- test-neighbhorhood@test.highlandparkpa.com

[Highland Park] Hunting for a roommate....please pass along
by Katrina Struloeff 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

In search of a roommate . . .I am looking for a third person to share my four-bedroom house in East Liberty/Highland Park. Located just three blocks for six major bus lines on a neighborhood street, the house has shared living space of a dining room, living room, kitchen, laundry, two bathrooms, and backyard. The bedroom available can be furnished or unfurnished depending on your needs. Available bedroom is a large carpeted room on the second floor with two tall windows near the second floor bathroom. Flexible lease terms are available. Simply looking for someone who is reliable, friendly, doesn't mind cats, and relatively clean, to round out the house. The two of us who live in the house currently have been here for a year. We both work full time and are just around on the weekends and some evenings. Rent is $300 plus splitting utilities with other housemates. Located on Hays Ave. between Euclid and North St. Clair. Direct bus lines to downtown, CMU, University of Pitt, Oakland, Bloomfield, Stanton Heights, Friendship, Garfield, Strip District, and East Liberty bus station (the bus way). Within a mile of Eastside retail/restaurant area, Highland Avenue business district, and Bryant Street business district. Street parking is available and does not require a permit. Ideally someone would move in the beginning of November. email Katrina at kstruloeff(a)gmail.com or call 503-290-6669 -- Katrina Struloeff, M.A.M. Marketing and Development Coordinator Union Project 801 N. Negley Ave, Pgh, PA 15206 412-363-4550 x 37 412-363-1216 fax www.unionproject.org

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[Highland Park] Chop, WOK & Talk weekly menu selections for November
by Dorothy Tague 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

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[Highland Park] Re: Community Safety web resources
by David Passmore 18 Oct '08

18 Oct '08

Here is the site that houses the maps Lauren Byrne and Christie Berger refer to: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/communitydevelopment The maps (crime and otherwise) are on the Data Resources page. Also, this is a good opportunity to make mention of the city's Legislation Information Center: http://legistar.city.pittsburgh.pa.us The LIC is a good resource for information about the workings of city government. Municipal code information is here: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13525&sid=38 It should be stressed that *every* incident should be reported to the police via 911. The Bureau of Police needs this information in order to gain an understanding of what is happening in the neighborhood. Citizen Observer is a tool that provides alerts. Here is the page that has been established for Zone 5, where you can see the alert that have been posted for our neighborhood: http://citizenobserver.com/cov6/app/group.html?id=246 More information about signing up: http://www.citizenobserver.com/cov6/support/flyer_pittsburghpd_1.pdf The Bureau of Police posts an Incident Report for citizens to view and try to gain a broader understanding of what is happening in the city. That report is posted to Citizen Observer: http://citizenobserver.com/cov6/app/post.html?id=64 On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 10:31 AM, <neighborhood-request(a)highlandparkpa.com>wrote: > Send Neighborhood mailing list submissions to > neighborhood(a)highlandparkpa.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > neighborhood-request(a)highlandparkpa.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > neighborhood-owner(a)highlandparkpa.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Neighborhood digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Summary of October HPCC meeting (Bob Staresinic) > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Bob Staresinic" <bob.63(a)netzero.net> > To: <neighborhood(a)highlandparkpa.com> > Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:28:28 -0400 > Subject: [Highland Park] Summary of October HPCC meeting > Hello Neighbors > > I received several emails to the list asking about the HPCC meeting > Thursday, and what was discussed related to Public Safety. > > Present from the City were Officer Gay, the Community Relations Officer > from Zone 5, and from the Mayor's Office we had Lauren Byrne, Neighborhood > Initiatives Coordinator, and Christie Berger, Community Outreach > Coordinator. > Lauren and Christie brought maps of the neighborhood, which are available > on-line at the City's web site, www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us. These included > crime maps. Lauren also reported that the Nuisance Property legislation was > passed and will start being enforced with a hire in December. You can find > this legislation with this link: > http://legistar.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/detailreport/Reports/Temp/10182008623… > I was able to find the neighborhood maps, but I could not find the crime > maps on the site. Of course it is going on 7 am on Saturday when I am > writing this, and it is not a good time to call anyone for help, and I am > not that good at searching for things on the internet. > > The meeting was focused less on complaints and more on what solutions there > are. Here are some suggestions that came up from Lauren Byrne and Officer > Gay (and from residents): > Police Reports need to be filed for all activity. > Call 911 to report crimes and suspicious activity. > When you report a crime and are talking to the reporting officer, get the > CCR number that the Police use. > Sometimes it is better to not confront a criminal in the act. If you call > 911, the officers may be able to observe and catch an act going on. If you > yell at a person to stop what they are doing, and then call 911, that person > is usually gone by the time the police show up. > The Police would like to step up patrols, but there is limited time for > patrols with the shortage of officers. They can patrol when they are not > responding to calls. > Get out of your house and interact with your neighbors. > Turn your lights on, both inside and out, front and back. > Get motion-sensor lights for the exterior, so anyone approaching your home > is lit up. > Put your lights on timers. Vary the rooms and the times that the lights > come on. > Criminals will case your house, looking for patterns of activity, and > looking for folks not at home. Varying the times and rooms that lights turn > on can disrupt their ability to target you. > Write down nicknames if you overhear them. This information can help the > officers identify and track crimes. > Use the silent complaint forms for things that are not emergencies. This > information of dates, times, descriptions can help the police track > patterns. > Talk to the kids in the neighborhood, and learn who they are. If you are > friendly with the very young kids, when they grow up, you know who they > are. They also know that you know who they are. > Start Block Watches, and keep the activity up. Often, an increase in > crimes will cause residents to take action. But then as the crime > decreases, folks go back to old routines. Keep the watch activity up to > keep the crime down. > Sign up for the Citizen Observer at www.citizenobserver.com. This is a > tool that can alert you to what is happening in the neighborhood. > Drive and walk a different route; take different streets to learn the > neighborhood. > When there is no one walking, running, or driving down a street, and no one > on their porch or in their yard, and no lights on, it is very easy to sneak > around and not be seen. An audience is not desired when committing crimes. > > That is what my notes say, and my memory recalls at this early hour. We > can not rely on the City and the Police to make our neighborhood better, we > have to be involved. > The former commander of Zone 5 was active on this list, and often responded > to postings. The current commander does not seem to be as active on this. > But Officer Gay and Lauren Byrne, and others, are getting these postings, > and are aware of the issues we have brought up. So even though the > commander is not responding to our list, it is being monitored by folks in > the City and they are paying attention. > > I am sure there are things that I have left out, and many other good > suggestions that folks have. If you are interested in starting a block > watch on your street, now is as good a time to start as any. Invite your > neighbors over and have a discussion. See if they will help you rake your > leaves, or go help them with theirs. > > Bob > > > > -- > <http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood> >

