Woodhaven

Woodhaven / NYPD Kicks Off BlockWatcher Program Feb. 20th 8 PM

The February Town Hall meeting of the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association has been moved to Wednesday, February 20th at 8 PM - the meeting will be held at the Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).

We have moved this meeting to a weekenight to accomodate our special guests, the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau, who are coming to Woodhaven to discuss the Block Watcher Program.  So far, the WRBA has signed up over 50 residents who are interested in participating in the program to make our community better and safer. 

We are asking everyone who has already signed up to attend this meeting.  And if you did not sign up?  There's still time -- come on down anyway.  They will answer all your questions about the program -- you can fill out an application here.

The NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau will also give a brief presentation on the many other programs they have available -- we may find that some of them are useful and of interest to our community.

Hope to see you there!

 

 

School Sisters of Notre Dame Mardi Gras Celebration Feb. 6th

The School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Center will be holding a Mardi Gras Celebration / Fundraiser on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm at Roma View Catering, 160-05 Cross Bay Blvd. Howard Beach, NY.

The School Sisters of Notre Dame do such fantastic work for women here in Woodhaven and surrounding areas -- they are changing people's lives every day -- click here for a profile we did on them last year.

The tickets are $65 per person which includes dinner, open bar & fun.  There are ticket packages available -- click here for a ticket form.  You can also call 718-738-0588 or email [email protected] for more information.  Please RSVP by Friday, February 1st

This year's King and Queen of the Mardi Gras are Gary Scibelli, Overton & Co. Air Services and Tammy Card, McBreen & Koppko -- they will be crowned!

Scheduled entertainment includes a magician, a palm reader, sketch artists -- it should be a terrific evening of fun -- and all for a fantastic cause!

Click here to learn more about the Sisters -- and please consider supporting this wonderful cause!

 

Woodhaven Town Hall - Saturday, January 19th @ 1PM

The residents of Woodhaven will gather for the first time in 2013 on Saturday, January 19th at 1 PM at the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).  The WRBA wants to start off the new year by encouraging the residents to step up and tell everyone which issues need the most attention.

But before we open the floor to complaints we will give everyone an update on the Redistricting of Woodhaven -- and we will be accepting applications to become Block Watchers (you can get your application by clicking here).  Block Watchers do not go out on patrol - nor are you asked to confront anyone.  You will attend a 3-hour course given by the NYPD which will spell out your responsibilities -- but in a nutshell you will call in reports of conditions.  For example, recently there was a report of prostitution along Rockaway Boulevard -- you would be given a number to call and a unique ID so you could report the condition and because you had a valid ID, the NYPD would know that you had been through the training -- that you are one of their Block Watchers.

We are also going to try something we did about a year ago -- we will be holding a "Straw Poll" to determine what issues need the most attention.  We will have a table full of cups -- each one will have an issue written on it -- Parking, Graffiti, Dirty Streets, etc.  You will be given 7 straws and you will be asked to put them in the cups (or issues) you feel need the most attention.

 

You may feel so strongly about one issue that you drop all 7 straws in that cup -- you may divide them up between two issues (4 in one cup, 3 in another), or maybe you divide 7 straws into 7 issues.  The issue you care about might not even be on the table -- if not, you will be able to add it.

During the meeting we'll open the floor to the residents to speak up about the issues they feel deserve the most votes and attention -- we'll pass the microphone around and hear from everyone.  Then we'll open up the voting -- tally up the straws and reveal the results.  If you want to see the results from the last time we did this, click here.

These results will be shared publicly, with our elected officials, with the Community Board, with the NYPD -- so if you have an issue that you feel needs more attention you need to show up at this public meeting (there are no absentee straw ballots, sorry).

We hope to see you on Saturday!