Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

October 2011

"Fall has fell" 

COOLER TEMPS ---- FINALLY!  Only a temporary reprieve, but we’ll take it, won’t we? The longer lasting stuff is right around the corner. And I’m smelling turkey & stuffing already . . .

AS the weekends begin to cool off and be less humid, we’ll all kick into our Florida version of the “change of season” mode, and begin to do yard clean up, house maintenance, window cleaning - - - and eventually put out some seasonal décor. Please remember to practice safety while doing so. Criminals like to watch for you to be occupied in an area of your yard where you can’t keep an eye on your open garage door, open utility room, open front door, etc, and make their move when they see your back is turned. So be sure to keep the doors/windows locked if you can’t keep an eye on them.

The fall & winter decorating season is a wonderful time of year. It tends to bring out neighbors to admire your projects and -- if you’re lucky -- assist you with them. It’s also a good time to make new acquaintances as well as renew established ones. You never know when that neighbor with a pick-up truck will offer to help transport that load of lumbar you need to patch up the gables or soffit, once you get to know him/her! You know . . . neighbor helping neighbor.

Onset of cooler weather would be a super time to organize and hold a block party. Hold one during the pre-“hustle-and-bustle” season that preceeds the holidays, and see how much more enjoyable the holiday season becomes! Consider getting together with a group of residents to place lumenarias out for Christmass . . . it’s really a pretty sight, and intensifies the spirit of the holidays tenfold. We found a place to order lumenarias on-line; a group order can get the price down to 20 cents per lumenaria, and they burn for 4 – 6 hours. That’s only 2 bucks for 10 – plenty to light up your lawn – and encourages interaction among the neighbors. We put ours out on Christmass Eve, and had a Light Desert offering along with it. Interaction among the neighbors is the key to making Neighborhood Watch work. You know . . . neighbor helping neighbor.

Last night’s NHW meeting had about 12 attendees, and we’d like to thank everyone for coming out. Our guest was Lisa Montelione, City Councilwoman for District 7. Lisa gave a lot of good information about plans for the city development and an overview of how some of the committees/growth plans work, as well as a lot of one-on-one attention to all of the attendees. Several topics of neighborhood concern were brought to her attention, most notably the street flooding issues in our area, a sink hole/retention pond, and the health concerns related to garbage disposal by Papa John’s Pizza store over on Florida.

Several incidents of residents having had bicycles stolen were brought to our attention, as well. The bikes were in the residents’ back yards behind privacy fencing when they disappeared. Folks, we really need to keep our eyes open and communicate suspicious activity, both to TPD as well as each other. We did not receive a crime stats report because Lisa Timmer was not in attendance; however, from all I have seen, we are still a pretty low crime area, overall. But that doesn’t mean that we can afford to let down our guard. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t, so go ahead .  . call TPD!! You know . . . neighbors watching out for each other.

Throughout this fall season, let’s all keep our Eagle Eyes and Ears open. This fall/holiday season looks as if it may be an active one; let’s NOT become victims! Don’t be shy about letting suspicious people know that you have spotted them and are taking down their license plate ID. If they are simply acting innocently, they won’t be offended – they’ll be glad you are watching out for your neighbors.

See you on the sidewalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .