i think that we should get a meeting together and get organized. i know that azim is trying to organized and the best thing that we could do is to get all sides involved: westrum, fairmounters, penrose, new people in brewerytoen and old people brewerytown.

maybe the best thing would be to talk with azim and see if he would be interested in getting a meeting together just for the issue at hand. maybe that could be after the west girard meeting on the 21st. we could use the philly blog to get more people from fairmount to come and use the west girard meeting to get more brewerytown locals to attend the meeting after.

here are some craigslistings:
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/86548920.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/86549874.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/86863358.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/87588502.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/91550266.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/91988628.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/91989965.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/92260496.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/93965108.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/94458495.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/94919054.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/95694370.html
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/95867686.html

13 listings for rentals in that area. thats most of the buildings already built. this is an issue. they started out around $2000/month and now are listed at $1500. thats barely enough to cover the mortgage. this might be something to bring up with them also. if it keeps up this way and they write it off then they are going to get into problems in the future.

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Thanks for staying on this Merkin. I spent some time in the sales office at BTown Square and it seemed like a LOT of the people poking around were investors.

Of course, the sales manager made it clear that they were going to NOT ALLOW rentals for the 1st year, then limit it to a certain (and undefined %) going FW.

I didnt buy her speech for a second.

WGCC Speaker : Richard Barnhart
Barnhart is Chairman and Cheif Executive Officer of Penrose Properties.
WHAT ABOUT ASKING MR. BARNHART FOR ASSISTANCE?

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i agree that speaking with mr. barnhart is a good idea; but we have to remember that pennrose is a company. they will only help if it is in their financial interest to do so. obviously, they have an interest in lower crime; however, if they have concluded that they are willing to accept the existing level of crime, we need to come up with a way of explaining to them why they need to take a more active interest in this issue and why the current level of crime is unacceptable.

well then, maybe we are getting somewhere. if the crime rate stays the same and there are only rentals that and comperable to better areas without crime then the idea of the developer moving in and cleaning up the area isnt working. when there is an influx of new people they become more aware and surface the problem. now if only investers move in and they are not aware of the problems at hand and are only concerned with getting the best possible retal in that area, he/she is not addressing or aware of the problem and relies on the "brewerytown" buzz to fix the problem. i hate to bring it up but we are the posse. this is the beginning of an organization because we have an interest to make this work. its a grass roots thing and the more people involved the better. fairmount has a very strong awareness and if that can be tapped it would very benificial to both brewerytown and fairmount

malloy, when did you talk to this woman? did you say anything to the fact that 13 of the 14 properties sold are for rent on craigslist for around $1500/month( im not sure if there are multipal listings for teh same property. i can do some research into this by emailing the people who are renting them.)

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2 months ago probably. If you recall, once I saw a few craigslist postings, I shared here on the blog. Then Keiko? called her with these rentals. I dunno what happened after that.

I believe the whistle idea is a good one...and not just for Girard/Fairmount area. This could be implemented all over the city.

It would be grass roots, but the cost is minimal and you give them out for free, thousands. If someone hears it, they will look out. Wear it around your neck and perhaps it will make would be thugs consider another target.

It is not hard to do...we have enough people here, on this blog, to make it work! I can not think of a more effective by prduct of a blog other than to share ideas that benefit a community...and THEN PUT THEM INTO ACTION!!!!!

Whistle's cost .25 cents bought in bulk, and put a logo on it! Bright yellow. Who wouldn't look out there window or door if they heard one? Organization and consistantly staying on message in the media are the key to making this work. Unfortunaltely, I am lacking in the former and spell check.

Thoughts?

So here's a bit of followup to the issue of crime in Fairmount.

I have the 9th District crime report in front of me, and my wife will soon prepare the crime report we send out to everyone on our "subscriber" list, so to speak (if you want to add your email to the list, by the way, send a message to fairmounttownwatch@hotmail.com and I'll have you added). But I'll give you a little sneak peak.

In Fairmount from August 1 to August 31 there were the following serious crimes:

Forcible rape 8/25 (this is the incident on Ogden St. that was posted here earlier - more below)
Highway Robbery (that's what they call it) by handgun 8/20 Parrish & Taney
Highway Robbery strong arm (no weapon) 8/31 28th & Poplar
Highway Robbery/aggravated assault with knife 8/13 29th & Poplar
Highway Robbery - purse snatching 8/12 8XX N. Ringold

That's it for the person-on-person crimes. The rest are burglaries and car breakins, for the most part. Interestingly, the "S" and "N" sectors of the neighborhood, which is basically the whole neighborhood east of 24th, reported nothing more serious than "disturbances and a few retail thefts," according to the police.

So maybe this will help to put some hard numbers to these rather nebulous feelings that there is a crime wave. By Fairmount standards, I'd say that one rape, 3 muggings and a purse snatching in one month amount to a spike in crime, no doubt. On the other hand, seeing all the threads here might have led some to believe that there were scores of such crimes, when in fact there were "only" 5.

I'd like to give some more specific info on the rape on Ogden St. - nothing about the victim, needless to say, that's entirely confidential and is not listed on the report we got, as is appropriate. But here's what they say about the perpetrator:

black male, age 20-30, 6 feet, light complexion, mustache
Victim's vehicle, BMW Roaster [do they mean "roadster" here?], gray with black top, was stolen
PA tags FJR 6316

Again, this was on August 25 at 2:50 a.m.

The description of the perp is pretty vague, but the general age/build/compexion/mustache combo might be useful if you see someone acting suspiciously (looking into people's windows late at night, prowling around the backs of houses, etc.) who matches that general description. And of course keep an eye out for the car. Sure, it may long have since gone to the chop shop and the guy may never come back...or he may come back on a regular basis. Back when a woman was assaulted at Parrish & Ringold about 5 years ago, I swear I saw the guy who did it (based on description and the fact that he was wearing identical clothing, I know, not exactly solid evidence) not a week later, walking calmly down 25th St.

What we need to fight this mess is the power of collective action and as much information flow between us and the police as we can get.

thanks for the list, niel. i think it's really helpful for everyone here to see that:

1. there have been some serious crimes, and it's worth discussing ways in which those types of crimes can be prevented in the future; BUT

2. those crimes are still the exception rather than the rule in the area, and we should enjoy our neighborhood for the vibrant, friendly place that it is.

with respect to the ogden street attack, i thought the suspect turned himself in to the authorities. see this link...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=3388538

how do we get a list of the other districts ...like brewerytown
to add to this list?
because i know 2 bodys have been descovered near me in this time period?

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