Community Corner

Midtown Back in the Day

Midtown Ponce Security Alliance news briefs including a peek at near-decade old photos of shady activity near 6th and Juniper.

Sgt. Bill Cooper, patrol manager of the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance (MPSA), will be conducting a non-working street light inventory this week. If you are aware of any street lights out, please report them to info@midtownponce.org to put on the list to report to Georgia Power and the city.

PROBLEM PROPERTIES

The city has passed a new ordinance in an effort to control problem properties. Under this new ordinance, owners of vacant properties must register their properties with the city so the owners of these properties will be known to Code Compliance if there are problems. See more about it here.

If you know of a vacant residence in the neighborhood and are not sure it has been registered, contact the Office of Code Compliance at 404-330-6190 or Councilmember Joyce Sheperd’s Office at 404-330-6053

THOSE WERE THE DAYS: HISTORICAL PHOTOS

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MPSA recently reviewed some photos from the year leading up to its June 2003 patrol launch, and some a little bit later. Back then, 6th and Juniper was still a wild place despite the Dakota and other developments in the immediate vicinity. The problem persisted until Backstreet closed permanently, an indication that the patronage of that bar drove most of the drug and nuisance traffic in the immediately surrounding area. See http://www.midtownponce.org/p3092.html for photos of those who were hanging around the area less than ten years ago.

Do you remember what Midtown life was life before Backstreet closed?

MPSA MAILBAG

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What the neighbors are telling the MPSA. These do not necessarily reflect MPSA position...

Catalytic converter - My car was parked on 4th Street half way between Penn and Argonne. Sometime between 3pm on last Saturday (1/21/2012) when I parked the car, and 9:45am on Tuesday (1/25/2012) when I drove my car again, someone tried to steal my catalytic converter. They managed to cut the intake pipe all the way through but something stopped them there because my catalytic converter is still on the car and there were no cuts on the other side of the converter. I'm thankful that something or someone stopped them so thank you to anyone (neighbors, police, etc.) who might have been walking, driving along that street to spook whoever was trying to steal stuff off my car. There are two little alley ways that run between the sections of houses that face Argonne and the section that faces Penn from Ponce to 5th Street. These alley ways are probably the artery along which these criminals conduct their business so I think parking near them makes your car more likely to be vandalized.  These alley ways provide a quick way to get out of view. My sister had her car parked in a similar place when it got broken into and I think the criminals probably used the alley ways for that as well. I'm hoping it wasn't people associated with the car stereo/car wash place at the corner of Ponce and Argonne trying to make an extra buck by stealing car parts from the neighborhood. The little alley way runs straight from behind their place directly to 4th street. I don't want to jump to conclusions but they probably have tools readily available for cutting car parts. Of course it could always be some random person going through the neighborhood. Anyway, I just wanted to pass along this information and if you park along these sections of street, you probably want to move your car onto one of the main streets like Penn or Argonne so your car is more in the public view.

Accosted on the street - Last night an acquaintance was accosted by three black males in an apparent robbery attempt at 10th & Myrtle....he has just left Gilberts. They threw him to the ground and he suffered injuries to his face from hitting the concrete. He got up and ran back to Gilberts and the three men ran away too. This happened at 830 PM last night. He regrettably did not report it to the police, but I have his name in case MPSA wishes to contact him.

Question: How does/can MPSA tie into an alarm event? The MPSA Patrol monitors police radio for this area. If your alarm company routinely notifies the local police, then the patrol officers will hear the call over police dispatch radio. To supplement this, you may instruct your alarm company to notify the patrol directly, but we urge that they contact the local police first to garantee that law enforcement officers are made aware of an alarm event at your home.

Question: I understand that MPSA Board members assist with the vacation checks - can a board member become involved in a post APD assessment? No - MPSA Board members are civilians and are not trained in dealing with a possible confrontation. It is always best to let law enforcement check out a location of an alarm event, and they will only leave once the situation has been resolved or they find nothing of concern. MPSA Board members supplement the vacation watch conducted by the patrol officers, but this is largely limited to a drive- or walk-by on the public street or sidewalk.

- The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance contributed to this report


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