Thursday, December 15, 2005

mapsexoffenders.com

This is a helpful website that everyone can use to locate Level 3 Sex Offenders.

Enter your city (Rochester), state (New York), and zipcode - or leave it blank to get more results, then select "go".

You will also need to select "I accept" the terms of use.

Then "Click to PinPoint the Sex Offenders on the map", and you may need to use the arrows to move the map to be more specific to your particular street(s) of interest.

The zoom can also improve the map's usefullness.

I hope there are fewer of these people in our area each time you check this website. In my opinion, there are too many offenders near our city's schools, daycares, and playgrounds/parks. Please closely supervise and communicate with your children to keep them safe!

http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/

Please also check out our related page: http://journals.aol.com/nicenrg/LONA-SO/

Thursday, December 8, 2005

LONA Meeting Minutes of November 14, 2005

LONA Meeting Minutes of November 14, 2005

Meeting began at 7:07pm

Announcements:

- Vice Pres. Bob Van Sice was sick and could not attend this meeting

- please make sure your name and email information is correct

- we need street captains!

Please report any action on you street, or repairs needed, like street lights that are out or big potholes, etc.

Burglary/Robbery Report - NET’s Policeman Joe Hayes:

- few incidents in our area for the past month

Comment: Bergen St was not listed because it was a vacant property, so not counted as Burg/Rob

- Kessler, Robin, Avery Streets: close proximity in the area

- criminals are looking for unlocked doors or windows or high shrubs; they search for targets with the least resistance; don’t leave keys in cars - even when pumping gas!

- PS2's, X-Box, DVD players and other electronic equipment pieces are being stolen

- Santee St: walk-up with a knife, people came to help victimized neighbor and robber was scared off

- Day Light Savings Time: providing criminals with the cover of darkness

- we must watch out for each other; call 911 when something doesn’t look right in our neighborhood

- three to four group size of teens ages 15-18 were seen watching people, good reason to call 911

- new mayor Bob Duffy, and new police chief effective January 1, 2006, re: chief - more than ten names are being tossed around

Q: CGR (Center for Governmental Research) - any news on the future of the NET program?

A: NET’s Sharon Conheady: no word yet - CGR met with everybody - waiting for recommendations to go to City Council

A: NET’s Policeman Joe Hayes: there’s always need for the code inspectors, local officers, enforcement, etc

President Mike Visconte:

brought up a Community PAC-TAC Walk informational flyer that was distributed to another neighborhood group; to help entice participants, they offered refreshments and neighborhood dollars that could be spent at their local participating stores/businesses

A: NET’s Policeman Joe will look into getting a similar program to happen here in our Sector 3

- Larry Stid died; 66 years, former deputy mayor

- street redesign of Lyell: Vice Pres. Bob Van Sice will try to attend

Comment: NET’s Sharon Conheady - there has been flooding on those streets

- bids Glide/Lyell to Emerson; proposals are being taken now

- President Mike suggested "cut out" for parking at the park located at Glide and Emerson Streets

A: NET’s Sharon Conheady - good suggestion, the bidder called NET for Mike’s contact info/phone number

- Friday, November 18 at 10 Felix Street Water Works ground breaking ceremony at 2pm, followed by a reception with refreshments, parking at 25 Felix Street

- cookbooks are still available for sale!

Housing List - The Top 15 Properties Of Concern:

- 5 taken off, and 5 put on

- some locations were referred to the police; NET Officer Dave Minik will follow up with us

NET’s Sharon Conheady:

- building at Emerson and Santee St with safety issues, crumbling bricks

- talked, ticketed, finally took owner to demolition hearing; findings will most likely be that owner will have 3 to 4 months to either fix or demolish

- next-door neighbor has been having a hard time retaining tenants due to the safety concerns with the structural damage on the corner building

- Inspector Mary fined the owner every 60 days for 2 to 3 years

Certificate Of Use (CofU) for businesses - some business owners picketed city hall

- $100 fee to get the CofU initially, only $10 per year to renew; may cost $300 for a conditional certificate if the store has problem activity

- strict distinction is made between the owner and the manager

- NET met with stores regarding nuisance points; many received for staying open after listed hours, such as the business at Emerson and Curlew Streets

Q: curbs that were to be put in back in 1998, still haven’t been done

A: Sharon will look into this issue - also, call Dept. of Health if rodents are there in sewers/drains

- opened 245 new property code cases, closed 342, surveys - those were opened by inspectors when they were out looking at a different site; 76 refuse letters were sent out

Comment NET’s Policemen Joe - crime prevention: "knock and talk", cars were towed, noise control; can’t make it easy for the bad guys!

