The Little Italy Neighborhood Watch

The next meeting of the Little Italy Neighborhood Watch will be held on Tuesday, Decmber 2nd at 7:00pm in the basement of St. Paul’s church at 16th & Walnut.

The annual Italian Festival will be held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church this weekend from Friday through Sunday. The popular event always draws a big crowd for the food, games, live music, bingo, and auction, so if you need to drive to get there, make sure you arrive early enough to find a reasonably close parking space. Of course, if you’re in the neighborhood, it’s only a short walk.

One of the most popular events at the festival is the home made pasta e fagioli dinner served on the first night of the festival. It’s scheduled to be served from 5:00 to 8:00pm Friday, but they always sell out very quickly, so you do not want to be late for that!

PLACE: St. Paul’s Church, 1617 Walnut St.

DATES & TIMES: Friday, August 8 from 5:00 to 10:00pm

Saturday, August 9 from 6:00 to 10:00pm

Sunday, August 10 from Noon to 9:00pm

This is a long-standing traditional family oriented event in the Little Italy neighborhood. All in the neighborhood are welcome and all guests from outside the neighborhood are encouraged to attend. Hope to see you there!

The next meeting is not really a meeting at all. The Little Italy Neighborhood Watch will be joining thousands of communities worldwide in the annual celebration of National Night Out.

Please join us on the first Tuesday of August (August 5, 2008) at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 643 West 17th Street from 6:00pm to 8:00pm for food, fun, music, and prizes. Admission is *F*R*E*E and, if past years are any indication, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Free food and beverages being served will include Smith’s Hot Dogs on Stroehmann buns, Coke and Pepsi products, Troyer Farms chips. Free tee-shirts will be given away. There will be crafts for the kids and Karaoke for everyone. Two lucky children will each win a brand new bicycle and someone will go home with a brand new air conditioner. Other prizes are in the works, including an assortment of gift certificates. The biggest prize last year was a money tree, but it has not yet been decided if a new television set or the money tree will be offered again this year. Either way, it’s a great prize!

Please join us to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the National Night Out. You’ll have fun, you’ll be fed, and you just might win a prize or two!

Date: Tuesday, August 5

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Place: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 643 West 17th St.

From the Neighborhood Association of Town Watch and National Night Out press kit, here is some background information:

The History of NATW & “National Night Out”

The National Association of Town Watch (NATW) is a nonprofit, crime prevention organization which works in cooperation with thousands of crime watch groups and law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Since 1981, NATW has been dedicated to the development, growth and maintenance of organized crime and drug prevention programs nationwide. NATW’s network has grown to include over 6,000 crime, drug and violence prevention organizations.

National Night Out, ‘America’s Night Out Against Crime,’ was introduced by the Association in 1984. The program was the brainchild of NATW Executive Director Matt A. Peskin. In an effort to heighten awareness and strengthen participation in local anticrime efforts, Peskin felt that a high-profile, high-impact type of crime prevention event was needed nationally. At that time, he noted that in a typical ‘crime watch community’, only 5 to 7% of the residents were participating actively. Due to the growth and success of these programs, he felt this percentage was too low. Subsequently, he proposed a national program which would be coordinated by local crime prevention agencies and organizations - but that would involve entire communities at one time. The first National Night Out was introduced early in 1984 - with the event culminating on the first Tuesday in August.

[…]

While the traditional ‘lights on’ and front porch vigils remain a part of NNO, activities have expanded considerably over the years to include block parties, cookouts, parades, visits from police, festivals, neighborhood walks, safety fairs, contests, rallies and meetings.

Peskin said, “It’s a wonderful opportunity for communities nationwide to promote police-community partnerships, crime prevention, and neighborhood camaraderie. While the one night is certainly not an answer to crime, drugs and violence, National Night Out does represent the kind of spirit, energy and determination that is helping to make many neighborhoods safer places throughout the year. It [NNO] is a night to celebrate safety and crime prevention successes - and to expand and strengthen programs for the next 364 days.”

Our neighborhood is very fortunate to have two parks where people can go to exercise, have fun, make friends, or just relax and enjoy the green spaces and fresh air. Columbus Park at West 16th and Poplar offers tennis, basketball and a pool in addition to the playground. Ruby Shaaf Park at West 19th and Myrtle offers a playground and basketball. Both parks are also offering a wide range of fun activities for children to take advantage of this summer.

The Trinity Center is offering a summer recreation program that runs from 8:30 to 5 every weekday for children from ages 4 through 17. All sorts of sports will be available, from football, dodgeball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and kickball to frisbee. Some group activities will offer prizes. There will also be field trips, a dance, and a parent night. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided to all children who enroll in the program.

The program runs from July 7th through August 15th and admission to all this fun is FREE! A parent or guardian will need to enroll the child or children by filling out an enrollment package at the Trinity Center at 462 West 18th Street. For more information, contact Kari Miller at 814-453-2468

The YMCA is also offering several activities for children from ages 6 to 18 at Columbus Park. On weekdays from June 9th through August 8th, from 10:30 to 3:30, there will be a wide range of activities from arts and crafts to sports, to music, science, and games of all sorts, with lunches served from 11:00 to noon. The port-a-pool will be available weekdays from noon to 4:30 from July 1st through August 8th. For more information, contact Monica Shaffer at 814-452-3261 at extension 266, or 814-882-5016.

