HNA E-News: Safety Dog Walk Tonight & Holiday Weekend Crime Watch Update, etc.

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Halcyon Neighborhood Association E-Newsletter*

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Items appearing in the HNA E-Newsletter are deemed to be of general interest to neighbors but do not necessarily reflect the views of Halcyon Neighborhood Association (HNA), its Steering Committee, or the Editor. The Editor's introductory comments express her personal viewpoint.

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1. Nighttime Safety "Dog" Walk Sunday, Sept. 2, 10:30-11:20 p.m.

2. Crime Watch Report: Suspicious Person Casing Larger Neighborhood

3. Crime Watch Report: Muggings on Shattuck  and Suspects Seen in East Lorin Neighborhood, Thurs. Aug. 31

4. Crime Watch Report: Incident on Telegraph and Woolsey, Thurs. Aug. 30

5. Wheeler Street Neighbor Shares Ideas on Getting More "Eyes on the Street"

6. Report from Tony Hill on Neighborhood Meeting on Solar Power, Cable Undergrounding, etc.

* For Your Calendar: HNA Dates Scheduled for 2007

* Disaster Prep Supply Cache Wish List

* City of Berkeley: Useful Contact Information

Editor's Introductory Note:

If you're in town this holiday weekend, keep a special eye out; there have been several reports of  suspicious characters casing the neighborhood, as well as a couple more muggings late Thursday night on Shattuck between the Starry Ploug and Nomad Cafe (see items 2 and 3). Please be sure to report suspicious behavior to the police. And please consider joining us for tonight's dog-optional safety walk.

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

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1. Nighttime Safety "Dog" Walk Sunday, Sept. 2, 10:30-11:20 p.m.

Meet at the picnic table at Halcyon Commons park (Halcyon at Prince Street)

Sunday, September 2, 10:30 p.m.

Halcyon Safety Walks typically last 40-50 minutes (with the option of taking longer to cover more of the neighborhood if some of the group so desire).

Note that the HNA Halcyon Safety Walk Listserve enables members to plan impromptu walks (most aren't listed in the E-News).

To sign up for the HNA Halcyon Safety Walk Listserve: For those who'd like to participate in nighttime and daytime safety "dog" walks (dogs not required) to build community and serve as eyes on the street, please reply  to Halcyon Neighborhood Association <halcyon92@gmail.com> indicating your interest, and you will receive an invitation to join. For everyone's safety, be sure to include your full name, address, email, and phone. This listserve exists solely to plan walks; you will not be exposing yourself to random spam, political notices, etc. Please join us!

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2. Crime Watch Report: Suspicious Person Casing Larger Neighborhood

A nearby neighborhood leader reports:

A Prince Street neighbor reports: This late afternoon while stopped at the light on the corner of Alcatraz and Shattuck, I noticed a person that appeared to be out of place and somewhat suspicious. I watched him peer into the windows of the closed beauty shop and the closed nail shop and then look down the driveway of the apartment building just south of 65th and Telegraph. I continued to monitor him as he went down Shattuck past the Nomad to 66th. I got the feeling that he noticed me watching him and became a little uncomfortable. At that point he turned east onto 66th Street heading for Telegraph. I then returned home to get my bicycle and headed towards Elmwood for a little shopping.

While pedaling along Telegraph, I noticed this person again at Telegraph and Woolsey near the burger place. I stopped at the burger place and pretended to look at menu, but continued to monitor this individual through the reflection of a window. He then began to case the property next door. After looking in several directions, he proceeded into the driveway and disappeared behind the house. At that point, I called the Berkeley Police. This person was acting quite nervous when he came out and was looking around to see if anyone saw him. At that point, he crossed Telegraph and continued down the street towards Ashby casing various properties, stopping to hid in a doorway, before sitting down at Webster and Telegraph near Whole Foods. I continued to monitor his location and update the Berkeley Police.

The Berkeley Police did finally stop him, but did not arrest him. This individual was in fact on probation so they were able to do a search but only came up with a small knife which the Officer informed me was legal. The Officer was clearly happy that I had called and informed me that this person was definitely not associated with the neighborhood and that he felt he was looking for trouble. The Officer noted that because they were able to identify this person it would give them a better opportunity to link him to burglaries in the area if he is involved.

The individual in question was a black male, 30-35, approximately 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches tall, short black cropped hair, dark blue shirt, dark blue pants, with reflective/mirrored sunglasses.

