VaHi Safety Team Report: February 25, 2014
By: John Wolfinger
Update on VaHi’s Problem Alleyway
The problem-plagued alleyway between Ponce de Leon and St. Charles Avenues has begun an amazing transformation thanks to a dedicated group of St. Charles Avenue and Barnett Street residents. Read about the first cleanup at https://vahi.org/residents-clean-up-vahi-alleyway/.
Now these folks have scheduled a second work session to trim back overgrown shrubbery and small trees to open up the alley and eliminate hiding places for urban camping and other undesirable activities. This session will be this Saturday 3/1/14 at 9:00 AM – meet at the corner of the alley at Barnett Street on the north side of the 737 Barnett Street condo building. Bring heavy gloves and whatever cutting tools you have for use on brush, bamboo and small trees. These dedicated residents have now dubbed this area ‘Maiden Trail’ and are working on plans for this to be a new walking area for neighbors and their pets. If you have questions or want to volunteer to help, contact the group at [email protected]. Congrats to these folks for facing a problem head-on and working to eliminate it, instead of just complaining about it.
Crime and Safety Summit Meeting and Discussion
There will be what could be a real defining moment in our total city safety situation on Thursday 3/6/14 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Cascade United Methodist Church at 3144 Cascade Road, S.W. Atl 30311. The panelists are John Eaves, Fulton County Commission Chair; Judge Gail Tusan from Superior Court; Judge Bradley Boyd from Juvenile Court; Paul Howard, Fulton County D.A.; Caesar Mitchell, our City Council President; APD Chief George Turner; Fulton County Police Chief Cassandra Jones and Fulton County School Police Chief Felipe Usury.
Some of these are Fulton County people that can address the recidivism problem that Mayor Reed talked about both in his inaugural address and the recent State of the City address. I will be there and hope to see other VaHi and NPU “F” folks also. City-wide and county-wide safety problems impact what happens in VaHi.
Some Sign-Ups To Be Aware Of
If you have neglected to register your home or business alarm system – do this now at https://www.crywolf.us/oss/atlantaga/.
No one plans to call 911 – but you can plan ahead and have the operator already be aware of your name, address, etc. by registering at Smart 911: https://www.smart911.com/. This can save a lot of talk time on a call for assistance.
If you have vacant property for over 30 days, you are required to register it as such at http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=754.
Thanks to our Zone 6 Commander, Major Peek, for finding more help for our crime analyst section, so that we can have our regular narrative incident reports from Zone 6 again. The following reports are taken from our APD Zone 6: http://atlantapd.org/Zone6.aspx. VaHi Beat 601 crime reports for the 5th and 6th weeks of 2014 (1/26- 2/8). These reports are not meant to scare anyone, but to raise your level of alertness as to what happens around us everyday.
Aggravated Assault: No reported incidents from Beat 601. However, at the recently changed-ownership Ponce Hotel on PDL Avenue gunshots were fired as the victim and the suspect had a verbal argument over whom a female was to have sex with – the suspect fled. And, at the Clermont Lounge, the bouncer pulled a gun on two patrons for taking pix.
Auto Theft: A 2006 Ford was taken from PDL Place and recovered in southwest Atlanta. A 2010 Toyota was stolen from a PDL Avenue parking lot and later recovered at a Boulevard gas station.
Commercial Burglary: No reported incidents from Beat 601. However, at the Druid Hills Methodist Church on PDL Avenue, the suspect hid in the building after closing, broke into a vending machine and stole snacks and cash. At Dugan’s Bar on PDL Avenue, thieves broke a side window and took 50 bottles of liquor. And at the Liberty Tax Service on PDL Avenue, thieves broke a side window and took a box of fake $50 bills and candy – which were recovered later. I guess that they thought the bills were real?
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. However, robberies of cell phones continue elsewhere, including a daytime cell phone robbery at Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood. I had to read this report several times to believe – far south of here on Moreland Avenue, the male victim came to a residential address to meet a female for a paid sex date from an on-line connection, when he was approached by two armed males – the victim jumped out of his car and ran for a mile until he flagged down a cab and called 911. He admitted he was drunk and high.
Larceny From Vehicle: Vehicles were entered on Virginia Avenue (yielding a cellphone, laptop and an iPad), Maryland Avenue (a book bag was taken), Bonaventure Avenue (nothing listed as taken), Frederica Street (sunglasses were lifted), and on Greenwood Avenue (a Glock pistol was taken – the report states a window was left rolled down). All around the Zone in this time period there were 34 such reported incidents.
Larceny Other: A cell phone was left at Neighbor’s Bar and, of course, it was not there when the owner returned. Lawn care equipment was taken from a (quite obviously unwatched) trailer on Virginia Avenue. An unwatched bicycle was stolen in Piedmont Park. And at Inman School, an unwary student lent his cell phone to a stranger and he fled with the phone.
Stay alert and aware and enjoy city life.