Thanks For the Memories

...of Saturday.
Thanks to all who turned out for the tree planting at Joe Cole. With over 100 volunteers (Casey Trees brought some in from the DC metro area, and some students from a charter school (Key Academy) joined forces with residents) all 18 trees were planted in around 2 hours. Very impressive. This was the first time Casey Trees (they partnered with the Trinidad-Ivy City Garden Club on this one) had done a project in Trinidad, and we hope they'll be back.

Thanks also to the 100 or so people that joined us for Saturday's tour of the Florida Market (aka the Capital City Market). We had a particularly big crowd this time because it was part of Cultural Tourism DC's Walking Town weekend. It was a great chance to get both those who live in the area, and those from the larger DC area, to see the Market and learn more about the proposed development on the site.

For those of us who missed Saturday's PSA 504 meeting, here is Rob's recap:
Hi, all, here's a recap of the recent PSA meeting:

PSA 504 Meeting recap from Sat Apr. 21, 2007.

In attendance from MPD were Sergeant Gudger and Officer Williams. Lt. Anderson could not make it.

Attendance was sparse, probably due to the tree planting at the Cole rec center.

- Sgt Gudger passed around information on one new sex offender living in the PSA. DC's registry can be found here. Or put "sex offender DC" in your favorite web search engine.

- We reviewed crime statistics. While crime was generally down for the prior 30 day period, car theft and theft from vehicles was up. MPD's online crime statistics site is here. Also, CrimeInDC.org is a nice site to look at for mapping criminal activity as is crimereports.com.

- Car theft from gas stations: other PSA's have reported a rash of thefts at gas stations. Youths crawl into cars while they're being gassed up and steal purses or sometimes the car itself. MPD urges you to lock your car when getting gas and take the keys. Be wary at gas stations.

- One attendee asked about groups congregating outside, especially as warm weather is beginning. Sergeant Gugder and Officer Williams said it is fine to call 311 to ask police to check on groups that are congregating.

- Another attendee asked that during the next meeting MPD presenters update us on which officers are on duty at what times in what areas. Currently MPD has four watches: 10pm - 6am, 6am - 2pm, 2pm - 10pm, and the "Power Shift" from 7pm - 4am. This may change, though, to three watches, TBD.

- A guest, Deidra Prophet from the Wendt Center for loss and healing, briefly explained about her organization's crisis response team. More information can be found at their web site.

- Ms Cynthia Simms of the ABC Board will join us for the May meeting as she was not able to attend this month.