someone's back yard, dumpers for some reason will stay away. If it looks like an overgrown, neglected part of the right-of-way, they will think: GOOD AREA TO PUT MY DEFUNCT MATTRESS, SOME YARD WASTE, AND A FEW TIRES. What is my point, other than some much-needed venting? When pruning your backyard flora, be sure to take some time to keep your area of the alley and city easement looking pruned, landscaped and cared for as much as possible, too. If you see some trash in your yard or right of way (front or back), pick it up. It is amazing how fast it multiplies otherwise. People seems to cruise the alleys looking for one with overgrown brush (good place to dump), other dumped items (the international dumping signal),etc.