October 28, 2011
Dear Everyone:
The
other night we had our first ever
Neighborhood Watch meeting.
It
all started with blue fliers placed around the neighborhood announcing a
planned meeting in the Clubhouse, which happens to be right across the
street from my place. They
said where, but didn’t really indicate when.
To get that information, you had to send an
RSVP
email to a
rather long email address hand-written on the fliers.
Before a certain date, last Monday.
So
I got paper and pencil and wrote down the address, something like,
XXXXXXYYYYYYYYYY@propertymanagementcompanyname.com
and sent a short message.
Turned out, the actual meeting was for Wednesday at 6:30 pm.
I pointed out the lack of pertinent information, in a friendly
way, of course. Soon, the
blue fliers were all gone and new, white fliers were taped in their
place, this time with the actual date and time of the meeting, and the
rather long email address.
I
realized that the forms were not printed by anyone associated with the
community, or the property management company.
They were supplied by the
San Ramon Police Department.
That’s why all the information was hand-written on them.
So
Wednesday evening, we all gathered in the clubhouse.
By “we” I mean a young woman who works for the Police Department,
a uniformed officer and four residents aside from myself, two of whom
are on the Association Board.
That’s right: Out of
188 units, five people showed up, including two who “had to” because
they serve on the Board.
Hardly an impressive turnout.
At least we outnumbered the cops by about two-to-one.
On
the Plus Side: This
indicates that I live in a pretty safe neighborhood.
If droves of people showed up, burning torches and pitchforks in
hand, it would be time to worry.
On
the Delta Side: Doesn’t show
a lot of support for the neighborhood.
Maybe if they had provided free food and drink.
As it was, all the little plastic garbage bags for your car, and
Post-It pads you could possibly want.
And free pens, of course.
Always free pens.
About those little garbage bags.
They come with a hole so you can hang them on…
what, exactly? There
was a time when the inside of a car had lots of knobs and big buttons
and door handles and such.
Seen one of those lately?
As
for the Police Department, it turns out that San Ramon is not exactly a
hotbed of criminal activity (not counting illicit
bird feeders, of
course.) The most prevalent
crime is “petty crime of opportunity”.
In other words, lifting someone’s neglected purse from an
unlocked car in a crowded parking lot.
That sort of thing.
The
biggest topic of conversation was what to do about people barbecuing on
their patios/balconies (big no-no) and children who shouldn’t be in the
pool by themselves (liability lawsuit waiting to happen.)
Eventually, the “party” broke up after an hour or so.
Went home. Made sure
the front door was locked.
Can’t be too careful around here, huh?
One door locked. 187
to go.
Everyone have a safe and Happy
Halloween.
Love, as always,
Pete
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