With the rash of recent muggings and burglaries, we really need to be cognizant of who is coming into and out of our neighborhoods. We all need to get to know our neighbors and their regular visitors, and if someone appears suspicious and you do not recognize them as being part of our neighborhood, call the Police-- Berkeley PD 981-5911 and Oakland PD 777-3211.

Jeffrey G. Jensen

Co-Chair, East Lorin Neighborhood Association

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3. Crime Watch Report: Muggings on Shattuck  and Suspects Seen in East Lorin Neighborhood, Thurs. Aug. 30

From a North Oakland listserve forward:

On Thursday night 8/30, between 11 and 11:30 p.m., a group of three 16-17 year olds, one armed with a gun, mugged two separate people.  both victims reported "negotiating" with them:  one took his sim card out of his phone and asked for his bag back after they took stuff from it; the other gave them his money but got his wallet back.  Both incidents happened on Shattuck between Nomad and the Starry Plough.

An East Lorin neighbor (just over the Oakland border) reports (concerning that same evening):

Thursday night (8/30-8/31/07):  I was just awakened at 11:30 p.m. by one of my motion detector alarms and I heard a noise as well. I saw a young man in a sort of peacoat emerging from my neighbor's yard.  One of my housemates saw two men jumping over our neighbor's fence.  (Location:  Woolsey street near Whitney.) We checked to make sure no one was in our yard and then got in our car attempting to follow the individuals.  We found three police cars in front of the Nomad Cafe, where there had just been a mugging, and we learned there had also just been an incident, perhaps a mugging, at the Ashby BART station.  The two men jumping over our neighbor's fence very likely were perpetrators of one of these incidents and had likely ran through our neighbor's yard to escape.  We weren't able to spot and follow anyone, but we gave a report to the Berkeley PD who were in front of the Nomad cafe.

 

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4. Crime Watch Report: Incident on Telegraph and Woolsey, Thurs. Aug. 30

A neighbor reports:

On Thursday morning [Aug.30] while walking near Telegraph and Woolsey I observed a suspicious character toting what looked like a stolen garbage can down Telegraph Avenue.  I confronted him asking him what he was doing and he became angry and ended up approaching me and then running after me as if he were going to assault me.  I ran toward a bystander, figuring that this would prevent him attacking me. He retreated.  I unfortunately couldn't call police as I had forgotten my cellphone.  Description of man:  black man, about 6 ft tall, 40-50 years old, short hair, medium build, somewhat gap-toothed, wearing black tee shirt and short blue pants.

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5. Wheeler Street Neighbor Shares Ideas on Getting More "Eyes on the Street"

A Wheeler Street resident submitted the following comments:

Since this recent spat of crime seems to be happening all around me, I've been thinking about it and looking around our neighborhood for ways to counter act the situation.  One thing I've noticed when I walk on Prince between Wheeler and BART and on parts of Wheeler too, is that many of the windows facing the street are either blocked by vegetation or closed by window blinds.  This means there are no "eyes on the street"  or even the illusion of eyes on the street.  With all of the windows covered, I know I feel that no one in those homes might see me if a problem does occur.  Some additional thoughts:

 

Encourage people to spend time in their front yards and porches.  I've been trying to make it more of a habit to sit on my front porch and  read or go through my mail.  (As an added benefit, spending time in front yards and on porches has also been shown to decrease vehicle speeds.)

 

Encourage people to open or partially open their window blinds, especially when they are home.  This allows us to informally monitor the activities on the street and may make the street less desirable for criminal activity.

 

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6. Report from Tony Hill on Neighborhood Meeting on Solar Power, Cable Undergrounding, etc.

Prince Street neighbor Tony Hill submitted the following report of the neighborhood meeting on Solar Power, Cable Undergrounding and other topics  held on Thursday Aug. 23:

A meeting of Prince St. , LeConte chat, and Halcyon neighbors was held, with Councilmember Kriss Worthington showing up at 8 p.m. to give info on cable undergrounding.  First topic was solar power, with an aim towards getting a number of people to sign up for free estimates on their houses the idea being we would bring the price down by having 20 houses done rather than one.  The initial idea was to have a number of houses get estimates, but it was felt that we could get pretty much the same info by having a few companies give estimates on one house.  The house of Tony Hill was chosen as the trial house.

