December 2015 Meeting
Thurs., December 10
7:00 p.m.
at Maynard Ave. United Methodist Church
A gathering of neighbors to share and collaborate. Round up some neighbors and bring some snacks to share in celebration of community.
This December’s meeting will include information about the service agencies in our area, because even if you are blessed enough not to need their assistance, chances are very good that you will run into someone in the area who can use some help.
We’ll also have information about an increase in stolen vehicles and will be making plans to pursue permit parking in the area.
See you then!
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Future Meetings:
January 14, 2016 meeting – will be a workshop on neighborhood identity and engagement. Should be really interesting!
Take Charge! – if you have a concern or interest that you would like to be the focus of a meeting, go for it! We are looking for folks to help coordinate future meetings from February 2016 on. Just email us to claim your month!
Crime Alerts
Stolen Jeeps
Several Jeeps have been broken into, hotwired, and driven away over the past couple of months. Two Jeeps were recovered east of I-71 from us, one near Hudson and Cleveland Ave and the other near Maynard and Atwood Terrace (<– This one was actually discovered because one block watch member quickly shared info on our Facebook page that allowed another vigilant block watch member to identify the stolen vehicle & contact police. Great Job, guys! )
How Thieves go “Holiday Shopping”
Over Thanksgiving weekend, several big, beautiful, fancy new TV boxes showed up in trash bins around the area (early Christmas presents, perhaps?) If you don’t want the criminals to help themselves to your brand new electronics, it would be wise to take boxes for desirable electronics directly to a recycling center. There are recycling collection bins at Tuttle Park Recreation Center and in the Weiland’s Grocery/ Salvation Army Store parking lot on Indianola. For ideas about how to RESPONSIBLY e-cycle your old electronics, see the resources on our website at Recycle/ Waste
Holiday Vacancies
While many residents go visiting during the Winter Break, we often find a rash of home burglaries every year. Even residents who were only gone for a weekend have been hit! Now is a good time to take a few precautions to help prevent yourself from being burglarized:
- Get to know your neighbors now! Exchange contact info & make arrangements to keep an eye on each others’ places while you’re out visiting.
- Use noisy window and door alarms. If you are a student at OSU, you can get free alarms at the Off-Campus Student Office in the Ohio Union.
- Leave lights on outdoors and use timers indoors.
- Make absolutely sure that doors and windows are securely locked.
- Remove electronics or other items that are likely to be stolen (laptops, ipads, gaming systems, blank checks, cash, spare keys, jewelry items, etc.) to a secure location. Don’t leave these things in easily accessed first floor rooms, or in places that are visible through your windows from the outside.
- Make sure you have insurance, in case the worst does happen. Renter’s insurance is surprisingly cheap!
- You can also put in a request with police to do periodic checks on your location, but be reasonable in your expectations. The chances they will be at your address at the time that it is being burgled is pretty small.
- If you have a good rapport with your landlord/ property manager, you may want to consider letting them know you’ll be away for a while and asking them to monitor the property for a while.
Please DO Investigate
Two recent stories remind us how important it is for block watch members to be actively engaged:
1) In a suburb to the north of us, one resident heard a disruption late at night, but did not see anything when they looked out the window. They noticed a car driving down the street a few minutes later. In fact, this resident had heard and witnessed their neighbor’s car being stolen from down the street. Unfortunately, since they could not see the crime from their window they didn’t know it was a theft in progress, so it did not get reported until the owner woke up the following morning. Trust your instincts! If you aren’t willing to go outside to see the source from which “there arose such a clatter”, then please call it in to non-emergency number.
2) More importantly, the disruption you hear might be someone who really needs help! One of our neighbors heard a persistent car horn the other morning, and even though he wanted to stay warm and cozy inside, he finally investigated only to find that an elderly neighbor had slipped and fallen in the street trying to enter her car. She had been honking the horn trying to get someone to help her for several minutes. Thankfully, this one neighbor was gracious enough to come to her rescue and get her safely sorted out.
If at all possible, please DO investigate when you have reason to believe something is not right.
Background Checking
A question posted on our website asked how to look into the potential criminal background of someone, if you need to. Some such information is publicly available on the County Clerk of Courts website if you have the legal first and last name of the person.
Community News
Maynard Ave Church invites you to their Holiday Craft Fair
“A Touch of the Holidays: Neighborhood Artisans, Crafts and Gifts Fair” will be held Saturday, December 12 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,at the Maynard Ave. UMC on the corner of Indianola and Maynard Aves. Featuring jewelry, woodcrafts, candles, holiday items, clothing, furniture, gifts for your pets, and many homemade delicious treats. There will also be a raffle for for baskets of special gifts. PLUS – Kids Crafts and Fun: kid’s crafts, kid specific vendors, face-painting and Kid Vendors starting at 10:00 a.m.
FREE Student Dinners for Finals Week
Concentrate on your studies and let the Indianola Church of Christ take care of dinner! Located at 2141 Indianola Avenue, they are providing Finals Dinners for our college students in and around our neighborhood on Thursday, December 10, Sunday December 13 and Monday, December 14 from 5:00-6:30pm. We provide a FREE, homemade dinner and then our building is open until midnight for a safe study space. Our study space is MUCH better than a crowded library! Free Wi-Fi, snacks & coffee!
Neighborhood Partnership Grants available!
Got an idea for a project for the neighborhood? United Way is making grants available that may be able to help you. Applications are due January 22. Check here for details: Partnership Grants.
Bike Lane Info
The City has finally released an informational flyer o the bike lanes. It does not include much of the information residents have been asking for, but it has some usefulness for drivers new to the area. It’s a big file so we’ve loaded it to our webpage: Bike Lane Graphic
City Public Service Directory:
I found a directory of rarely-published numbers and services for the Columbus Public Utilities Department. This may help you if you are looking for the number for Emergency Street Light Repair, Water Main Breaks, etc. Here’s a link: City Services
3rd Annual FOOLS PARADE!!:
The last 2 neighborhood parades have been an absolute blast and now the organizing crew for next year’s event is looking for people like you to join in. The BIG DATE is Saturday, April 2, 2016 – so make sure you block out that time on your calendar. If you want to toss your hat into the ring of awesome, email sohudfools@gmail.com. Or you can contact news@sohudblockwatch.org and we will forward your contact info.
Art in the streets: Creative Crosswalks
A neighborhood group has received a grant to create public artworks within the crosswalks on the streets in our area. The intent is to help promote the identity of this place we call home. One part of this is gathering information from the community about how we feel about this place. You can participate by taking the survey at http://www.thisplaceis.org/. Later on, there will be a call for artists to create the works and we hope that ALL our artsy types will apply for that!
