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Neighborhood Restoration Committee
This component attempts to improve and revitalize the economic and social conditions of distressed neighborhoods through neighborhood restoration strategies. This component addresses and seeks to expand the economic vitality of the community so that crime and disorder will not thrive. As with the other components, neighborhood restoration can only be achieved through the coordinated use of Federal, State, local, and private-sector resources. Strategies focus on economic development, employment opportunities for residents, improvements to the housing stock, and physical environment of the neighborhood. Restoration activities may also include improving public spaces such as parks and recreation facilities.
Community Policing Committee
Under this model of policing, officers and residents establish an ongoing, systematic process that addresses the underlying causes of crime. Community policing strategies foster a sense of responsibility within the community for solving crime problems, focus on increasing police visibility, and develop cooperative relationships between police and residents. Examples of community policing activities include foot and bicycle patrols, police mini-stations, victim referrals to support services, nuisance abatement programs and police athletic leagues.
Current Projects / Focus:
- Community Oriented Policing / Neighborhood Watch Programs
- Weed & Seed and Alton Clean City Beautification Committee are collaborating to organize Neighborhood Cleanups
- Hellrung Park Completion
- Community Gardens
- Public Beautification Projects
Winter 2005
Dear Neighbor:
Many exciting things are happening in the Weed & Seed Neighborhoods. Please take a few minutes to review this information, ask questions, and get involved. Perhaps you have heard of the near $1,000.000.00 investment in the new Hellrung Park? Did you know that 100 neighborhood children have created handprint tiles, at no cost to them that will be incorporated into the entry plaza walls at Hellrung Park? Would you like to memorialize a loved one with a tree or engraved brick to be placed at Hellrung Park? Want to help plan, plant and cultivate a Community Garden at Hellrung Park? Would you like to be involved in creating a Community Center / Police Sub Station in the Hunterstown Neighborhood? Has someone you know received their G.E.D., learned to use a computer, or attended one of the many free informational seminars at Lewis & Clark Community College’s Family Learning Center at 5th & Central? The Family Learning Center recently celebrated its First Birthday. Bring the entire family and join us for learning opportunities. Call the Family Learning Center at 465-3928 for more information.
Have you read in the paper how residents are helping to make their neighborhoods safer by joining informal Neighborhood Watch groups? In addition to the many “seeding” activities already happening, many others are being planned. Join with the Alton Weed & Seed Strategy to plan a brighter future for Alton. Community Oriented Policing Training for Residents was held in November 2005 and future sessions are planned for 2006.
The next Weed & Seed Neighborhood Restoration / Community Policing Sub-Committee Meeting to plan for the Community Garden and Children’s Tile Project at Hellrung Park, and the Sub Station / Community Center Renovation Project at 6th and Ridge St will be held at St. Clares Hospital, 915 East 5th St, Alton, in the Professional Building Auditorium from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 3, 2006.
This community garden will start small, with flowers, herbs and some vegetables, but the idea could eventually evolve into other types of Community Gardens in other neighborhood locations. Some community gardens are cooperative food-producing gardens while others are mostly flowers. It is up to you! Weed & Seed is proud to support the idea of a Community Garden at Hellrung Park and is encouraging all concerned residents and organizations to get involved. It will not be possible to have a Community Garden at Hellrung Park without a contingent of volunteers.
Weed & Seed has been working closely with residents to implement the principals of Community Oriented Policing within the Weed & Seed neighborhoods. Regardless of where you live, cooperation between residents and law enforcement is key to neighborhood stability. A revitalized Hellrung Park could be a great asset within our neighborhoods. Join with us to find out how you can become involved and keep the new Hellrung Park a great place for neighbors to gather.
Thank you!
Bruce D. Bertolino
Site Coordinator
October 17, 2005
For the past several months, residents working with the Alton Weed & Seed Strategy and the Alton Police Department have been organizing informal Neighborhood Watch groups to discuss implementing the principles of Community Oriented Policing within the Weed & Seed neighborhoods as well as the rest of Alton. Perhaps you have heard about some of the recent successes these groups are having? We hope you will get involved.
As Weed & Seed enters its’ final year of funding, and as we progress toward the eventual goal of having these informal Neighborhood Watch groups meeting throughout Alton, we need your help more than ever. Community Oriented Policing is based on three fundamental principals: Partnerships, Problem Solving and Organizational Change. On Saturday, November 5, 2005, from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Weed & Seed is offering free C.O.P. training to all Alton residents. The day will begin with lunch from 11-12 and then training from 12-3. I hope you will join us at Saint Clare’s Hospital Professional Building auditoriums that day. Registration is not required, but knowing how many people may attend is helpful for planning. If time allows, please call to let me know how many people will attend.
The training is free and will be led by Joe Goulet, of the Regional Institute for Community Policing, Illinois Sate University in Springfield, Illinois.
Weed & Seed is excited to support resident-driven initiatives to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods and equally excited to be working collaboratively with Alton Police to solve neighborhood problems together. Please call me with any questions you may have!
Thank you,
Bruce D. Bertolino
Site Coordinator
JOIN US FOR FUN, FOOD, AND PRIZES!
HELLRUNG PARK TO REOPEN THIS SUMMER
COME SEE THE PARK PLAN - MAKE THIS YOUR
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Time: 6:30 pm. until 8:00 p.m.
Saint Clare’s Hospital
Professional Building Auditorium
915 East 5th Street (use 5th St entrance)
Alton IL 62002
- See the Hellrung Park Plan
- Learn more about Weed & Seed & Community Policing
- Get Neighborhood Watch Group information
- Learn about Community Gardens
- Get to know your neighbors
- Sign-up for the 4-29-05 Crime Victims’ Rights Walk
- Sign-up for the 4-16-05 Neighborhood Clean-Ups
Hellrung Park is located at 7th and Central in Alton, and as many of you know, was a haven for illegal activity before it was closed several years ago. This summer, a brand new Hellrung Park will reopen, providing many opportunities for resident enjoyment, recreation, and involvement.
Weed & Seed is proud to have been a part of this project and we are inviting all residents to attend an informational “Friends of Weed & Seed Hellrung Park Night”. We will have food and prize drawings, so bring the entire family and find out what is planned for your park!
Weed & Seed has been working closely with residents to implement the principals of Community Oriented Policing within the Weed & Seed neighborhoods. Cooperation between residents and law enforcement is key to neighborhood stability. A revitalized Hellrung Park could be a great asset within your neighborhood.
Join with us to find out how you can become involved and keep the new Hellrung Park a great place for neighbors to gather. This is your park and many exciting things are being discussed and planned. Please take time from your busy schedule to come out and find out how you can be a part of it.
Fight Dirty
Saturday, April 16, 2005
NEIGHBORHOOD TRASH & LITTER CLEAN-UP
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
Meet at Midtown Restaurant’s parking lot
Central @ E 7th Street – Alton, IL
Free Doughnuts & Coffee
From 8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Clean-up from 9-Noon
OR:
You may clean up your own street and sidewalk and place the trash and litter in your trash can
For more information, or to adopt a block, call:
463-5359 or 463-5357
Clean-ups will be going on city-wide and are a collaborative project between:
Alton Beautification and Clean City Committee
The Sierra Club
City of Alton
Alton Marketplace Association
Pride, Inc.
The Alton Weed & Seed Strategy
Concerned Residents
ND Consulting Group / The Siedlund Company
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