With all these wholesome activity programs available, there is no excuse for any child in the neighborhood get bored this summer and certainly no reason for them to be glued to the TV set or the video game.

The Trinity Center will be hosting its popular Picnic in the Park on Saturday, June 7 from noon to 4:00pm at Columbus Park on West 16th Street between Cherry and Poplar streets in Little Italy. The picnic is a free family-oriented neighborhood gathering that will include food, fun, music and informational tables to promote local services that are available.

For more information about attending or if your organization is interested in participating, phone Karen Narusewicz at (814) 454-6224 or contact her by email at karen.narusewicz@bethesda-home.org

The Weed and Seed Task Force, an essential element of 2003’s Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, in cooperation with the City of Erie, the District Attorney’s office, the Emerge Consulting Group, and the Neighborhood Watch Council is providing a free Neighborhood Revitalization Training Workshop to help train neighborhood watch groups and any interested residents in how to take back their neighborhoods.

The event is scheduled to begin Thursday, May 8th, at the Family Worship Center Assembly of God at 1201 Parade St. with a free dinner at 5:30pm. Brief opening remarks are planned at 6:00pm, followed by three training sessions running from 6:10 to 8:00pm. Following the training will be a panel discussion from 8:00 to 9:00pm.

The event is free and open to the public. Anyone who wishes to help make their neighborhood a safer place is encouraged to attend, not just to learn, but to contribute their own ideas to help update the goals and plan for the future in cooperation with the Weed and Seed program.

For further information or any questions, please contact the Neighborhood Watch Council at 814-454-3808.

Well, sort of. Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, stopped by to visit the Erie Bolt Corporation right at the edge of the 14th Street border of the Little Italy neighborhood when he campaigned in Erie on Friday, April 18th.

Our neighborhood watch coordinator, Wally Brown, just happened to be passing through when he caught the scene as Obama’s group was leaving the plant.

Never without his camera, Wally managed to get four quick photos of the Senator as he headed toward his waiting vehicle, which was parked on the Little Italy side of 14th Street, so we’re claiming it as a visit!

Security was tight and the group was hurrying, but Senator Obama still made time for as many quick personal greetings as his schedule would allow.

While taking pictures, Wally was even able to get a greeting and a handshake before the Senator had to rush off to his scheduled appearance at Penn State Behrend.

Once a year, you see a few or a lot of your neighbors wandering around picking up trash along the streets and sidewalks. It’s about to happen again. Saturday, April 19th is the 12th annual Day of Caring as sponsored by the United Way and many other local Erie groups, including the Little Italy Neighborhood Watch. This is a great way to pitch in and help to, literally, clean up the neighborhood.

All you have to do to help is join your neighbors for a couple of hours on Saturday morning to pick up some of the trash that litters the neighborhood. Dumpsters will be available. Someone else will haul away all the bags of trash you collect. You can work as hard or as lightly as you want. Your participation is what matters, and for that, you will be rewarded.

You don’t have to get your hands dirty because the Department of Transportation has donated work gloves to all participants. You don’t have to worry about traffic because they’ve also donated safety vests so you’ll be visible. And the Erie Seawolves baseball team is once again offering free tickets to a game for all the volunteers.

Believe it or not, this really is a pleasant way to spend a lovely Saturday morning. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, the neighborhood looks better when we’re done, and you get to go to a ball game later.

The cleanup team representing the Little Italy Neighborhbood Watch is meeting at 9:00am Saturday morning at the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network at 425 West 18th Street. Come join us!

The city of Erie is running its annual large-item pickup program from April 6th through May 1st on your normal trash collection night. This is a great opportunity to clean out some of the household trash we all accumulate that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to throw away on trash night.

Acceptable items include furniture of all sorts in any condition, mattresses, televisions, microwave ovens, desks, shelves… just about anything you’ve been wanting to throw out that you couldn’t put in a trash bag. The rule is that only one item should be set out, and the collection crews will only pick up one item. Many people can actually put out more than that if the items are in good enough condition that someone else may want to pick them up before the city trucks arrive. Smaller items like old toys should be places in trash bags. As always, the city asks that you do not put any trash out more than 24 hours beforehand.

Some items are considered hazardous waste and are not acceptable. Major appliances like washers and dryers, power equipment like lawn mowers, non-recyclable items like tires, paint containers, and car batteries cannot be picked up. That only makes sense when you consider that the trash is not just magically disappearing. It’s being taken the Lake View Landfill in Summit Township, and you don’t want to put poisons in a landfill!

If you have any questions about what you can and cannot throw away during this period, please call the Erie recycling hotline at 814-870-1450

The Little Italy Neighborhood Watch supports Skate Erie and  encourages everyone to attend their upcoming events this Spring.

Visit Skate Erie’s MySpace page on the web and their own website at http://www.skateerie.com.

The Skate Erie Association (SEA) can be reached by email at erieskatepark@yahoo.com or through their mailing address at 908 West 8th St, Erie, PA 16502. They can be reached by phone at 814-454-0094

Little Italy is proud to be the future home of Erie’s first skate park. Please support them in any way you can by contacting president Kim Berlee Berdis, vice president Marc Buccigrossi, treasurer Jessica Horan-Kunco, or secretary Debbie Hoover.