Celebrate the Arts is coming 10/11&12

Celebrate the Arts is the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts(MAFA) single biggest event of the year. This is MAFA's 45th Celebrate the Arts event! It will be held in the Community Center and its parking lot on Palm Avenue this year as the usual venue, Library Park is undergoing its huge building and renovations.

MAFA supports art and art education in the community. MAFA supports the art program in the Village After School Program. With that support fully 10% of the elementary school kids in the community get some art education. (Art education was cut from the program years ago and MAFA stepped in where they could).

Industrious principals like Stacey Ayers over at Wild Rose Elementary sought to find ways to bring art classes and a dedicated art teacher to the school. She contacted MAFA and we gave them direct grants as well as assisted in their fund raising efforts.

This is only one way that MAFA helps bring Art to the community. The other way is through working with local businesses to help them open gallery's in their stores using MAFA artists. Focus One Credit Union, Monrovia Coffee Company, CA Wine and Cheese and "Art at the Aztec" are examples of MAFA artists being showcased in local businesses.

Other times MAFA is contacted by businesses to help them establish gallery's. The Paint n Play Art Studio and Gallery and the Route 66 Gallery at the Aztec are examples of that partnership with local businesses.

All of this needs help and financial support from the community. Please attend the FREE shows during the Day Saturday and Sunday October 11&12. There will be 65 artists representing a variety of fine art mediums. There will be silent auction items available for your bidding as well. The silent auction is composed of fine art donated by the participating artists and the proceeds to fund the events and grant programs supported by MAFA.

Also...a little disclosure, I am a MAFA board member. It is pretty strange seeing my name all over as this years "featured artist" but the group chose to give me the honor which I am humbled by.

See you at the show!

Caution at night - recent event in Duarte

Stacey Birkholz dropped an email to a few of us. So every one is aware here is what she wrote tonight.

"That would explain the helicopters....

I heard today from my neighbor that her friend's sister was attacked in the parking lot of the Target in Duarte. She was walking to her car the other night - and she had parked by Denny's. Someone hit her in the back. When she turned around, he hit her in the face, splitting her lip and knocking loose some of her teeth. Then he took her purse. A witness ran to the Sheriff's substation, and it took them quite awhile to come out.

So, this is not a message to not shop at Target, but to park close; look around you; try to go during daylight; and at night, ask a security guard or Target employee to walk you out. Better to feel silly by asking, than to have your teeth knocked out - or worse. We all have children who need us."

A comment from our neighbors on Canyon

I'll try to avoid the snarky comments. But having worked with LAPD as a Neighborhood Watch co-captain in the Valley years ago we were given monthly crime stats for our reporting district. It showed "pins" for the various types of crime, date and approximate time it took place in our little area. It even gave us descriptions of the suspects where it was known. All in the name of giving us what we needed to keep crime down in our little corner of LA.

I really wish MPD took the same position on informing all of us as to what is going on. It would certainly be easier for us to understand the severity and be involved in finding the solution to controlling it.

This comment was on one of the recent posts on this blog. It enumerates crimes taking place in the condos that are on Canyon and the bottom of our street. Seems we have had quite a bit bigger auto burglary spree around here than we thought.

The specific comment:
My name is Tom and I am the President of the Canyonwood Homeowners Association townhome complex. Most of our units are on N. Canyon Blvd., but we have two units at 147 Poinsettia Ave. My neighbor here on N. Canyon Blvd. reports that her car was broken in to early last Thursday morning, August 14, 2008. She had a purse and a car stereo stolen. Her car was unlocked just like one of your neighbor's cars that got broken in to on Friday, August 15th. The thieves walk up the street at around 3 AM and pull on door handles. If they find anything unlocked, they will steal whatever they can find."

When they have their blog up and running I will link to it. I'll suggest as well what other blogs they link to keep up on what is happening crime wise in the community.

Until then. Lock your doors. Set your alarms. Just simple steps that will keep the casual thief wandering around looking for an easy hit from making you his next target.

fraz

Auto Burglary on our street

We are not alone or insulated from the burglary problem in the community. This email from Renee on the latest on our street.


'Upsetting news that another one of our neighbors cars was broken in to while the car was in the driveway. This took place yesterday mid street where the street widens. The cars were left unlocked, however the culprits are bold as one car was in the persons driveway.

This recent break in tells me that we all need to be on the watch and that who ever is committing these crimes are looking for easy opportunity.

Please remember to lock your vehicles and all doors of your homes, even if you are at home in order to keep family and your property safe.

Have a Safe Weekend!
Renee"

I have spoken with officers on different forces and understand our primary problem is we are complacent with security. We need to remember to lock doors and close windows. We need to watch and report what is out of the ordinary.

Compounding the problem is the bad guys know we are easy targets of opportunity. They share with each other what communities are easy targets, easy in and out to freeways with little traffic. We are a community that even San Bernardino prisoners know is easy and tell their pals in the jail.

Simple precautions will prevent most of our problems. Ignoring it and dropping our guard makes us the next victim. Unsettling, but welcome to life in the city.

NE Monrovia daytime burglary continue.

From the Monrovia City Watch blog. He posted his block captains warning to the neighbors on his blog. This is one of several daytime home burglary's to take place in the NE part of town.