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[Highland Park] Summary of October HPCC meeting
by Bob Staresinic 18 Oct '08

18 Oct '08

Hello Neighbors I received several emails to the list asking about the HPCC meeting Thursday, and what was discussed related to Public Safety. Present from the City were Officer Gay, the Community Relations Officer from Zone 5, and from the Mayor's Office we had Lauren Byrne, Neighborhood Initiatives Coordinator, and Christie Berger, Community Outreach Coordinator. Lauren and Christie brought maps of the neighborhood, which are available on-line at the City's web site, www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us. These included crime maps. Lauren also reported that the Nuisance Property legislation was passed and will start being enforced with a hire in December. You can find this legislation with this link: http://legistar.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/detailreport/Reports/Temp/10182008623… I was able to find the neighborhood maps, but I could not find the crime maps on the site. Of course it is going on 7 am on Saturday when I am writing this, and it is not a good time to call anyone for help, and I am not that good at searching for things on the internet. The meeting was focused less on complaints and more on what solutions there are. Here are some suggestions that came up from Lauren Byrne and Officer Gay (and from residents): Police Reports need to be filed for all activity. Call 911 to report crimes and suspicious activity. When you report a crime and are talking to the reporting officer, get the CCR number that the Police use. Sometimes it is better to not confront a criminal in the act. If you call 911, the officers may be able to observe and catch an act going on. If you yell at a person to stop what they are doing, and then call 911, that person is usually gone by the time the police show up. The Police would like to step up patrols, but there is limited time for patrols with the shortage of officers. They can patrol when they are not responding to calls. Get out of your house and interact with your neighbors. Turn your lights on, both inside and out, front and back. Get motion-sensor lights for the exterior, so anyone approaching your home is lit up. Put your lights on timers. Vary the rooms and the times that the lights come on. Criminals will case your house, looking for patterns of activity, and looking for folks not at home. Varying the times and rooms that lights turn on can disrupt their ability to target you. Write down nicknames if you overhear them. This information can help the officers identify and track crimes. Use the silent complaint forms for things that are not emergencies. This information of dates, times, descriptions can help the police track patterns. Talk to the kids in the neighborhood, and learn who they are. If you are friendly with the very young kids, when they grow up, you know who they are. They also know that you know who they are. Start Block Watches, and keep the activity up. Often, an increase in crimes will cause residents to take action. But then as the crime decreases, folks go back to old routines. Keep the watch activity up to keep the crime down. Sign up for the Citizen Observer at www.citizenobserver.com. This is a tool that can alert you to what is happening in the neighborhood. Drive and walk a different route; take different streets to learn the neighborhood. When there is no one walking, running, or driving down a street, and no one on their porch or in their yard, and no lights on, it is very easy to sneak around and not be seen. An audience is not desired when committing crimes. That is what my notes say, and my memory recalls at this early hour. We can not rely on the City and the Police to make our neighborhood better, we have to be involved. The former commander of Zone 5 was active on this list, and often responded to postings. The current commander does not seem to be as active on this. But Officer Gay and Lauren Byrne, and others, are getting these postings, and are aware of the issues we have brought up. So even though the commander is not responding to our list, it is being monitored by folks in the City and they are paying attention. I am sure there are things that I have left out, and many other good suggestions that folks have. If you are interested in starting a block watch on your street, now is as good a time to start as any. Invite your neighbors over and have a discussion. See if they will help you rake your leaves, or go help them with theirs. Bob

