It's been a crazy-busy week. Work absorbed, which I think I've talked enough about now. But also I've been busy with condo board stuff. Sharlene and I both attended the Clareview Crime Council meeting to learn more about what can be done about crime in our neighbourhood.
Sharlene and I attended because there is a fair bit of petty crime activity in our back parking lot. Cars are broken in to or stolen. Shady deals are passed between cars with darkened windows. So we went to this session to learn more about what is available. Unbeknownst to us, the meeting was also a recruitment drive. We're both signed up. *sigh*. Ah, well. If it proves too much, I can always bow out.
But wow, so much we learned in that hour and a half. There's all sorts of crime prevention associations out there. There's all kinds of resources available, too. I got a phone number for "report a drug house". We can get a "safety audit" done for our property. There's a Coalition of Crime Councils. I met social worker who works in our neighbourhood. There's Safe Streets and Neighbourhood Empowerment Teams and Safe Edmonton (this looks good).
There's an expert on Neighbourhood Empowerment, Jim Diers who will be coming to town to speak on November 17, 2009. He has a book and now I am eager to hear from him in person. I bet a lot of what he talks about ties in to my ponderings on how we can humanize intake experiences.
It all comes down to people, doesn't it? Why haven't I heard of all these councils, resources and associations? Is it because I had bought in to the apathy and assumed there is nothing that can be done?
By the way, as I browsed the internet to confirm links above, I found InformAlberta.ca. It appears to be a self managed site to link all sorts of services in a mega-database The Safe Streets link was bad. The "contact us" form was markedly worse, consisting of over a hundred fields to review, two tabs, and obscure instructions...in red. God help me if I filled out the inquiry wrong. Will the internet police be after me soon?
Oh, and I should mention that the Clareview Crime Council provided FOOD and COFFEE. Coffee was compliments of our local Mac's owner, who recognized me and greeted me as I came in. It is heartening that he is so involved in our community.
