Neighborhood Watches: A Viable and Practical Citizen Response to LMPD Cut Backs

For the past several days different media outlets have been covering LMPD Chief Steve Conrad's plans for cut backs due to the Metro budget cuts.

My thoughts have gone in different directions about the politics, but making any statement of judgment either way towards Mayor Fischer, Chief Conrad or the Metro Council is not productive and likely to be divisive.  In terms of Marsha Leninhan Ph.D--the creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, I am practicing radical acceptance: "It is what it is."

Otherwise we will see again in May and June of 2020 in the next budgeting cycle what city leaders do in terms of balancing service needs and raising tax revenues.   However, for now the question is: what is useful and practical?

I think that the practical move for local neighborhoods, especially for us in Bon Air is to increase the number of Neighborhood Watches.  When we are out there cooperating in how we watch,  we discourage a number of types of crimes.  When we discourage crimes through watching and other forms of prevention we allow the already over-worked officers of the LMPD to handle the higher priority incidents and crimes.

I hope that you consider being part of the Neighborhood Watches that the Bon Air Neighborhood Association will be facilitating over the next few months.  The time required is not much at all.

Cooperating in neighborhood watches is not a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Green Party type of action--it is a concerned citizen action regardless of party label. In the end, government does not make our neighborhood what it is . . . we do. 

GRATITUDE FOR THOSE WHO PICK UP THE LITTER

As I was driving down Goldsmith Lane a few weeks ago I saw at least what was one of three people I have seen picking up litter.

No one asked them to do it. They just did it. I am grateful that they are doing it.

How clean houses look and how clean streets look are reflective of the attitude of the neighborhood.  The attitude of pride is

Litter is a function of modern times with all of the "consumables" that we have.  Motorists throw it out of cars. It blows out of trash cans and people simply drop it.

Litter can accumulate in unbelievable amounts.  When I have done Operation Brightside with the effervescent Maile Fowler in the median on Bardstown Rd between Bashford Manor and Hikes Lane, I have been amazed at what was embedded under the talk grass.  Sometimes I get a wild hair to go down by the wall and pick up trash on Brockton and I am disheartened when I reflect on how some people will just fling stuff out of their cars.

In walking on the band of the green space on Brockton, I was reminded that the people who throw stuff on the Watterson affects us as evidenced by this accumulation of cigarette butts washed up like a glacial till.

Operation Brightside is a local effort where at least twice a year there is a concentrated effort by many Louisvillians to spend a few hours cleaning up litter from parks, medians and roadsides. If everyone picked up the trash on their curbs, in their yards and in their streets, I think it would make a difference in how clean Bon Air is maintained.

Otherwise, for those few who are out their taking their walks and picking up trash on Goldsmith Lane and other main streets of our neighborhood, I am grateful.

While it is nice outside and you may want to go for a walk, consider taking along a plastic bag and pick up stuff that looks safe to pick up, If you are motivated get some disposable gloves from one of the discount stores to pick up the questionable items.

For now, I am going to walk outside and see whether or not I need to pick up litter around my house.

Minutes from Bon Air Neighborhood Association's September 30, 2019 meeting

The following are the minutes from BANA's September 30,2019 meeting.  Our next board meeting, which is open to the public is tomorrow night, October 14, 2019, 6:30 at the Bon Air Library. 

BON AIR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION (BANA), Inc. 

“5th Monday” Neighborhood Meeting Minutes

September 30, 2019, 6:30pm

Buechel Park Baptist Church

Attendees — 36 people named on Sign-In sheet

Meeting called to order about 6:30pm by President David Houvenagle.  Senior Pastor Erica Whitaker was introduced & she welcomed all during her remarks.

Minutes of Aug 12 & Sep 9 — Copies available for distribution by Secretary Lois Judd; also made available via email & social media postings prior to Sep 30 mtg.  One Sep 9 typo noted (Lisbon Ln misspelled); motion made, seconded & approved to accept minutes with no other corrections.