Hi everyone,

It’s serious Neighborhood Watch time!! There has been yet another burglary, this time on Monday, August 11th, at the gray house right before the tree at the top of Norumbega, belonging to Don, the trumpet player who has a Corvette. It happened between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. The suspect was an older white male who stole a computer system and some other stuff.

Suspect on the loose! Secure your homes! Be aware and report any suspicious cars or suspicious characters coming door to door who ring doorbells to see whose home. If your neighbors are not on this list, get their emails and forward it to me so we can alert others of ongoing suspicious activities.

As we've said in the past, be alert and report anyone who doesn't belong here, especially if they are where one would not expect a casual visitor to be! Then let Frank and Renee know so we can get the word out to everyone.

Burglary's in NE Monrovia Continue

I spotted this gem to the residents up on Norumbega from their Neighborhood watch that was posted on Monrovia City Watch:

There was a burglary at 1010 Norumbega this afternoon 8/7/08. The burglars jimmied the front door and got in. Not sure at this time what was taken.

There was also another burglary in the 1100 block a few weeks ago in a house just before the 4 houses that form the cul de sac. A college-aged kid heard some noises in the middle of the night, went downstairs and surprised a burglar in progress, who then ran away.

It’s a very timely reminder to report any suspicious people you see on our street! Call the police at 256-8000!
Eileen

You should read the full Monrovia City Watch post for their take on the situation.

Our awareness and dilgence is needed to keep our street safe. If you see something report it. If you see unusual cars just left on the street, ask anyone if they know who it belongs too, and if it isn't identified call the police and report it as a potential abandoned auto.

Whenver you see something or are a victim yourself let Renee or Frank know so they can post here and make sure everyone is aware of what to look out for.

Home Burglary's in North Monrovia

Monrovia City Watch reports that yesterday MPD with an assist from APD rounded up and arrested 3 residential burglars up on eastern Norumbega Drive. Full story on that blog.

Interesting point made in the post is that during tough economic times burglarys increase. The need to be aware and report anything out of the ordinary is always important.

We've already seen a rash of auto burglary in the street earlier this year, take the precautions to lock up your house AND windows to secure them as well.

Street lights put to rest

From an email earlier sent to mailing list:

Dear All,

It seems that we do not have a majority vote to move forward with additional street lights for our block, so we will put this to rest.

Stay Safe,
Renee

Just a reminder as Lee and others noted you can do your own security lighting cheaply with motion detector lights for increased lighting around your home in areas you have a concern.

The best defense still is to simply lock and secure your cars and home at night as our burglary's last spring were due to unlocked cars.

As always, report suspicious activity when you see it to MPD and let your neighbors know what you saw. That will do more to slow down and prevent problems.

Theft Alert - ATM Debit Card Fraud

From the North Primrose Alliance blog. Several of their neighbors have been hit. Be alert. Monitor your accounts and report any suspicious activity.

THEFT II!
Neighbors:
We put this in an email the other day, but based on a conversation with MPD want to reiterate: If you think you might have had an unauthorized withdrawl with your ATM card, please contact the police immediately.
Apparrently there is a ring of thieves who have used technology-based methods to steal credit card and PIN data. They have been hitting customers who use the Pavillions ATM.

As you may know, one of our Primrose area neighbors was among the victims. Also, a friend of ours from the VFW was victimized at the Ralphs in Arcadia. When he went to report the crime, there were five other victims in line! He lost $600!

Word from MPD is to be careful when using ATMs, and look carefully at the machine before you use it. If anything looks awry, don't do it!

Frank & Renee

Streetlight information - neighbor input needed.

The subject of increased street lighting came up in our first Neighborhood Watch Meeting and again in a comment on a blog post here. A little confusion arose from whether we are on the City light grid or that of Edison. I did get it confirmed and with the help of Councilman Tom Adams got some answers to help with our decision process.

Not only would locations be a concern if new poles need to be put in to get additional lights up on the street, but we would need to bear the cost as well. How much depends on how much needs to be done to increase the lighting. The information courtesy of Mr Adams from our email conversations:

If a neighborhood is requesting street lights there are a few things we need to know if they are in the Edison service area or the City's service area we do have a Street light map indicating the service areas and we would need at least 67 % of that block to agree to the new lights.

If they are in Edison's service area and there are existing telephone poles on the street side it is just a matter of requesting new lights from Edison and it should take about three months to install. Edison would charge the City the monthly service charge of about $12.00 per light. If there are no telephone poles it may take 6 months or so.

If there in the City's service area it would cost approximately $7,000 per light, we would set up an assessment district to cover the installation cost.

The third option could be to install solar street lights for about $8 to $10 thousand dollars per light remember there would be No monthly electrical cost. Again these are all hypothetical scenarios; there are other options and cost associated with this type of request.

If you think enough of your neighbors are interested we can drill this down to some factual numbers.

I told Mr Adams that we'd get an answer back to him next week. The costs will be born by us.

The street lights will brighten up the area and make it more difficult for the petty prowlers scoping out the neighborhood after dark which could help prevent the rash of auto burglary we experienced last spring, and the tagging only a couple of months ago.

The negative side that has been mentioned is that it will diminish the more rural feeling of the street.

The question put forth is do we want hard information to explore this further? If so once we get hard numbers we'd have to put forth a petition or similar document with 67% approval of the homeowners on the street.

Please let Frank and Renee know by early next week your thoughts so we can let Mr Adams know our decision.

Finally...a big thanks to Mr Adams in his help in getting this going for us.

Frank & Renee