1. Armed robbery concern, 2. Will you do one thing?, 3 David Martin Conversation, 4. Woodbridge Neighbors, 5. Sophie George block club mtg. 7pm, Thurs 4/18 3949 Commonwealth , 6. 4/27 Lisa Young Marshmallow Roast, 7. Woodbridge Contact info

[Woodbridge Neighborhood]

TOPICS

1. Armed robbery concern, 

2. Will you do one thing?, 

3 David Martin Conversation, 

4. Woodbridge Neighbors, 

5. Sophie George block club mtg. 7pm, Thurs 4/18 3949 Commonwealth , 

6. 4/27  Lisa Young Marshmallow Roast

7. Woodbridge Contact Info 

CONCERNS RE RECENT ARMED ROBBERIES

Since the alarming armed robbery of resident Emily Doerr, and another about a month later, we have had a significant increase of armed robberies, five within the span of 12 days. This is very unusual for our neighborhood. We need to take some action. Here are the reports of the armed robberies from our immediate area  from CrimeMapping.com.

Robbery Street Gun F/O 4566 COMMONWEALTH     20:00:00 Tues      2/5/2013

Robbery Street Gun   4500 BLOCK COMMONWEALTH   21:30:00 Mon      3/4/2013

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Robbery Street Gun      3600 BLOCK GRAND RIVER 21:00:00 Sat    3/23/2013

RobberyStreet strong arm   COMMONWEALTH & WARREN 0:14:00 Wed 3/27/2013

Robbery Street Gun 1500 BLOCK SELDEN    17:45:00 Wed 3/27/2013

Robbery Street Gun     WARREN & TRUMBULL  -  0:30:00 Wed 4/3/2013

AggFel Ass.non-fam/ GUN 3900 blk GRAND RIVER #103   0:30:00 Thurs   4/4/2013

 

When other crimes and adjacent  neighborhoods are included, it is clear that there is a significant increase in crime in the general area. 

http://www.crimemapping.com/DetailedReport.aspx?db=2/01/2013+00:00:00&de=4/13/2013+23:59:00&ccs=AR,AS,BU,DP,DR,DU,FR,HO,VT,RO,SX,TH,VA,VB,WE&add=4400%20Avery%20St%2C%20Detroit%2C%20MI%2C%2048208&bcy=5213165.048500001&bcx=-9248297.6514&br=1.0&xmin=-9255549.614458546&ymin=5211966.188802343&xmax=-9241045.688341454&ymax=5215730.712445382

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Will you do one thing?

Can you pick one thing and do it?

List of some p

ossible approaches. Do you have other suggestions?

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I MET WITH DAVID MARTIN AT WAYNE STATE LAST WEEK.  

Consult with experts

TIM KETHMAN IS WORKING ON TRYING TO SET UP A CLASS

Classes on self defense  and or street smarts - how to protect ourselves

JOEL HEERES HAS SET A NEIGHBORHOOD EMERGENCY TEXT MESSAGING SYSTEM

Neighborhood emergency text messaging system  http://tinyurl.com/WoodbridgeCelly

Lights  

Light up the night event (I believe Lisa Young has a bonfire set this week)

Get street lights (I believe the CDC is working on this)

Walking in neighborhood

T Shirt or Hat or something else to identify us  to neighbors  while walking

Whistles we can use when in trouble - any ideas?

Flyers to hand to others walking in the neighborhood to make them  aware of our activities

Maybe they can help - e.g. bus drivers or UPS drivers

Maybe they will be bad guys who will be deterred from committing crimes here

Goal is to let everyone know  that we are doing what we can to fight crime

Watch streets from living rooms when we can

Reinstate Block Captains - Each block have at least 3 captains.

Captains have phone numbers of everyone on the block,

Captains have the phone numbers of the other block captains

When people arrive home, they should be able to call a neighbor so that someone can watch them in the house.

Webcams  

Other activities out in the neighborhood

Online activities

Facebook page

NextDoor

Listserv

Others?

What other ideas do you have? 

How can I make this effort good for you? 

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Conversation with David Martin

This will be an inadequate summary of our conversation. We are most lucky to have Chief Holt. We are also very lucky to have someone with David Martin's passion and intellectual interest in fighting crime. I have not been able so far to access his publications and dissertation, but I am working on it. David works in the Center for Urban Studies. 

Many of the approaches to preventing crime focus on three factors: 

target  values - e.g. the value the bad guy is trying to get, maybe the value of a stolen vehicle or a purse left inside a car that motivates one to break in. 

bad guy's motivation - 

guardianship - how the neighborhood residents take ownership of their neighborhoods and work to protect it. 

David showed me some very detailed maps involving the crimes in and around our neighborhood. While our crime rate is lower than the surrounding neighborhoods, there has been an increase recently in the armed robberies in Woodbridge.  <Lee wants to address this.> 

Recently, efforts have been made to step up traffic enforcement. This change has resulted in many arrests of people wanted on warrants. The impact has been significant. 