I (Tony Hill)  called a number of companies thanks to the info given me by Jennifer Dolan and have set up appointments for estimates. One thing I discovered after getting my PG&E electric bills at 800-743-5000, operator is that I hardly use enough to pay off the investment in a reasonable time.  Of course, paying off the investment may not be the primary reason for doing this.  Some neighbors with higher electric needs may also be interested in getting estimates. I don't have recommendations at this point for different companies but will send them out if I get some. If anybody out there has any recommendations please send them to me or the groups.

 Some attending pointed out that Solar Electric power gets better every year and that one might want to wait until some of the research on the horizon becomes commercial. I've been saying that about home computers for years. It is true though that research on photovoltaic conversion does get a little better every year. It was also pointed out that if you wanted to invest in photoelectric energy, it might be better to invest in an array out in the valley which would be cheaper to set up and would feed into the same electricity grid. Looking at photovoltaic strictly as an investment has its problems.

 Another thought brought up was what about solar thermal water?  Why aren't the same companies doing both?  I haven't got a straight answer yet, but one company coming by my house claims to do both. A website that Jennifer sent me is http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/. You can check it out for yourself. There is a list of Solar people on it. I'll be sending out the info I get on this at the end of next week.   I'll also send this info to NABART and the Lorin district group.

 Kriss Worthington gave us lots of info on the progress of Undergrounding of Power, Phone and TV Cable wires which is briefly the following:  The City gets about $1,000,000 per year (which does about 6 blocks) from PG&E (who gets the money from you) to spend on undergrounding. The list of what streets to do is up to the City.  he City gets a list of suggested streets from the Public Works Commission.  The last list was drawn up 10 years or so ago and a new list will come out in the next few months. The last list had streets like downtown Shattuck and University Aves and then streets in the hills.  Some people were outraged by this spending of the money on the hills on not on the flatlands where it should be cheaper to do it. At any rate the Public Works Commission is having meetings on this now, and it seems like it's time to ask the hard questions like why there and why there and why there? Kriss should be sending me info about when they meet.  I will send it to you. If you have this information, let's spread it to the neighborhoods. The above money pays for the undergrounding of the PG&E cables down the street.  It does not pay for the hooking up to the houses. Estimates of that house hook up run around $8,000/ house. If the street costs are $15,000/ house, that's a total of $23,000/ house.  This is not a small chunk of change although it's pointed out that a street with the cables undergrounded makes all the houses on the street more valuable.   Of course, if the city is paying for $15,000 of that $23,000 it does make it more reasonable.  And, of course, you're already paying for it through your utility bills-including the poor who can't afford this. And maybe the city could give loans for paying off this hookup.  There's lots of possibilities for financing. If you have info on this, pass it on to me.

 We also talked briefly about City Car Share rentals for your neighborhood, but people pointed out that you can pick up a car a UC storage on Shattuck or at Alta Bates. The rates they say are $4/hour with a monthly fee of $10.

 Send me info   at thill94703@gmail.com. Or call 548-2306.

 Tony Hill

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For Your Calendar: HNA Dates Scheduled for 2007

Dates set as of September 2007 (verify a few weeks before event by checking HNA E-Newsletter):

Sunday, September 30,  5:00-7:30 p.m., Halcyon Community Potluck with Live Music, 15th Anniversary of Halcyon Neighborhood Association and 100th Anniversary of Berkeley Parks, Halcyon Commons park (Halcyon Court at Prince St.)

Saturday, October 27, 9 a.m. on, Fall Mulching in Park with help from Cal volunteers of Berkeley Project

Sunday, October 28,  6:30-8:30 p.m., Big Neighborhood Watch Community Meeting, Chochmat HaLev (location and date/time to be confirmed)

Sunday, January 13, 2008, 5-8:30, Post-Holiday Progressive Potluck, four locations TBD

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* Disaster Prep Supply Cache Wish List

HNA's Disaster Prep Supply Cache contains items intended to benefit the entire neighborhood in the event of disaster. You can help us have what we need on hand in two ways: (1) Make a tax-deductible financial contribution to Berkeley Partners for Parks (BPFP, our nonprofit fiscal sponsor), earmarked Halcyon Disaster Prep, which will go toward purchasing additional supplies, and mail or drop off to HNA Treasurer Susan Hunter, 3044 Halcyon Court, Berkeley, CA 94705. (2) Contribute any of the following items in-kind (supplies MUST be new or in GOOD condition):

