AHNA ANNUAL MEETING

Well, the meeting went pretty well. There are a few new board members and even got a block captain. About 30 people showed up and not one of them offered to mow anyone's lawn (again!). Come on, people. It's getting out of hand!

So, GRPD Chief Dolan and Cpt VanderKoi came in and gave a few comments. Dolan spoke about trying to reach out to the kids in the area, especially with the new school coming up. He made a few comments about seeing the kids of people he arrested 20 years ago wind up in jail and many of the trends and such point to education. Along the lines of 'it takes a village, people' (I think it's the Indian, but that's just my take..get it? Village People..Indian..oh, never mind!), Dolan highlighted that it takes a neighborhood commitment to bring a city together. Look up the Broken Windows theory online sometime. That's pretty interesting. I think NPR had a bit on that last fall maybe? And, I just can't let it go without stating that a visit by Chief Dolan just would not be complete without a Brooklyn story.

The Cap'n ran over some numbers on crime. He said trends are consistent with Grand Rapids in general and that lots of the property crimes were going down. If you don't have a garage to park you car, lock your doors or take anything you don't want stolen into the house with you. I mean, some kids stole someone's tire pressure gauge once. Come on now! Anyhow, there was some other discussion on when it's okay to call the cops. Anytime you think something is amiss, it's okay to call the cops. Now, don't go calling 911 when you see something fishy in the alley or something. Call the non emergency number (456-3400) if you think something is up. The cops may not materialize out of thin air like when I'm speeding, but they will show up. Lots of times, a cop car mulling about is enough to calm things down a bit. It's better to be safe than sorry. So, if you think something is odd, or whatever, call that non-emergency number. That's what it's for. And leave your lights on the front porch or something like that. Motion lights are good. Leave a radio or something like that on during the day too. Don't hang the 'I'm not home' sign if you can help it.

What else, the principal of the school, Tom McNally, spoke about how quick the school was going up. He said something about, like, August 1st they'd open the doors. It sounded like it would be a pretty cool thing to have in our backyard. Might be some community media there perhaps, like internet and such, but don't quote me on that. Uh, what else. Oh, they talked about doing the kids on an alternate school schedule so they'd take lots of little breaks instead of all summer. And busses! There would only be 4 or 5 busses coming from that school.

Um, the Alger Heights Business Association has been helping the AHNA board a bit as sort of a partnership thing. They are going to have a sidewalk sale next weekend to compliment the garage sale thingy we are doing. Don't forget! They are going to do like a bike safety thing too from 11am - 1pm. I assume that's probably over by the hardware store. There was also something about a coffee shop with some ice cream coming in over there on the corner.

And that was about it. Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather we've been having lately. Hey, at least the grass will green up. See, there I go again with the lawn. Oh! I ran the 5/3 riverbank run too. But, only the 5k part, but still. Yeah me!

Okay bye!