David showed me several web pages including a very interesting and inexpensive webcam site http://a2cam.com/. This website has generated some interest. 

I asked him about some of our older traditional strategies might work such  our old  block captain system  (where the block captains have the phone numbers of everyone on the block), whether recognizable loud whistles that we carried with us when we walked, or finding a way to approach others who were walking in the neighborhood without being offensive, but letting them know we were protecting our neighborhood, and the possibility of establishing a reward fund. David suggested considering working with 1 800 Speak Up re a possible reward fund. David mentioned establishing some kind of more visible boundary around the neighborhood so that potential bad guys would know this turf was being watched. We discussed  the concern  that some of our residents have been arrested and others that live nearby might be participating in these crimes. 

Much of the crime seems to be related to drug activity or involve individuals with drug crime backgrounds.

David mentioned a number of websites in addition to http://a2cam.com,  crimesolutions.gov , and popcenter.org. 

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Woodbridge Neighbors

At one of the recent dinners that Katie Geary Gomez organizes on the first Tuesday of each month, I was met several new families, including some that had lived here for years. I was talking with Keith Williams about how our having grown apart has weakened our ability to address the neighborhood's problems including crime. In the "old days," the babysitting coop was the glue of the neighborhood. For a few years, we had Beatles sing-a-long parties on New Years Eve. There were a lot of traditions that have fallen away. Perhaps we can start some new ones. As we get to know each other better, the neighborhood will become safer. Fun activities will make us safer.

What ideas do you have? How can we make it fun for you? All of us have stories we can tell. I will go first. Here is one of mine:

One of Lee Tilson's favorite neighborhood stories.

After asking to borrow Keith and Julie's plunger for obvious reasons, I asked for a garbage bag in which to carry it home. Somehow, carrying a plunger home in a way that was visible to all didn't seem to add value to the neighborhood. Keith laughed. Julie started telling jokes. Now I knew I was in trouble. Several months later, on my birthday, Keith and Julie brought over a brand new plunger with my name engraved on a brass nameplate tacked onto the side. It remains the most memorable plunger in my life.

What is your favorite story about the neighborhood for your friends in Woodbridge?

Are you willing to share a few stories?

I am also hoping we can share information about each other that will make conversations as well as our lives easier. The neighborhood has unbelievable people and resources. Almost all of our available resources go unused because we don't know they are there.

I will go first by offering a very short bio within the next week or so. I hope others will follow and that this can help all of us find ways to connect. It does not matter so much what you share. This is not a job interview. We are looking for things to talk about so we can get to know each other.

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LISA YOUNG

For some in person fun:  

Lisa Young wants to roast marshmallows and hot dogs at 8 PM April 27

Ok i have a truck full of wood so LETS HAVE A BON-FIRE !!!!! 

And sit and talk face to face , 

hot dogs marshmellows etc... 

BYOB and seats i have enough to sit about 10 

So how is 8pm ? 

bring kids etc. 

RSVP to Lisa

 

______________________________________

 Sophie George

Hi Lee,  

Please can you distribute this notice to your email list. 

Thanks,

Sophie

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Dear friends and neighbors,

We are planning to have our second block club meeting/potluck to continue discussions about the apparent recent uptick in crime; eat, drink, meet and connect with friends and neighbors. 

We had a great turn out last time, with faces old and new. Once again, to keep numbers manageable, we are extending the invite only to the block bordered by Commonwealth, Willis and Alexandrine, and the houses on Commonwealth and Trumbull, south to Grand River (sorry everyone else!). 

 

If you can bring a dish to pass, great! If not, don't worry! Please just bring yourself. 

The meeting will take place at 7pm, Thursday 18th April at 3949 Commonwealth (between Alexandrine and Selden). 

We will be flyering these houses with the attached flyer over the weekend. 

Thanks!

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WOODBRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNICATION LINKS

WOODBRIDGE  

e mail me at  woodbridgen...@gmail.com - Lee Tilson

#1  Facebook group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/151997601519449/

#2  Listserv   send request to join or information to share     

woodbridgen...@gmail.com   

#3   Nextdoor   https://woodbridgedetroit.nextdoor.com

BLOCK CAPTAINS Volunteer here    http://tinyurl.com/WoodbridgeBlockCaptains

Woodbridge Businesses http://tinyurl.com/WoodbridgeBusinessSpreadsheet

EMERGENCY TEXTING SYSTEM http://tinyurl.com/WoodbridgeCelly

LINKS NEIGHBORS HAVE SHARED   http://tinyurl.com/WoodbridgeNeighborhoodLinks

Crime Literature

http://tinyurl.com/CompstatCommFndNCJRSCrimeSolnP

http://tinyurl.com/CampbellCollaborationLinks