Duct Tape (this is a versatile supply that allows us to improvise with common household items in the event of a disaster: lots needed!); Batteries (AA, C, D), regular & rechargeable; Battery Recharger for AA, C, D; Quality Walkie-Talkies with 8-mile range, 22 channels (i.e., Motorola Talkabout T5500 two-way radios); Axes; Crow Bars, Hard Hats; Other Tools for Search & Rescue; Head Lamps; Heavy-duty Flashlights; Bullhorn; Laptop Computer with rechargeable power supply & USB port; Flashcard (for storing neighborhood database to transfer to laptop); Sheets (freshly laundered or new; good for first aid); Blankets; First Aid Supplies; Gas Siphon (for extracting gas from cars to run generator); 5-Gallon Drums for long-term gas storage; Work Gloves; Large Camping Tents (with all parts!); Coleman or similar Gas or Propane Stove; Shelving for Shed; Two-Foot Lengths of 2x4s and 4x4s (good for cribbing and creating fulcrums for removing heavy objects during search & rescue operations).

Contact HNA Co-Chair and Cache Coordinator Nancy Carleton at <halcyon92@gmail.com> or 644-0172 to contribute supplies.

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* City of Berkeley: Useful Contact Information

Police

Police Emergency Number:  911 (from landline); 981-5911(from cell; preprogram with this number)

Police Nonemergency Number: 981-5900

Link to beat maps and a list of beat officers:

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police/department/beatinfo/beatlineup.html

In Halcyon neighborhood, west of Fulton is Beat 10, east of Fulton is Beat 9.

Link to crime stats:

Berkeley:  www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police

Link to police bulletins:

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police/crimestats/policebulletins.html

Other City Departments:

Neighborhood Services Liaison Jim Hynes <jhynes@ci.berkeley.ca.us> 981-2493

Public Works Customer Service: 644-6620 (streets, sidewalks, graffiti, sewers, litter, storm drains, street lights)

Tree Trimming/Planting (Forestry/)/Parks: 981-6660

Written Communication with City Council:

To comment to City Council, cut and paste the following email addresses:

City Clerk <clerk@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Mayor Tom Bates <Mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Linda Maio <LMaio@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Darryl Moore <DMoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Max Anderson <MAnderson@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Dona Spring <DSpring@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli <LCapitelli@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Betty Olds <BOlds@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Kriss Worthington <KWorthington@ci.berkeley.ca.us>,

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak <GWozniak@ci.berkeley.ca.us>

Representatives for Our Neighborhood:

Councilmember Max Anderson (District 3) 981-7130

West side of Wheeler Street to west (except for Woolsey between Wheeler and Shattuck)

Councilmember Kriss Worthington (District 7) 981-7170

East side of Wheeler to east (includes block of Woolsey from Wheeler to Shattuck)

Mayor Tom Bates 981-7100

Zoning Adjustments Board:

To comment to the Zoning Adjustments Board regarding projects on their calendar, email:

Zoning Adjustments Board <zab@ci.berkeley.ca.us>

(best to submit your comments 10 days prior to meeting for inclusion in the advance packet to board members, but late submissions will be distributed the evening of the meeting)

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The Halcyon Neighborhood Association E-Newsletter:  The HNA E-Newsletter forwards occasional crime-watch notices as well as items of general interest to neighbors in the Ashby/Telegraph/Woolsey/Adeline area of south Berkeley (HNA's borders), including announcements about community-building potlucks, greening projects, disaster preparedness meetings, and work parties in Halcyon Commons Park. If you're receiving this email, you probably either signed up at a neighborhood event or a neighbor 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 <halcyon92@gmail.com>. Feel free to pass the HNA E-Newsletter on to other neighbors you think might be interested.

To submit items for the newsletter:   Email unformatted content or links (no graphics or attachments) to HNA E-Newsletter Editor Nancy Carleton <halcyon92@gmail.com>. Crime-watch reports and news about neighbors (births, new jobs, announcements re home businesses) is especially welcome. Please note that due to the volunteer nature of the endeavor, the E-Newsletter does not typically include "letters to the editor" or "commentary," but will gladly include links to such items written by neighbors in the Ashby/Telegraph/Woolsey/Adeline area and published elsewhere (the Berkeley Daily Planet has a large section devoted to opinion).

HNA Halcyon Safety Walk Listserve: For those who'd like to participate in night-time and daytime safety "dog" walks (dogs not required) to build community and serve as eyes on the street, please reply  to Halcyon Neighborhood Association <halcyon92@gmail.com> indicating your interest, and you will receive an invitation to join. For everyone's safety, be sure to include your full name, address, email, and phone.

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

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