Meeting about crime in Lincoln Park this Thursday

neighborhood watch
Originally uploaded by coryandfarah

WArning beforehand: this post reads more like a temper tantrum.

I received a flyer on my door about a meeting this Thursday night, September 20, 2007 about crime in Lincoln Park. The flyer specifically mentions a rise in prostitution, drug dealing at the park, mail theft (that's a new one to me) and home and car burglaries.

Let me first mention that I have never had my person or property damaged or stolen during my time in Pomona. I have, however, heard about many a home and automotive burglary, and seen the same drug dealers, addicts and homeless people walking by our homes to go to and from loitering at the park for four years now. The same ones!!! I've also heard of neighbors getting eggs thrown at their house, suspects chased through private backyards (some with guns drawn) and children and adults having their bikes stolen from their yard or garage. We have a basically safe neighborhood here, with a large population of addicts on the perimeter who prey upon us. These addicts include the people who have been given vouchers by other cities to stay at the Pomona Motor Lodge across from Stater Bros. and the folks who wander up from Holt Street and are allowed to loiter at the park all day because, according to the police dispatchers: "they are entitled to enjoy the park too." My point is: If you make the park an unwelcome hang out for said addicts, by rousing them as they sleep, making sure they have a license for that bike they're riding or that pit bull they're holding, and keeping a visible police presence there, you greatly reduce the opportunity the ne'er-do-wells have to be in the area and threaten our safety.

If the police don't rouse the guy sitting in the motor home by the children's play area because he's not shooting anyone yet, then they shouldn't be suprised when there's an attempted kidnapping down the line (as there was recently in the 100 block of Lincoln btw). Where have the Pomona police been that they don't recognize that a shaggy looking man in a motor home staring at the children in the play area is not a totally suspicious occurrence?

I have been amazed that with the crime that is allowed to go on here, in an area as full of nice homes and nice people as this is, that ultimately no one seems to do a damn thing about it! There has only ever been two neighborhood meetings called over crime in the four years that we have lived here. There is no active neighborhood watch program. Most of the adult residents seem to like to appreciate that things are "not as bad as they once were" versus taking a proactive stance against crime. By proactive I mean calling the police anonymously when you see susupicious people at the park. 622-1241. It takes two minutes. The dirty little secret is that lots of people do call already, and are frustrated by the bad attitude they are given by the dispatchers for doing so, and the lack of police response. So then they wonder why bother?

In short, I think that Lincoln Park is as nice as it is purely due to luck. What is allowed to happen at the park affects us all, because that's whose walking down our streets and alleys. I don't know about anyone else, but anyone who walks down my alley is a cause for concern and I immediately call the police.

AS for the park: if you are going to leave the bathrooms open during the week to attract the local homeless people and addicts, that's what will happen. It's just addition, folks.

I don't know what the meeting will accomplish, but it's a start. The police chief and council person have been invited, but I'm not holding my breath.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at a local home. If you did not get a flyer and would like to attend the meeting, please email me at goddessofpomona@mail.com for the address of the meeting place. At 5:30 p.m. , people are invited to come and meet their neighbors. This is something the Big one and I will definitely attend. I hope to see you too.

THE END