Q: categories are odd

Answer: NET’s Sharon Conheady - sometimes the term that the caller uses is what the complaint is logged as

Q: 50' noise ordinance - where does it begin?

A: NET’s Policeman Joe - 50' past the property line during the day, not past the property line from 10pm-6am

Comment: with homes close together, should have more consideration for others’ comfort level

- reference to back page of the NET’s statistics pages: enforcement cases in Sector 3 - 423

Q: what is a nuisance letter?

A: nuisance points letter sent to owner to inform them of the warrant against the tenants because of infringement; owner must take serious steps to shut down the location so drug people don’t come back looking for sellers at their property

President Mike Visconte:

met with newly elected mayor Bob Duffy

- we need vacant properties sold or repaired; something must be done!

- asked for money for grants like the ones given to Champion and Michigan Streets

Comment: problem property fixed gutter so there isn’t any water running onto the neighbor’s property

Comment: Karnes St vacant home has a broken gutter and therefore direct water that turns to ice onto neighbor’s driveway

Cameron Community Ministries - Kathy Pierce, Executive Director:

- been active for 21 years, offer well attended kids programs

- very busy general lunch program Monday through Saturday

Rob Blair (new youth director) - school #30 kids after school Monday through Thursday and free Kids CafĂ© supper program for everyone under 18 years old

- clothing sold for a modest fee, donations are accepted, volunteers are always needed

- interested in hearing from the LONA community

- Cameron Community Ministries is not a food pantry

- they distribute lots of hats, gloves, and mittens

Comment: kids activities - would they be interested in helping to shovel snow/rake leaves to help older folks?

A: Rob - some groups of sixth graders might be interested, many of their kids are too young

Q: could they cut grass? A: kids need jobs, money, opportunities, so everybody could benefit

Mike: if the kids help the area, maybe LONA could throw them a pizza party/something else nice

City Councilman Bob Stevenson:

- there are currently three proposals regarding making Rochester city homes lead safe

- could cost all property owners anywhere from half a million to 29 million

- affects any house built before 1960, basically that’s every house in the city

- vacant properties could balloon because the average would cost $7500 per unit to fix to make lead-safe

environmental impact:

1. Inspection, 2. Who does, and who pays for it?, 3. Who pays for clean up?, 4. Who pays for re-inspection?

- What triggers an inspection? A complaint by the tenant, C of O, etc?

- no answer yet; will be voted on by December 20th; any thing not passed dies because it does not transfer to the new city council

Comment: if you have three or four units, it could cost $30K to $40K!

Q: What is the inspector’s fee - if a homeowner wants to make sure that their own home is lead safe for their children or grandchildren.

A: $35-$50 (not sure of the number part right now) for the C of O, which is only for rental property

Get The Lead Out program through Action for a Better Community, contact Karen Herman

federalgrants, HUD, county doesn’t even try for the funds - many hoops to jump through to receive funds, not very flexible

- Who pays? Where does the money come from?

- Draft Environmental Impact Statement: effects could be in: Edgerton - 21% vacancy, LONA area - once past Glide Street the numbers went way down,

- lead safe work practices: county will pay for the training with a grant

County Health Dept. - Environmental of Health - Community development, they know answers/guidelines

- there will be a change of many positions with the new mayor and new council

Court Watch - 4 judges are good to work with, but they are still limited

- report/call-in the prostitutes back to the judges!

Neighbor Concerns:

- drug sales on Michigan and Curlew Streets

- prostitutes on Rockview and Isabelle Streets

- suspicious activities on Cameron and Rockview Streets

Bob Stevenson update: - Mr. Finger went in front of a grand jury on October 24th because of his electrical interference with neighbors electronics - more information to come

Bring a dessert to our next meeting on December 12th - and bring a neighbor or two!

Meeting adjourned 8:36pm