I didn’t get to stay for the whole meeting last night but I was there for the intro’s, etc. There were between 150 and 200 people there; approximately 30 to 40 from Northwood as each person in the building stated their name and address. 15 minutes of the meeting for this. This was a 2nd district police meeting and there was no one there from the 15th district.

It was made clear in the beginning that it was not a Q&A session, but more of an informational and crime prevention function. Their main focus was to explain how the PSA system works and the usefulness of the program when more neighbors get involved. They handed out papers with the PSA next meeting schedule; 15th district included. I listened to 10 minutes of the history of the department and how the PSA system came into existence; redundancy at it’s finest from the last 2 years.

I couldn’t stay to hear if they ever did get forced into a Q&A session.  Overall it was more of the same and more confirmation that the PPD is way understaffed and the cops that are on patrol are just overwhelmed. They seem to make that clear at all of these meetings.  I was a little disappointed at the number of people from Northwood that attended, and did not recognize a single one from our civic meetings. I think I will get the word out at St. Martin’s that we still have a civic and a 15th district PSA that they would be welcome at.

Over 30 people attended the Northwood Civic meeting Tuesday night.  Camera man from NBC channel 10 was also on hand.  Tim Wisniewski represented the Frankford Civic association.  Karen Phillips of Councilman Darrell Clarke’s office also attended.

One announcement of interest was that there will be a spaghetti dinner benefit this Saturday, January 23rd, at 5 PM in the gymnasium at St. Martins for the family whose home was destroyed in a fire at 957 Dyre Street.

The meeting was dominated by discussion of 4871 Roosevelt Boulevard which was purchased by Volunteers of America.  As it turns out, the purchase was funded by a city agency, Community Behavioral Health. Barry Howell lead the discussion.

Below is a video of about 8 minutes with the highlights of the meeting.