The Brook (54% owner occupied)
The Brook, originally an apartment complex built in the roaring 1970s called Riverglade Apartments and then converting to condos in the late 1980s, is getting serious about safety.
Last night neighbors, management and Amherst Police officer Dominick Corsetti came together to continue discussing a "neighborhood watch" group. They first met a month ago and already Trustees have taken suggestions of increased outdoor lighting, uprooting large bushes near individual entryways (where bad guys can hide) and printing up stickers announcing their watchfulness.
Other ideas ranged from having APD use the office they were meeting in as a "substation," where officers can stop in during routine patrols and take a break or do paperwork, to starting a blog so all residents can stay informed about what's happened in the 146 unit complex.
For security reasons the group also discussed having an email list serve or forming a Yahoo user group so only members would have access to sensitive information, such as when someone may be away on vacation or business and wants other members to keep an eye on their home.
With the staffing level of Amherst Police bordering on the dangerously low side, any preventative measures individuals can take themselves for their safety and security is a good thing.
Current office that could jointly become APD substation
So collectively coming together only makes sense. The more eyeballs the better.
Columbia/Justice Drive neighborhood across the street has had one for years
Great idea. And while we're at it let's build more of these crime dense housing developments.
ReplyDeletewhat is this in response to? Just lower police staffing or actual crime?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of moving nearby, but if crime is up, this would be of a concern. I was thinking of moving nearby but if paranoia is up, then I will certainly not move there. Paranoid neighbors are more dangerous than criminals. They make reactionary laws and regs that never go away and have never ending costs, usually crimes only last a couple of minutes and have a specific cost.
Unless all the areas around it have improved dramatically over the past few years, I wouldn't live there.
ReplyDeleteIt is inside my NoGo perimeter -- the part of Amherst where *I* won't be after dark.
For what it is worth...
High School Math teachers now get $69,157 a year?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteWhiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!
I was only paid what would be $24,954 in today's money and I was teaching BOTH Math AND English!
This was a PUBLIC High School, albeit a very small one, and I was teaching six periods a day (three of each subject) for a little bit more than a third of what Ms. Gardner was being paid!
And what's worse than having to instantly switch between teaching Math & English (as completely different cognitive processes are involved)is teaching both subjects to the same children -- sometimes in consecutive periods.
Six "prep" classes as I was teaching three different grades in each of the two subjects -- that's six different lesson plans, six different sets of homework to grade and all the rest -- every night.
And how many "preps" did Caroline Gardner have?
At the most, she could only have been teaching four different grade levels because the ARHS doesn't have any more than four...
I was teaching six classes, each five times a week, for the full year, 1,080 classes over the 180=day school year. ARHS teachers teach fewer than this because of the "trimester" system.
I got none of the support she did, and I dealt with a hell of a lot worse than she alleges to have had to deal with. For a hell of a lot less money....
This isn't about me: for what Team Maria were paying and for a far lesser teaching load, you'd think that they'd been able to find someone able to both teach and to deal with the fact that teenagers can be obnoxious schmucks at times....
Well, Ed. This isn't about you.
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ReplyDelete"Well, Ed. This isn't about you."
I didn't say it was -- although I am not quite sure how it got here instead of where I intended it to go.
But as to Carolyn Gardner -- for all that money, you'd think....
I've lived in The Brook for seventeen years now and I certainly wouldn't consider it "crime dense." There is very little trouble here, and if there is it's usually people from the neighboring communities where (Mill Valley, Boulders, Southpoint.) As for "paranoid neighbors" - all of my neighbors that I've had the chance to talk with and get to know are wonderful people and as Larry said, "just everyday folks who take pride in their dwellings and want to protect that." I think a neighborhood watch is a wonderful idea.
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