Treasurer’s Report — Charlaine Reynolds explained what $20 annual dues help cover (liability insurance, signs, PO Box, etc.) & noted that dues paid now will cover calendar year 2020 per 2019 By-Laws revisions.

Report by President David Houvenagle — 

• Commented on trend of decline in the neighborhood as businesses moved out of Bon Air Manor shopping center; spoke about “new urbanism” strategy to improve public areas & privately-owned neighborhood areas like the shopping center & to link to larger surrounding Metro economy; neighborhood needs to continue to improve
• Arts development strategy includes an art hall at the library, statuary & sculptures in the area, & stage at Farnsley Park; stage to be used for both community performances & private groups; to be funded through public-private partnerships; Q&A followed
• Jeff Noble, Legislative Liaison to Brent Ackerson, spoke about 2 meetings with Metro Parks who wants to work with current building on site & focus on Wedgewood Way entrance to park; wants stage be part of current building & not a separate structure; wants to improve restrooms & concession stands; soccer program currently rents space/field with a lease & currently uses field; parking would be on surrounding streets just as for Shakespeare in Central Park

Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson, District 26 —

• Accessible sidewalks & purpose of Farnsley Park improvements over past 10 yrs has been to attract neighborhood folks & thus deter troublemakers & “bad elements”
• Q&A about sidewalks (new & repairs to existing); garbage collection for constituents on Monday schedule; crosswalk for Liverpool Ln & Paris Dr pedestrians crossing Bardstown Rd to shopping center; car break-ins & lack of street lights (Brent’s discretionary funds helping to pay LMPD for OT officers to help address this problem); state help sought but no money available; introduced KY District 40 State Representative Nima Kulkarni, visitor to meeting; lack of state money to address engineering & synchronization of traffic light issues & continuous complaints (Bashford Manor Ln to Hikes Ln & Shepherdsville Rd to Old Bardstown Rd); one Bon Air resident (an engineer) offered to get statistics & contact appropriate state agencies for follow-up
• Follow-up announcements re: crime — David Cotton spoke about Ring camera’s presence, may lower homeowner’s insurance rate by 5%;  David Houvenagle announced his Bon Air Blog posts crime data among other things 

Block Watch Organization — Introduced Richard Pickren.; coordinating “Leave a Light On” campaign & offered battery-powered LED tea lights to make the point; promoting block watch formation among all area neighborhood associations (Bon Air, Bon Air Estates, Fureen area et al.); wants to bring people together via some event, e.g. a pancake social; can contact him at rpickren83@gmail.com.

LMPD 6th Division Resource Officer George McMillan (& Bon Air resident) — 

• Explained new chapter of Pedestrian Safety Ordinance, with formal enforcement to begin Nov 1; can cite violators if seen.
• Provided updates about recent incidents in the 1900 block of Goldsmith Ln & related shootings on Lisbon Ln & Sharon Circle; recovered shell casings & video available from neighbors helped lead to the arrest of 3 teens (2 of whom were juveniles); a home invasion was a separate incident; otherwise, Bon Air had not had a lot of violent crime.
• Officer McMillan stayed for some time after adjournment to answer questions & talk with neighbors.

Announced availability of copies of membership letter & form to encourage BANA participation; dues $20 per calendar year; monthly meetings held on the 2nd Monday each month at 6:30pm at the Bon Air Library.

Meeting adjourned pre-8pm.

Bon Air Crime Analysis for September 2019

This is an analysis for September, 2019 based on data posted by the Louisville Metro Police Department at https://data.louisvilleky.gov/dataset/crime-reports/resource/6d81fdf8-27e7-41ac-9ae4-1bfd8730f002 

It is a Microsoft Excel file that requires just a touch of manipulation and sorting

As usual it includes the crimes reported within the boundaries of the historical Bon Air Neighborhood as defined:
1) Bardstown Road on the West  
2) Hikes Lane on the South
3) Furman Blvd on the East and
4) Taylorsville Rd and the Watterson Expressway on the North. 

