DNAinfo reports on a town hall meeting (apparently in West Harlem) last night that had Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. discuss two knew initiatives to combat the uptick in crime. A Crimes Strategies Unit will work closely to gather data block by block, day by day and monitor conflicts to be proactive in preventing crime. The other new program would be a Family Justice Center since 60 percent of domestic violence and elder abuse cases in the city happen uptown. We didn't really hear about this meeting until now so let's hope the D.A. office can really get the word out to each and every block so that they can really be informed everyday to what's going. Get more information in today's DNAinfo: LINK
It seems, more often than not, that important community meetings like this are so poorly publicised you have to wonder if they are just doing it for show. Or, more likely, it is the responsibility of local community organisations to get the word out and they fall down on the job badly. Perhaps I’m just in a rainy day paranoid mood but when it comes to the local power bases being open enough to even share beneficial information they just can’t or won’t be bothered.
ReplyDeleteThe 28th Precinct shares valuable info about crime (occurring in each sector of the precinct) at their monthly meetings - always the 2nd Wednesday of every month. Someone from the D.A.'s office is at every meeting and gives a report and is available to speak with after the meeting.
ReplyDeleteSM: Self-appointed "community leaders" somehow seem to be both everywhere and nowhere in Harlem.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they are reluctant to dilute their entrenched / obscured positions by actually allowing or even encouraging a larger and more representative group of residents become actively involved in local community affairs?
The 30th Precinct Community Board meetings also publicized this event. It's usually the 3rd Thursday of every month held at the 30th Precinct.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t actually singling out this meeting but community/political meetings in general. But semerun, out of curiousity, where and how did the 30th Pct. publicise this event?
ReplyDeletebtw, in a small way I have some sympathy—I have neighbours who say, in essence, ‘we folk have been going to meetings for decades and nothing ever changes.’
I got a letter in the mail about this and disseminated info about the meeting to everyone on the mailing list for the block association I belong to (W. 144th Street).
ReplyDeleteThere were at least 60-75 people at the meeting, so obviously there were plenty of people in the know about it.
As referred to above, the local precincts (in this case the 26th and 30th) keep group email lists to inform interested citizens about these kinds of meetings. Community Board 9 also has mailing lists.