For the usual assortment of posts.
Open Thread
by turfgrrl
May 6th, 2008 · 34 Comments
Tags: In the News
34 Responses so far ↓ “Open Thread”
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
-
Mr G has invited the Guardian angels to Norwalk. The Mayor, the Chief of Police, and the Police Union president are not pleased.
What does he expect ? The Guardian angels are folks, mostly local, who agree to patrol the streets in guardian uniform, and take back the streets from the lawless. Their effectiveness has been debated, their founder, Curtis Sliwa, has been a victim of atempted murder. If civilian patrols are effective, how many local people are willing to participate on a reliable scheduled basis ? It would make more sense to re-activate auxiliary police, under the police dept. I’m betting that won’t happen either.
Some places utilize police cars, driven by civilian volunteers, to supplement police patrol activity. They do not chase violators or issue tickets or carry weapons or make citizen’s arrests. They do provide more eyes on the street for the police, with direct radio access to police dispatch centers. They support the illusion (important) that a community is well patrolled by maintaining a visible presence in an asigned area. They cost the community only the fuel for the car and a very small expense for the limited training the volunteers get before being allowed to patrol. Some neighborhoods in New York maintain volunteer civilian patrol, without police dept control, with mixed results. Strangers are noticed and watched, and crime has been reduced. Private security also will provide highly visible patrol for a neighborhood, for a price. -
The Guardian Angels are ineffective. They are street level vigilantes and the problems they bring will outweigh any help. How about Councilmen working with they system they are sworn to work for instead of going against our own police department which is one of the best around. Very disappointed in Mr. Geake with this publicity stunt.
-
Some places utilize police cars, driven by civilian volunteers, to supplement police patrol activity. They do not chase violators or issue tickets or carry weapons or make citizen’s arrests. They do provide more eyes on the street for the police, with direct radio access to police dispatch centers. They support the illusion (important) that a community is well patrolled by maintaining a visible presence in an asigned area. They cost the community only the fuel for the car and a very small expense for the limited training the volunteers get before being allowed to patrol. Some neighborhoods in New York maintain volunteer civilian patrol, without police dept control, with mixed results. Strangers are noticed and watched, and crime has been reduced. Private security also will provide highly visible patrol for a neighborhood, for a price.
-
Some border towns have organized armed civilians to protect the borders and deal with criminals.
-
First off, this was hardly a publicity stunt. I have invited Mr. Sliwa to share with my committee what, if anything, the Guardian Angels can bring to our city in general and South Norwalk in particular.
As for “going against our own police department”, this could not be farther from the truth. I have been told many times, including by Chief Rilling (who was quoted in The Hour) that a strong neighborhood watch is the best deterent to crime. But if those neighborhood watch voluteers choose to wear red berets and make their presence obvious, suddenly they are “vigilantes” and “bring problems”? I direct you to Brockton, Mass., where they are in the process of starting a chapter: out of the 50 applicants, the Guardian Angels accepted three, and then subjected them to three months of training before allowing the on the streets (starting this coming weekend). Except in extreme situations, they merely observe problem areas and report them to the police, and they provide an alternative for minority residents who do not trust their own police force enough to report what they know.
When I was first appointed chair of the committee, I met with Chief Rilling and discussed, among other things, staffing levels and overtime (my feelings on these subjects is well documented here and in the “traditional press”). We are woefully understaffed, and I told the chief I would fight for additional funding to add uniformed officers to the force. In the face of dozens of officers approaching retirement eligability, this year’s budget request only asked for three additional officers.
-
The border group is called the Civil Homeland Defense. They are an armed civilian patrol that hold offendors at gunpoint and call police or border patrol. Maybe we could see if they would also come here and start a chapter.
