Neighborhood Watch and Weed and Seed

On September 20 I was privileged to attend the annual dinner of the Land Trust of Schenectady. If you are not familiar with the Land Trust I will explain what it is. What I wanted to note though was that the speaker for the dinner was Peter Laun. I don’t know if the readers of this list or blog are familiar with Laun. He is a law enforcement coordinator for 32 counties for the Northern District of New York for the Department of Justice. His special gift has been assisting communities to develop Weed and Seed programs. His office is in Syracuse.

The Land Trust of Schenectady is a non-profit that is focused on developing affordable housing with the unique method of selling the house but not the land. Abandoned houses are purchased by the Land Trust and rehabilitated. Then the land in leased to the homeowner on a 99 year one time renewable lease and the house is sold to them. The purpose of this is to stabilize the market price of the house and keep it in an affordable range. It is then not subject to market fluctuations. The Land Trust participants are then a part of a home ownership community that can support them in their trials as homeowners. There is a Land Trust program in Schenectady and Albany.

The Weed and Seed program was developed by the Department of Justice a number of years ago to provide funds to communities to combat drug traffic and community deterioration. It is supposed to help police and community come together with a variety of strategies to deal with these types of crimes. There is a Weed and Seed program in Albany too and I will note more about that shortly.

What I wanted to identify here is Mr. Laun’s “Top Ten Tip List”. This is something that might be good for the Neighborhood Watch.

First, identify stakeholders and honor them.
Conveners of a network have a responsibility for its success of failure.
Dream lots of dreams. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
Know what you don’t know (never fake it!).
Positive attitudes attract positive out comes.
Your enthusiasm for a project is catching.
When in doubt: Play a hunch. Don’t think: instinct!
Celebrate little successes, especially in the beginning
Timing is the ultimate judge of what is possible.
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

And a comment about survival:

“Your survival depends NOT so much on what HAPPENS to you as to how YOU ADAPT to what happens to you.”

My wife pointed out that his comment on survival sounded a bit like Gandolf’s comment on how we use out time in the Lord of the Rings.

I found his comments interesting and thought they may have some relevance to the Neighborhood Watch’s thinking for itself.

The Albany Weed and Seed program encompasses the South End of Albany. As you may be aware there is some ambiguity as to what comprises the “South End” but the area of the program does extend as far as Delaware Avenue in some places. The Director of the program is Linda Miller. Linda Miller is a very dedicated person. It would be nice to find a way to support the work of Weed and Seed. This is an important program that makes a positive contribution to our community. The local program was started in 1999.

Law and Order Candidate

Brian Scavo, defeated democratic candidate for Common Council in the 7th Ward, called me a few days ago and left a message on my answering machine. He planned to be on the ballot in November as the "Law and Order Party" and he was asking for my vote. It was on my answering machine so I did not get to talk with him at that time.

I am deeply concerned that anyone should want to be represented as the "Law and Order Party". A number of years ago when inner city people who were poor and marginalized rioted, because of frustration over poor living conditions and other issues, or even made a public statement about rights that had been violated a movement rose up calling for "Law and Order". This was a code word for abusing the rights of citizens and using the police to squash the aspirations of people who had been traditionally disadvantaged in our society.

While there is certainly enough crime around the community we need more neighborhood building, human relations, community policing, neighborhood watching, assertive citizenship...but the suggestion of "Law and Order" smacks of abuse of power, harassment, robbing citizens of their rights, police state, and mis-use of public power. That's what it signifies to me. I suspect that is what it will signify to many minority people. It is not what I want my neighborhood to be known for, or to stand for.

Fire at 16 Summit Avenue

For those who may have been awoken by the sound of trucks and the flashing of lights, there was a small fire at 16 Summit Avenue, on the upstairs porch. This happened around 2:30 a.m.

The first thing you need to know is that everyone is fine and safe. Pete (who came to our August meeting at the library) and Kim (his partner) are fine, as are their dogs. I do not know the name of the folk who live upstairs, but they did not seem to be hurt last night. They are relatively new to the neighborhood.

To address the issue from a NW perspective, based on what Pete told me, it does not seem to be arson.

In a few days, I will try to find out more information. If Officer Montesano or our Common Council Member learn anything, hopefully they can share it with us.

This came across my desk...It's from someone in the neighborhood

Subject: Unlawful Possession

Hello Everyone,
Last night, my primary mode of transportation, my bicycle, was stolen from Ten Eyck Avenue in Albany. I have reported it to the South Station, but I also wanted to give a description since the Police Officer explained that thieves rarely change the appearance anymore.

Royal Blue Mountain Bike
GT brand, all terrain tires
Guy's frame
Bar ends on the straight handle bars
Front shocks
Black, plastic fenders over both wheels
and the characteristic that the officer said could help me claim it's mine: a bumper sticker on the back fender that reads, "BLESS THE FREAKS"
Hmmm, I'm still not sure how to take that!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you notice it while you're out and about please call me at 426-2841 or 463-3781. I figure the more eyes the better.

Peace,

Chris

If I'm unavailable, the Incident # is 05-360322. South Station is 462-8049. Thanks.

Chicken Mystery Resolved

Well...two kids from the block stopped by to inquire of my middle son if he could teach one of them to skate board. I asked if they knew anything of the chicken since one of them had been involved in bringing the chicken to everyone's attention. That youth stated he had caught the chicken and returned it to its original owner. Too bad in a way...everyone at this end of the block was getting to enjoy the morning wake up kackle calls.

Unpleasant neighborhood action

Last night between 10:30 pm & 10:40 pm - 3 unmarked SUVs and one marked chased a small gold car at high speeds around the neighborhood. Off Delaware, down Bertha and up Hurlbut and finally catching the car as 2 marked patrol cars blocked and came down Hurlbut the wrong way - a wagon came and appeared to make 2 arrests -- Simultaneously police stormed what looked like 10 Bertha. A neighbor said his kids had noted it was under survelance since 1:00 pm. What are the missing details?