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[Highland Park] Gov Rendell In Homewood Tomorrow 10/18/08 4:00 PM OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
by Calvin Skinner 17 Oct '08

17 Oct '08

[cid:image003.jpg@01C93097.9CFEA9A0] You are invited to join PA Campaign for Change and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell Tomorrow, Saturday, October 18th 2008 for a brief neighborhood walk in Homewood and Penn Hills Where: Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum 7310 Frankstown Avenue When: Saturday, October 18th 2008 @ 4:00 PM Why: Because we will win this election, by talking to voters. Please come out and show your support for Senator Obama and Pennsylvania's Chief Executive Calvin K. Skinner, Jr Barack Obama and Joe Biden's, Campaign For Change,Field Organizer (412) 867-6853 Primary (412) 880-7077 Private cskinner(a)paforchange.com calvinkskinnerjr(a)gmail.com 125-127 North Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Proud to be a Community Organizer

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[Highland Park] Channel 11 News on vandalism
by karen cadoff 17 Oct '08

17 Oct '08

FYI Channel 11 News was in our neighborhood today to talk to people about the recent wave of vandalism. I wasn't able to attend the meeting last night so I couldn't tell them what went on but I did speak to them about the vandalism. Karen Cadoff

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[Highland Park] violin lessons/children's choral groups/orthodontists
by DenshawSoulliere＠comcast.net 17 Oct '08

17 Oct '08

Hello Neighbors, I saved up all my querries for one big email. My children aged 5 (almost 6) and 8 are showing a lot of interest in learning an instrument and singing. They actually both have very decent singing voices. I have thought of musical theater but the time and financial committments are too great. Does anyone know of a children's choral group that does not meet after 6:30 pm? Also, suzuki violin lessons or flute lessons. Yes, for some reason they are interested in those instruments. Lastly, recommendations for orthodontists and oral surgeons for the children - we are looking at lots of orthodontia. I'll compile a list of recommendations and post for others. Thank you! Joan Soulliere

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[Highland Park] YARD SALE! Saturday, Oct. 18th- Portland Street
by Lisa Harshbarger 17 Oct '08

17 Oct '08

My mother-in-law recently moved to the area and downsized from a house to an apartment! Stop by 1123 Portland Street (15206) tomorrow for some great bargains! * Holiday Decorations * Home Decor (pictures, baskets, etc...) * Pots, pans, tupperware * small TV stand * electronics (5 disc cd changer, sony receiver, DVD player, VCR, speakers and more!) * folding chairs, dresser much more! We'll have some HOT COCOA, so stop by & help to clear out my basement!!

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[Highland Park] November cooking class schedule for Chop, Wok & Talk!
by Dorothy Tague 16 Oct '08

16 Oct '08

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[Highland Park] Recent Public Safety Issues
by Bob Staresinic 16 Oct '08

