Wedgwood East Neighborhood Association General Meeting May 12, 2022 Began: 6:30 PM Members in attendance: 20 Past Events- Easter Egg Hunt: The Easter egg hunt on April 16th, 2022 at Little People Park was a success with over 1300 stuffed eggs and around 60 children participating. Photos from this event can be found here - https://rb.gy/s4dssg Bingo Night: The first bingo night had a great turnout and future bingo nights will be planned for the last Thursday of each month at the Southwest Community Center. We will alternate between adults only and family bingo. Price will be $3/ person for WENA members and $5/ person for non-members. Upcoming Events- Ribbon cutting: A ribbon cutting ceremony will happen on Saturday, May 14th at 2:00 PM at the Wedgwood Library, sponsored by Wedgwood Garden Club and the Wedgwood Historical Association. Garden Tour: Wedgwood Garden Club will be holding a self guided Garden Tour on Sunday, May 15th from 2:00 to 5:00 starting at 3525 Wosley Dr. Ukulele Players: Ukulele players will be meeting up to jam together on Saturday, May 14th at 11:00 AM at the Southwest Community Center. This event will be held the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month until further notice. Contact Jim (817) 832-6270 for further questions. Sidewalk Sale: The Southwest Community Center will be having a sidewalk sale On Saturday, May 28th beginning at 8:00 AM. Facebook Page Wedgwood East Neighborhood Association now has an official public Facebook page in addition to our Facebook group. Follow Wedgwood East Neighborhood Association on Facebook to stay updated with current neighborhood news and events. Speakers: Detective Lavigne spoke about property crimes and catalytic converter theft. He works in the Real Time Crime Center of the FWPD and mentioned the option of adding cameras to public areas of our neighborhood. These cameras have facial recognition software and license plate detection that wait for hits to detect criminals. Each camera runs about $2500 and we can inquire about this option with NPO Lopez. Detective Lavigne also mentioned a non-profit organization, Act For Justice, which helps to shut down businesses that promote criminal activity. When discussing the issue of catalytic converter theft in our area, he explained that there isn't much that can be done to prevent this problem aside from parking in the garage if you are able to. There are some caps that can be used for certain models of Toyota vehicles but they are not a foolproof solution. The next best option to parking in your garage would be to set up a driveway camera. Detective Lavigne noted that the department is setting up buy busts to catch the people purchasing stolen catalytic converters, but the establishments they are catching are not reputable businesses. Billy Rudd- Billy Rudd is a Crime Prevention Specialist with the FWPD. He noted that Wedgwood East used to have the most active Crime Watch program and recommended that we restart the program. He promoted the idea, “If you see something, say something.” as a good means of preventing crime. Mr. Rudd mentioned that the Citizens on Patrol are especially helpful in the evenings and can keep a watchful eye on the neighborhood from their cars and report any crimes that they may witness. Some helpful ways he suggested to keep your home safe are by keeping your porch lights on when it is dark, having home security cameras, adding those cameras to the Community Camera Program, and reporting any street lights you see out to the My Fort Worth app. Mr. Rudd also mentioned that if you see illegal activity, please report it to the police first before posting about it on social media. Helpful Contact Information- NPO Shernai Lopez: (817) 991-8480 Billy Rudd, Crime Prevention Specialist: (817) 392-3405 Cell: (817) 994-6924 Tracy Edwards, Fort Worth Community Engagement Liaison Tracey.Edwards@fortworthtexas.gov Meeting Ended: 7:55 |