VaHi Safety Team Report: October 12, 2014

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Please Save These Dates

Saturday, October 18th: This is the date for the annual neighborhood clean up organized by the Keep VaHi Beautiful committee. Meet before 8:30 a.m. on the patio of the American Roadhouse for coffee and breakfast sandwiches, and get assignments for where to go to pick up trash/litter. Bring along your gloves, a scraper for removing stickers and a neighbor to help clean up neglected areas of VaHi. Finish up at noon, and then adjourn to Highland Tap for a special discounted lunch. If you are a Facebook user, go to Keep Virginia Highland Beautiful and “like” this dedicated group to sign up for this clean-up. Yes – there are folks who do care about how our business district looks, being mindful that there are lots of other city neighborhoods now to shop, dine and drink.

Saturday, October 25th: Start gathering at 9:30 a.m., in the lower meeting room at Church of Our Saviour (entrance on Los Angeles Avenue), for socialization and be ready to start at 10 a.m. sharp, for our annual Street Captain’s meeting.  The speaker for this year will be Lieutenant Cummings from Code Enforcement, and I expect a lot of folks who live nearby to 1001 St. Charles Avenue to be present to find out what has happened to the investigation to find the true owners of this beleaguered empty residence that has become an urban campground (to put it nicely). Finding the true owners is tantamount to being able to have someone press trespassing charges. Yes – this educational get together is open to the neighborhood in general (including businesses) as well as all of our Street Captains. We will finish up by noon, so you will still have time to tackle other weekend projects and errands.

The 10/8 Virginia Avenue Residential Burglary Incident

Thanks to a lot of aware folks who alerted me to police activity on Virginia Avenue east of Lanier Boulevard, we found out that a good next-door neighbor called 911 about a burglary in progress in this area and rapid APD response resulted in the arrest of Phillip Gamble. He subsequently confessed to other residential burglaries on Bellevue Drive and on 6th Street in Midtown. These burglary victims owe a debt of thanx to the alert neighbor who called 911 to nab this suspected thief. This was a classic example of “See Something – Say Something” and showed our neighborhood watch system at work. Nosey and aware neighbors are still one of our best lines of defense.

Our Continuing Fulton County Jail Problem

As we enter the umpteenth year of the Rice Street Jail being under federal court order to reduce the number of prisoners – the county commission is still working on solutions (is the end in sight?).

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/price-tag-for-fulton-jail-staffing-20-million/nhZKB/

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/fulton-hopes-to-jail-fewer-offenders/nhdMc/

The following reports are taken from our APD Zone 6 (http://atlantapd.org/Zone6.aspx) VaHi Beat 601 reported incidents for 2014 week 39 (9/21-9/27). These reports are not meant to scare anyone, but to let you know what happens around us everyday – so you can be alert and aware.

Aggravated Assault: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Auto Theft: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Commercial Burglary: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Residential Burglary: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Commercial Robbery: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Residential Robbery: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Pedestrian Robbery: No reported incidents from Beat 601.

Larceny From Vehicle: Vehicles were entered on Crestridge Drive (laptop, backpack and contents), Bellevue Drive (laptop and backpack), and Virginia Avenue (laptop, hard drive and binder).   Three more vehicle owners learned the hard way about the Clean Car Campaign which states ALL parked cars are to be cleaned out at ALL times.

Larceny Other: No reported incidents from Beat 601. However, at the nearby Edgewood Retail District, there were 6 shoplifting incidents reported with 6 arrests (but I always wonder as to how many such incidents go unnoticed by store security, as I am sure you do too).

Enjoy Fall safely, everyone.

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