HNA News: Weeding Tools & Volunteers Needed Saturday; Community Potluck Sun. 11/19, Crime Watch reports

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Halcyon Neighborhood Association E-Newsletter*

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1. Weeding Tools & Volunteers Needed Sat. November 11, 10:00-2:00,  Mulching & Neighborhood Cleanup with Help from the Berkeley Project

2. Community Potluck, Sunday, November 19, 6-8 p.m., 2329 Webster

3. Citywide Disaster Preparedness Exercise, Thurs. Nov. 30, 9-11 a.m.: Neighborhood Volunteers Needed

4. Crime Watch Report: Mugging on Woolsey Street

5. Crime Watch Report: Second Car Break-in on Wheeler Street

6. Crime Watch Alert: Series of Muggings, most recent on Prince Street

I'm personally very relieved to set aside the partisan politics of the election season and get back to the important nonpartisan work of building community and making our neighborhood safer, cleaner, and friendlier. I hope you'll join us either Saturday, November 11th, for our big Berkeley Project Volunteer Day (see item 1 for ways you can help, even if you can't be there in person) or Sunday, November 19th, for our Community Potluck (see item 2), or both. As you'll see below (items 4-6), three more neighbors have reported recent crimes, which include two muggings. If these reports concern you, remember that one of the most effective ways of making our neighborhood safer is by getting to know one another and looking out for one another  -- along, of course, with calling the police immediately if you notice anything suspicious.

Working side by side and breaking bread together offer two golden opportunities to increase neighborhood safety and build community at the same time. Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events.

-Nancy Carleton, HNA Co-Chair and E-Newsletter Editor

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1. Weeding Tools & Volunteers Needed Sat. November 11, 10:00-2:00,  Mulching & Neighborhood Cleanup with Help from the Berkeley Project

Meet at 10:300 a.m. (time has been moved half an hour forward due to students' arrival time by bus) at Halcyon Commons Park (Halcyon Court at Prince Street) or join us at some point along the way.

Refreshments courtesy of Whole Foods Market.

Neighborhood volunteers and loan of supplies needed (see below)!

We'll be weeding thoroughly in Halcyon Commons Park and the three nearby landscaped islands/barriers (barriers at Webster near Whole Foods and on Prince near Deakin, and tree island on Halcyon), then mulching heavily in preparation for the winter months ("putting the park to bed," as we call it). Our 40 Cal volunteers from the Berkeley Project will also be helping with trash pickup throughout the wider neighborhood from Telegraph to Adeline and from Ashby to Woolsey, and removing graffiti from signs, etc. [Please let Nancy Carleton <ngc2@mindspring.com> know if there are public problem spots you think could use a little extra TLC and we'll do our best to get to them.]

But to make this day as successful as possible, we need your help!

Please email Nancy Carleton <ngc2@mindspring.com> if you can loan a wheelbarrow, your blue recycle box (good for moving mulch), a shovel, rake, or some weeding tools for the day, whether or not you can join us to volunteer (be sure to label them with name and address, so we can return them to the right place). Unless we have the right equipment, it will be hard to keep our volunteers "gainfully employed." So please, please, please loan us what you can! We especially need a few more weeding tools.

Also let Nancy know if you'd be willing to come for all or part of the event to help manage volunteers and/or to work beside them. Neighborhood-student collaboration is a key goal of the Berkeley Project, so it's important for us to participate too. And in order to get the most out of our volunteer labor, we need folks to direct their attention to specific needs (for example, one crew will work to weed and clean up the problem spot at Fulton and Ashby if we have a neighbor who can direct their efforts). This is an exciting chance to make a big difference in our neighborhood in under half a day! Please help out.

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2. Halcyon Community Potluck, Sunday, November 19, 6-8 p.m., 2329 Webster

What:  A chance to gather with neighbors over shared food.

When:  Sunday, November 19, 6-8 p.m.

Where:  John & Michelle's house, 2329 Webster (2nd house west of Whole Foods Market).

Who:  Those who live in the Ashby-Telegraph-Woolsey-Adeline quadrant are welcome, including children.

Agenda:  We'll share food and socialize for the first hour-plus, then have a brief informal meeting where we brainstorm our HNA calendar for the coming year, including arranging hosts and locations for our fabulous Post-Holiday Progressive Potluck in January (we progress to four households for the different courses); setting a date for a community-wide Neighborhood Watch meeting to address crime and disaster preparedness; setting date for next Steering Committee meeting; planning Halcyon Commons work party dates for 2007; etc.

