Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance February Meeting

By Robert Press

VNNA President Bernadette Ferrara opened the meeting announcing that Community Board 11 would be having a meeting of its Health and Social Services Committee on Tuesday February 11th at the board office 1741 Colden Avenue at 7 PM. The main topic would be a proposed 200 adult mens shelter at 1400 Blondell Avenue in CB 11. The provider would be present with the proposal.

Ms. Ferrara then introduced Ruth Papazian candidate for the 14th Congressional District Republican Party June primary. Ms. Papazian spoke and took a few questions from the audience.

Captain Natiw of the 49th Precinct spoke of the rise of minor crimes and overall increase in the seven categories of 14% for January 2020 over the same period of January 2019. he added that Hondas and Acuras are being stolen. He suggested that owners of these cars subscribe to the manufacturer's GPS recovery program, or get some other GPS system so their car may be found if it is stolen. Crime prevention Officer Mederos warned of a new phone scam where people are asked for money. He also said if anyone has an IPhone or IWatch by Apple not to have the item out in the open for thieves to see. He also suggested that any Ear Buds be covered up so thieves can't see them alerting the crooks that the person has an IPhone.

Maria Matos from the U.S. Census Bureau spoke about how important it is to fill out the Census 2020. She said that every ten years the federal government counts the population to see if any people moved out or into the states they live in. Based on the census numbers a state can gain or loose representative(s) in Congress, and federal funding due to population shifts. She closed by saying there will be several ways to fill out the census, and several different ways of how the U.S. Census will try to have people fill out the census, including jobs that are still available.

Representatives of local elected officials gave reports of upcoming events, and what literature they brought with them. The meeting was adjourned after Ms. Ferrara spoke of changing the membership year from February to February since the VNNA does not meet in January. She then asked if anyone wanted to pay their dues or join the VNNA.

Captain Natiw going over the January crime statistics.