A disclaimer is that the analysis is not like the old games of four-square or shuffleboard as "lines are in" and not out.  What this means is that reports at locations on the borders may have actually happened in the Bashford Manor, West Buechel, Buechel/Hikes Point and Melbourne Heights sections.  

Crime was down by about 14 percent over August.  There were 54 total police reports as a whole within these boundaries. . 

• There were 31 reports in the 40218 portion and
• There were 23 reports in the 40220 section. 

What was interesting was that there were three locations that had six police reports. 

• 3300 Bardstown Rd. (this location is usually up there)
• 2300 Goldsmith Lane (to be discussed in a moment)
• 3100 Doreen Way (to be discussed in a moment)

In terms of breakdowns, the most common crimes/police reports in the neighborhood for the month were:

• Assaults =15
• Theft/Laceny=11
• Missing Person = 6
• Vandalism =6
• Fraud=4.
• Drug=3
• Vehicle Break-ins =2

When looking at the assaults, five of them happened at the 3100 block of Doreen Way.  This appears to an ongoing drama where someone continues to violate an Emergency Protective Order/Domestic Violence Order. Otherwise the other 10 were mostly along Bardstown Rd or isolated occurrences throughout the neighborhood. 

When looking at the Theft/Larceny cases, six of them were in businesses and four of them were spread out in the neighborhood in residences on Rosedale Blvd, Hikes Lane, Stratford Avenue, and Dell Brooke Avenue. 

I have not really commented much on the missing person cases in previous posts, but 99 percent of them are at 2300 Goldsmith Lane or Boys and Girls Haven.  Being a social worker I have sympathy for the situation.  To me, it does not reflect the work done at this agency.  It reflects on the clientele that they serve.  You would think that all these adolescents would have the sense to be grateful to have a place to stay and the common sense to stay put and finish their high school diploma . . . but not all of them do and some of them run for a number of emotional\behavioral reasons, which means the staff at Boys and Girls Haven have to file missing person reports.  

I think it is worth continuing to follow what happens at Boys and Girls Haven because the kids that run are the kids vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation, which I am sure will be talked about again around Derby.   If you are interested in volunteering with Boys and Girls Haven to try and reach out to these kids, I am positive they can find something for you to do to help these kids.

There were otherwise four  areas of concern to me in the numbers : 

• 3500 block of Lisbon Lane,
• 2800 block of Dell Brooke Avenue
• 2800 block of Del Rio Place, and 
• 3200 block of Stratford Avnue

Lisbon Lane had three different cases of a burglary, a weapons charge, and a domestic abuse case.  My understanding is that the police have arrested relevant parties and one particular property owner on that street is picking up and leading the charge for a block watch and I think things will be better if they are not already improved. 

The 2800 block of Dell Brooke had two distinct theft-type crimes on different days. One was a theft and one was a car break in 10 days apart from each other.  

Del Rio Place is the Bon Air Manor and it seemed to have a little more action this month than normal.   There appeared to be three police calls on different but five different reports that include a robbery in the parking lot, two thefts, and two cases of vandalism. 

The last area of concern was Stratford Avenue where there were two different reports two days in a row.  One was the apparent theft of a firearm (literally TBUT OR DISP FIREARM in the database)
and criminal mischief.

Otherwise, in terms of incidentals, there was 

• One motor vehicle theft on the 2300 Block of Meadow and
• One report of Sexual Abuse made at Goldsmith Elementary. 

I will say that I conclude that the Goldsmith Elementary matter was a child disclosing sexual abuse and not actual abuse.  When there is often disclosure of sexual abuse of a child a Crimes Against Children Unit report is made.  I met Dr Jeremy Renner, the prinipal of Goldsmith when my children went to school there and had numerous conversations with him and I would say there is not a better elementary school principal (and actual fun guy), and Goldsmith Elementary is a safe place for children to go and learn,

Much crime is preventable and I would encourage you to consider joining the block watches that are forming, getting one of the doorbell cameras, leaving your outside light on at night to keep your street lit up, and make sure your cars are locked.  We still have a very safe area compared to what is out there in Louisville and we can keep it that way.