Bring:  Please bring a potluck item to share. Potluck suggestions:  * A-H: Main Dish *  I-L: Appetizer *  M-S:  Salad *  T-Z Dessert (if it's easy, please also bring a beverage to share).

Volunteers Needed:  John and Michelle request two volunteers to come half an hour early (5:30) to help set up; please email John at  <jsteere@igc.org> if you can help in this way.

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3. Citywide Disaster Preparedness Exercise, Thurs. Nov. 30, 9-11 a.m.: Neighborhood Volunteers Needed

The City of Berkeley will be holding a Disaster Preparedness Exercise, which they hope will include at least some of the neighborhoods with Disaster Supply Caches. This will be a chance to practice using the walkie-talkies that are coming with our cache. For Halcyon Neighborhood to participate, we need at least a couple of neighbors to volunteer to be present on Halcyon Court that morning (so far just one person has signed up). While it would be ideal to have some folks who have had some level of Disaster Preparedness training, you can participate even if you don't yet have the training. Please reply asap to Nancy Carleton <ngc2@mindspring.com> if you're free that morning and want to come. The Halcyon neighborhood will only be able to participate if we have at least a few people signed up soon!

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4. Crime Watch Report: Mugging on Woolsey Street

A Woolsey Street neighbor reports:

"I would like to report a friend of one of our neighbors on Woolsey Street was mugged about 1:00 in the afternoon last week. A group of four or five juveniles robbed him of his wallet and then ran to the BART station."

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5. Crime Watch Report: Second Car Break-in on Wheeler Street

A Wheeler Street neighbor reports:

"The same night as the car break-in reported in the last newsletter, our new neighbors on Wheeler, on the first night they parked on Wheeler, had a car window broken out during Saturday night. Apparently nothing was taken. This does seem to fit with the pattern of multiple events clustered in time and location."

[Crime-Watch Tip from the Editor (repeated from last newsletter): Car break-ins often come in waves. There was also a car break-in on Webster a couple of weeks ago. We can make an immediate difference by being mindful of the following: To prevent your car from being a likely target, do not leave anything of potential value in sight (i.e., cell phones, jackets, backpacks, etc.) Remind your neighbors to be careful not to leave valuables in sight (if thieves "score" with one car, they come back to the same neighborhood for more). This really does make a difference, particularly if the majority of people in the neighborhood put this principle into practice.]

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6. Crime Watch Alert: Series of Muggings, most recent on Prince Street

A Prince Street neighbor reports:

"There have been a series of muggings in the neighborhood. The most recent was Monday night, Nov. 6, on the 2100 block of Prince at approximately 8:20 p.m. A neighbor heard the screams of the victim and came out of the house, confronting the muggers, who then ran off. She was not injured seriously. Her cell phone was stolen. The attackers: 3 African-American youth (two boys and one girl), all aged approximately 14 to 16 years old. The girl was wearing jeans and a light blue puffy nylon jacket with a fur-lined hood. One of the boys was wearing a dark hoodie and jeans. If you see any suspicious activity, CALL THE POLICE!"

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The Halcyon Neighborhood Association E-Newsletter:  The HNA E-Newsletter forwards occasional crime watch notices as well as announcements about events of interest to neighbors in the Ashby/Telegraph/Woolsey/Adeline area of south Berkeley, including community-building potlucks, greening projects, disaster preparedness meetings, and work parties in Halcyon Commons Park. If you're receiving this email, either you signed up at a neighborhood event or a neighbor may have forwarded it to you. Please note that to prevent spam, HNA always uses bcc and does not share your email address with third parties. If you wish to be removed from this list, please reply to HNA Co-Chair Nancy Carleton/Halcyon Neighborhood Association <ngc2@mindspring.com>. Please feel free to pass the HNA E-Newsletter on to other neighbors you think might be interested.

HNA Listserve:  If you would like to receive messages (and participate in discussions) on the HNA Listserve, please reply to Halcyon Neighborhood Association <ngc2@mindspring.com> indicating your interest, and you will receive an invitation to join.

HNA Blog:  If you would like to view previous newsletters online (and comment via a blog format), please visit http://halcyoncourt.blogspot.com/

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