Crime and (we hope) punishment
Lt. Capriglione’s crime report for Sector 313 is out. Not great news. There was what police call a drug-related robbery in the 2000 block of Lakeview Ave. and an arrest was made. Otherwise, Byrd Park was quiet in June according to the report. The Fan, not so.
Violent Crime:
27% decrease
6/2009 vs. 6/2008 – eight (8) crimes vs. eleven (11) crimes.
Property Crime:
16% increase
6/2009 vs. 6/2008 – sixty-five (65) crimes vs. fifty-six (56) crimes
Major Crime:
ROBBERY – INDIVIDUAL
600% increase
6/2009 vs. 6/2008 – seven (7) robberies vs. one (1) robbery
9% increase
6/2009 vs. 6/2008 – seventy-three (73) crimes vs. sixty-seven (67) crimes
Not sure what category this fits into, but just now (8:30 pm Wednesday) a very substantial branch of a tree suddenly collapsed and fell into the road up near the lake. Very lucky that no one was hurt. There were some people nearby who perhaps had something to do with it. I did not see what happened and could not stick around but a police officer was checking the scene out when I left. Do the trees around the park need to be trimmed more often? This was a scary situation.
Not sure, but the city’s arborist is going to have his hands full in our neighborhood later this summer as the dry weather sets in. The city has marked what looks like a beech tree for removal on our block (it could be a hackberry, I’m not great at telling the difference). The elms on our block that I posted about earlier this year hung on during the wet spring but are starting to droop and dry up, and there’s a big one on the edge of the park at Lakeview that’s all but dead.
The City Aborist came to the Civic league meeting a few months ago and told us alot about the trees in our neighbourhood and the park. He did say that citizens have to be their eyes. They can’t keep up with everything without people’s help. You can report a damaged or dying tree to the city’s 311 telephone line. We’ve reported ones outside our house damaged by large trucks and they came quickly and removed the hanging limb and other damaged parts.