-
Why is is that when someone wants to try something different does everyone get up in arms. I saw nowhere in the article that Mr. Geake has asked the Guardian Angels to come in and set up shop in Norwalk. I believe what I read was that he invited them to speak at a committee meeting. What is wrong with that? Nobody seems to want to get involved in the community at this point. As Mr. McQuaid pointed out, there are many neighborhood programs and committees wanting to help the kids but no one is attending them. Maybe if the mayor and the chief would make the effort to recognize these groups more poeople would attend and more people would get involved in their community but instead they have chosen not to acknowledge them and when someone comes out with a bold initiattive they get their feathers flapping. The only person in that article who had a legitimate gripe was Mr. McQuaid in that he said that Sliwa had been invited, accepted and a no show in the past and therefore Mr. Geake should have taken that into consideration as well. To be disappointed in Mr. Geake for showing some genuine concern for the people in Norwalk is rediculous, thats what he was elected to do. The police should not be upset at this point because they do a wonderful job with what they have and could do a much better job if there were more police on the streets, better pay and better support from the community. This also goes for the fire department. The two most important departments in Norwalk are treated like ugly stepchildren. Its all in how things are done. Patrents need to step up to the plate and take control of their kids and the taxpayers need to be more than arm chair critics and get out into the community and lend a hand. Then Mr. Geake may not feel the need to look outside of Norwalk for help. Again, by all accounts, Mr. Sliwa has only been invited to speak to Mr. Geake’s committee not start a chapter in Norwalk.
-
Shame on you Mr. Geake, I was embarrassed to even to read about this in the Norwalk hour this morning. People from outside Norwalk that I have been in contact with are saying “wow things must be real bad in Norwalk” comparing it to New York. Let’s try to solve the problems by enforcing the law and with more policing. Hold the chief and mayor responsible and make them accountable for what’s been happening. They should have this as priority one to get crime under control if we need more police then get more police what ever it takes do it. We renewed Rillings contract for what he is doing a poor job, we need someone from outside NPD to head it up, not one of the good ol boy’s or girl’s. Meanwhile the mayor is trying to grow the city in leaps and bounds and we can’t handle what we have now, makes sense right. We need to get rid of housing projects, I’m sorry but they are the reason for the high crime in south Norwalk. The good people that live in these projects would agree and there are some good people that live in them due to various reasons. Mr. Mayor and Mr. Geake stop trying to grow the city until you can straighten out and control what you already have. Crime is way up open space is way down our infrastructure is falling apart and our quality of life sucks. Wake up before it’s too late and again shame on you Mr. Geake another black eye for Norwalk and an embarrassment as well.
-
I find it fascinating that many of the suggestions posted thus far deal with paid private security — which only wealthy neighborhoods can afford — or just getting rid of the po’ folk by eliminating low income housing.
-
Isn’t low income housing the cause of most random violence? Most towns without a lot of low income housing have much lower violent crime rates.
-
So fundamentally, your position is that low income families not only have no right to feel safe in their homes, they have not right to a home?
-
I guess the general concensus here is that the Mayor and the Chief need to do their job. The police officers are doing a good job but do not have the leadership they need to back them. I have met so many dedicated officers that are just plain disenchanted.. They bust their humps and get little or no backup from their chief. Why does Norwalk have to hide behind a cloak of secrecy? We all know crime is at a very serious level and yet on a daily basis we are made to believe that everything is peachy keen? Get it out in the open, find solutions and get it cleaned up. Thats the only way to tackle the problem. If with keep dancing around the subject and always putting a color label/racial slant on Norwalk’s problems we will never find a solution. Parents need to stop defending their little darlings who are committing these crimes and those who know what is going on need to step up and let the police do their job and let them get rid of the problems we have. The problems we have do not all come from the projects, those who think they do are hiding under a rock, parents need to start checking their kids rooms and around their homes because its not the poor kids that are responsible for all this crime. Parents are afraid of confronting their kids and this is where American have lost their control. Instead of confronting an issue, we walk away. Parents would be quite shocked I’m sure if they aqctually witnessed what their kids are doing. The old saying goes “I’d like to be a fly on that wall” Check your kids MySpace and Facebook. Some of the stuff I have seen would make your hair curl.
-
I guess fundamentally my position is that no family has a right to a government sponsored home anymore than I have a right to expect someone else to help me pay for mine. If we all lived in homes that we could afford then the prices for rentals and purchases would level out and everyone would have to work commesurate to their home of choice. Sort of a free enterprise, supply and demand situation.
-
So, fundamentally speaking we should tell anyone that is low income and lives in a housing complex that they don’t fit in Norwalk and they should move out. There are those who work for employers who feel that paying the minimum wage is sufficient for their employees while they reap the rewards and live high on the hog. Where do these people go? Did you happen to read #12? Its not just low income, housing complex dwellers that are the culprits here.
-
So fundamentally I think the government should say that they will help subsidize your housing for up to 6 months or a year and in that time you either need to work out a situation where you can afford to pay your own rent, move in together with relatives where your combined incomes can pay the rent, or move to a different area where you can find employment in a lower cost of living area and support yourself. I am fundamentally opposed to 4 or 5 generations of the same family living off the backs of taxpayers and think that they are somehow entitled to this support.