16 Oct '08

Hello All With the recent rash of reports of odd solicitations, vandalism, and thefts from vehicles, it appears that we are in the middle of something big. I hope this is due to an increase in activity and not an increase in reporting. We really are lucky that we dont have gun battles and murders, like some other neighborhoods do. I am not trying to belittle the recent incidents, but it has been a while since we have seen a need to have block watches throughout the entire neighborhood. And now there is increased talk about this. Everyone should know their neighbors, and who belongs on the street, and ask questions if things dont look right. That is how we can keep ourselves safe. There is crime everywhere, and we cant stop it completely, but that is a great goal to have. The HPCC has not had a very active Public Safety or Block Watch committee for a little while now. It sounds like this needs to be restarted or revived. The HPCC is an all-volunteer community group, made up of neighbors in Highland Park. So in order to have a committee, there needs to be volunteers. Is that you? If you live in, work in, own, rent, squat, or just like Highland Park, then it IS you. You can do as little as meeting the people directly next to you, or as much as organizing the entire neighborhood. The HPCC is holding their monthly meeting this evening (Thursday) at 7:00 pm, at St Andrews Church, 5801 Hampton St. Everyone is welcome. Maybe we can discuss the recent activity, and find a way to put a stop to it. Bob Below are some of the emails that were sent to the list, but were not reporting an incident, in response to other recent postings. *************** Most of these thieves are window shoppers. if you leave anything electronic in plain site then they will probably be shopping in your car. most of the time they are looking for fast, easy targets with a garanteed pay day. Make sure that you do not have any cell phones, ipods, laptops or gps devices in plane site and they will most likely move onto another victim that has these items. Nobody is going to break into an empty car unless they want the car which is ussually not the case. ******************* Hey Guys :-) another thing when you do report any incident yes, you don't have to call 911 that should be left for true blue emergencies -- But calling the police is very important and always get a CCR number that is the criminal complaint report number that proves the incident was recorded and is on file. Becareful Maribeth Lashuk ***************** I am saddened by all these horrible things that are happening in Highland Park. I live on North Saint Clair Street @ Wellsely and I myself feel afraid to put any pumpkins or decorations on my porch due to kids making a mess of them. It is ashame that you cannot put your flower pots out and have your home look nice, without the worry of someone vandalizing your property. I did see a few children on the corner yesterday, and they did look like they were just looking for trouble. I would think these kids would be at home doing homework , or getting ready for bed! In any event I don't normally respond to these happenings, but this really disgusts me. I hope this calms down, and that we may live comfortably in our homes without these worries. I do notice myself that many children of all ages are left unsupervised, I myself feel this is a travesty and bad parenting as well. I have 3 small children and I would never even at age 10 leave my children completely unsupervised. I think this is a serious problem, and that is why these children go around terrorizing innocent peoples property. My question is where are the parents!? Good luck members, I hope these problems are solved soon. Francine M. Moschella ************* Thank you to all who replied to my email. We truly have a great neighborhood consisting of wonderful and caring people! I live in the 5600 block of Hampton between Portland and Mellon. This incident happened Friday some time between 6PM and 8PM. Fortunately my husband was able to remove the paint and the flowers will recover. My neighbor and I filed a police report today. Karen *************** This is so disheartening. I love this neighborhood and don't want to start feeling fearful and like I have to constantly be on alert . . not that being on alert matters since these things always happen when you aren't looking. Such violations . .my sympathies to each person who has had to deal with this. What can we do? Is there some peaceful but effective way to respond to this? Deb ***************** We can't keep a political sign in our yard. They keep getting stolen. Once, someone was so bold as to cut one up and leave it on our door step. I don't think it is that our neighbors are not watching out for one another, I think it is that the perpetrators are very stealthy- one of our signs was stolen while the grandparents were babysitting and had the front door open (so it was rather early in the evening while people were still out and about). Now- politics aside- no one has the right to steal other people's property nor do they have the right to destroy it. I know that our neighbors watch out for us as we watch out for them. But maybe something organized would help. I don't know any stats as to whether or not these sort of neighborhood groups work or not. Does anyone else know? Camille Lurie ********************** Clearly, the Pittsburgh police do not care about our neighborhood. They do not seem to have any increased presence on the streets, they are apparently totally unresponsive to reported crimes (yes, these are crimes, not inconveniences), and the vandalism seems to be accelerating. This attitude extends to other complaints- my wife was driving on Penn Circle a couple of months ago and had rocks thrown at her car while driving with children; the policeman who responded to her call seemed "put out" to be required to deal with such a prosaic complaint. I think the next steps would be to bring this up at the next city council meeting and to create a neighborhood watch with people literally taking shifts on the streets between 11PM and 4 AM. Two person teams with cell phones and large flashlights (those long steel ones) should do the trick. I hope the police are monitoring these messages. ************** wow, what is going on in the neighborhood these days!!!??? what can we do to get an increase in police patrols? with all the break-ins, thefts amd vandalism, i just feel like a sitting duck. quack, kevin

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