We have had a lot of requests for minutes from last Tuesday’s general membership meeting. Here are the DRAFT minutes – they have not been approved by the board but give you a sense of what transpired at the meeting. Please feel free to reach out to any of your board members with questions or comments.
DRAFT Armory Park Neighborhood Association General Meeting, September 11, 2018 Minutes.
Present:
Meeting opened by President Anne Clark at 7:03
Anne thanked our guests who are presenters. She thanked everyone for coming. Board members were introduced.
Officer Dan Bustamante opened the presentation for the police department. He noted his role of listening to concerns and suggestions. He will take the suggestions up the chain of command. Statistics for from March to September: Call for service is any call to 911. There were 590 calls for service. At the walk up window at the office at S. Stone was 300+ Burglarys overall are down in the neighborhood. He is from Operations Division West that includes Armory Park. When you dial 911 it goes to a central office for the whole metropolitan area. Calls are prioritized. Level one is when someone is actually getting attacked physically. Level 2 is bad traffic crashes, and so on.
Question: iIf there is any greater priority at the walk-up window at Stone office.
Answer: Walk up window is obviously not going to include highest level, so no but there is the advantage of direct face to face communication.
Q: What is the Zebra unit?
A: It is a unmarked group that can be assigned to saturate an area without having too many marked units being obvious in the area. There are other specialized units.
Q: CBI is a real problem in questioner’s view. Too many clients are going and coming. She claims that clients are being dropped of at Armory Park and told to walk over to CBI. She claimed she heard officers were dropping people at Armory Park and telling them to walk over to CBI.
A: Officer Bustamante said that the police were involved in setting up CBI. He said he was disappointed to hear the concern that officers are dropping CBI clients at Armory Park.
Q: Two attendees brought up the concern that there are homeless sleeping in Armory Park and that there is more homeless activity and a five person brawl was witnessed.
Q: A story described an uninvited individual throwing a daytime party in front of her house. While police came multiple times, they failed to identify or remove the instigator until later in the day when they discovered he was a felon.
A: Officer said that he will not leave us with the notion that officers blow of their responsibilities or carry them out poorly. Reply comment is that there needs to be a review of whether a response was appropriate.
Next complaint stated that we are not having ‘crimes of opportunity’, it is now more aggressive, not just opportunistic.
Next comment is that there is an increase in problems around the Veterans on patrol and the area around the bathrooms part of the Santa Rita Park. A representative of Santa Rita Neighborhood Park noted that they are working with the south division of the police to work in issues around Santa Rita Park.
Next comment: It may not be fair to blame particular groups like CBI and the homeless. But, are there changes in demographics in this area that account for our perceived uptick in crime.
Q: Are there gang problems in our area.
A: No, not to police knowledge but it can happen quickly anywhere.
Q: There is a problem with speeding on 6th Ave.
Q: Are non-emergency calls to other than 911 included in statistics.
A: Yes.
Q: Is there a briefing at the beginnings of each shift?
A: Yes, and since Officer Bustamante has some control over that he will be telling his officers that there is a need to focus on our area.
Comment: An attendee suggested closing Santa Rita Park. Several other attendees opposed closure, preferring that any problems be identified and fixed.
Additional comment by Officer Bustamante: De Anza park has received a lot of attention because of decisions at the top. He hears that south division has a plan to put in place about SRP.
Q: Since the stats show no increase in crime but we have a perception contrary, is there a possibility of increased police activity. Although the police stats from the beginning of March to September 11 show a decrease for the entire period, there could have been a crime decrease during the beginning of this period coupled with a pronounced increase during the most recent 3 weeks. This would be consistent with police statistics for the entire period, as well as with observations by neighborhood residents regarding the recent increase of criminal activity.
A: Yes, in a situation like this with this much concern yes it will result in greater action.
The stolen property report system has been revamped and is supposedly easier to use. Please do.
Q: How can we follow up to give greater impetus to getting more action.
A: Diana Amado, a representative from Ward 6, took a lot of notes and there will be follow up that way, too.
John noted specific times when crimes are occurring and asked that there be increased patrols at that time. He also noted that bike patrol could be given permission to go south of 14th St. He also noted that the police department has far fewer officers and it is time for us to step up and have neighborhood watches with block captains. The break-ins seem to be day time around the lunch hour.
Q:How do you deal with what seems to be casing by slow moving vehicles, walkers who are looking around much more than normal.
A: Keep a log, note liscense numbers, take pictures.
Video surveillance systems are very useful.
If you see a suspicious person do call 911 with as many specifics as possible.
Anne said she is going to try and get Chief Magnus to come. Anne will also forward list of reports on the list serve so we call all see what is being reported.
Report by Susan Frank: Dog walker’s watch: National program NATW.org Not like a Neighborhood watch but it is a primer for dog walkers to know what to look for. Anyone interested can get the information on where to connect.
Community Bridges: The new lights on the west side of the buildings will be turned on in the next couple of days. Discharge process: If there is a need for involuntary detention officers are called and the person in question is transported usually to Banner. People on 12th stated that the see drunks coming by to get to CBI in the evening. They say they see the same people coming by in the morning the other way. The response is that it is a voluntary facility and that they can’t hold people against their will. But further comment by CBI is that is unlikely that there are people coming in the evening drunk and leaving in the morning drunk. There was a stated concern that there is a prostitute working the corner of 12th and Toole/3rd. CBI: they want people to leave by being handed off to another facility or a family member. They should have a case manager set up. CBI will increase the perimeter walks by staff.
It was stated that CBI is properly sited in an industrial area adjacent to Armory Park and they are working with the Neighborhood Association to respond to problems. If there are loose people on the streets the police should be called. Several people expressed their appreciation for the work that CBI does.
Q: What is the protocol for perimeter walks when they encounter a prospective client?
A: They try to get them into the program and failing that they are asked to leave.
John noted that the city is trying to work on the homeless situation. City staff noted that drug use including opioids is a real source of the homeless problem. The homeless in the downtown are being offered help and work with them. Some homeless did refuse services and they have been moved out of De Anza Park. They have relocated to other parks like Armory Park and Santa Rita Park.
Q: What services are available at 10 PM.
A: The only staffed location that can help people is the Ronstad Center.
The DUSK concert: Nov 10 and 11. All of Armory Park will be used including 12th St. next to the park. Hours will be from 2 PM to midnight on Saturday, 2 PM to 11 PM on Sunday. The music system is super modern with a technology that reduces spillover into the neighborhood. They have extensive plans to keep it clean and have the whole place cleaned up. They have national names coming. The Children’s Museum will be the primary beneficiary. Also the AP Neighborhood Center and a little to APNA itself. It is a ticketed event with controlled access with entrance on the northwest corner of the park. All the food is local with Janos heading that up.
Elections are coming up in November for both APNA and Historic advisory board.
Ice Cream social at St. Andrew’s on Sunday right after church, 12:00 PM September 23.
Oct 3 is coffee with a cop at the Mercado.
Meeting adjourned at 9:38 PM
Armory Park Neighborhood Association 