-
13 you hit the nail on the head 14 you’re trying to twist something and put words into some one’s mouth which you sound stupid doing and 15 that’s an ok compromise and alot of good points and truth. Low income housing is different then housing projects which are what every one agrees breeds crime. Although I also don’t support low income housing because someone, the tax payers have to pay for it and that’s the magic word the builders use to break the rules to get more housing and more money in their pockets it does not usually bring the problems that housing projects do. People that live in these projects don’t want to live there because of the problems they create. Putting these projects cause people to get into a rut with no way out. Mr. Geake quit while you are ahead, you sound ridicules with your last two comments. Norwalk has more than it’s fair share of low income housing and should not be the states low income housing capitol.
-
#16-you seem to be the one twisting things and its all to your way of thinking. Maybe the city should sell the buildings. Would that make you happy? then all the so called undesireables will no longer have a place to live because the new owners will make them into luxury condo’s that only a select few can afford.
-
And those that can’t afford it will move somewhere that they can afford to live. Isn’t that how America was build? Moving West for a better live? Retiring to Florida where the cost of living was cheaper? Homesteading? The American way before welfare came along.
-
Mr Geake. I love the idea of having the guardian angels speak. I not for nothing else, to bring a new perspective on the issue. I would like to know when this meeting is. ANd thank you for taking your position seriously.
-
Why should it embarrass the Mayor and the Police Chief unless they are not getting the job done correctly. Taxes go up services go to hell. That new NPD palace in South Norwalk sure helped straighten that area out. Now the drug dealers know exactly when the police arrive and leave. Big is not always better. Except when you talk about property taxes to a politician.
-
# 17 I’m against condo’s, any condo’s we have too many already in Norwalk. # 18 it could not have been said any better good luck in florida and enjoy your retierment.
-
It appears many of you think that people who live in public housing are all a bunch of freeloaders. Some of them are, from one generation to the next because it’s all they know. But a lot of them do actually have jobs and work full time to support their families. If all of the people in public housing move away, Wal Mart, Home Depot, Shop Rite, etc will not be able to find employees to work there. These are undesirable, low-paying jobs and people who work in these places will never be able to buy a condo or even rent an apartment at market prices. So would you rather have them all move to Bridgeport and into filthy tenement housing to raise their families? If you drive down Water St and look at the projects on the right hand side you will see some people make a great effort to make the outside of these otherwise ugly structures welcoming. There are gardens, flowering trees, and plants. If you walk past this area on foot(if youre not too scared) most people will greet you with a smile. I guess what Im trying to say here is you cant blame the crime on the housing problem. People who sell drugs or get involved in gangs in South Norwalk are going to do this no matter where they live. Just dont get me started on section 8.
-
#21 - I’m against middle class people who live in single family houses. No more single family houses in Norwalk! We have too many!
-
#23 So am I who the hell do they think they are. Get rid of them all.
HEY! Then who the hell is going to pay through the nose for property taxes?
-
Yeah, we should all move to New York state to get lower property taxes!
-
Two issues today–
1) Incessant noise from leaf blowers from properties whose able-bodied high school offspring cannot do any yard work beause they are in training for their IVY-League M.D. (Master Delegator) degrees
2) Those blow-hards who want speed bumps for “traffic-calming”
News Flash–Most accidents are caused by:
1) Driver Inattention
2) Selfishness
3) Abject StupiditySpeed bumps are a boon to the tire and alignnment industry
-
Are you seriously whining about leaf blowers?
-
Actually there have been a lot of noise ordinances in Westport and Greenwich etc, pertaining to leaf blowers. They seem to be used early in the morning and especially week ends. There has to be hundreds more of them causing problems then the occasional loud motorcycle. Let’s have a police officer skilled in the Engineering Science of the 2 stroke motor, and the baffle design of their exhaust system, along with the RPM vs. Exhaust noise level, assigned to seek out these FELONY LAW BREAKERS and give them tickets.
The Chief of the NPD has the perfect man for the job. Not only that but it is a lot safer than doing a stake out on a crack den.
-
Why don’t people use a noiseless non gas powered RAKE?
-
Probably because leaf blowers are easier, faster, more effective, and more convenient to use.
