Vehicle Burglaries

I was having lunch with the North Police Chief, Leland Strickland at the "Prince" on Randol Mill one day.  As we were standing in line to pay the bill, a lady came up to him and asked if he would step into the parking lot.  Her van had been burglarized in broad daylight, in the parking lot.  A computer was stolen from the van and the side window was broken out.  I want to bring this to your attention because car burglaries are very prevalent in North Arlington, and there are simple/common sense precautions that can be taken to help prevent you from becoming a victim.  Here are some suggestions:

1. Take your keys with you.
2. Lock your car.
3. Park in attended lots if possible.
4. Completely close your car doors.
5. Take your valuables with you or hide them.
6. If you take your items out of the car and place them in the trunk, be advised that burglars might be watching you do this.
7. Park in your garage if possible, and lock your garage and the vehicle inside the garage.
8. Replace any T shaped lock handles with straight locks.
9. Engrave your driver's license number on any expensive accessories.  Engravers cost less than $10.
10. If possible install visible alarm systems.
11. Utilize wheel locks/lugs.
12. When possible avoid parking between large vehicles.  They provide cover criminals.
13. Remove detachable radio faceplates when able.

Many times you can observe suspicious behavior.  If you see any of the following behavior please dial 911 and report it to a dispatcher:

• Pulling door handles
• Looking in windows
• Odd clothing for the time of year (long coats or gloves being worn in summer)
• Lookouts
• Nervous looking behavior (constantly looking around, rapid movements)
• Checking for alarms by bumping windows or bumpers for sensitivity.

Tomorrow is National Night Out, so talk to the officers to see if there has been any auto burglaries reported in your neighborhoods.  Talk about some of these precautions to see how you can better protect your possessions.  But most of all watch for suspicious behavior in your neighborhoods and report it.  Be a proactive neighbor!  Hope to see you tomorrow evening.

One Observant Lady

I had the pleasure of having lunch yesterday with the North Police Chief, Leland Strickland.  He told me of an arrest concerning a burglar that was operating in the Monopoly Street area, and around the Canty and Randy Snow apartment complexes.  Common procedure is to canvas the area and ask the neighbors if they had seen anything suspicious.  One lady not only said yes, but gave a description of the vehicle, complete with license plate.

The car was located and the residence was put under surveillance.  After selling some stolen merchandise, the items were a match to a burglary in the above area.  The suspect was apprehended, and during questioning a cache of guns was located at another apartment.  I wanted to bring this to your attention because of the action/observation of one lady that saw something out of the ordinary.  She didn’t call 911, but she should have.  She had vital information and didn’t think that it was important enough to bother the police with it.  You are the eyes and ears of the community.  You have the power to help stop bad people from committing crimes in your neighborhoods.  This lady is to be commended for her situational awareness and attention to detail.  Without her astute observation the bad guys would still be on the street putting our possessions at risk.  If something looks suspicious or out of place, it probably is, so dial 911.

National Night Out is Tuesday, October 1st.  Just in North Arlington alone, there will be 30 different gatherings to celebrate this event.  We have remarkable people watching over us on the Arlington Police Force.  The closer our relationship can become, the better we will be served as a community.  I hope to see several of you Tuesday night.  

Arlington Signage

One of the items that I put on my door hangers during my campaign was Arlington Signage welcoming visitors to our city.  This is an example of seeing something that needed to be accomplished and the City Manager and Staff already taking this for action. 

The city received a grant from the state in 2012, for the beautification of state thoroughfares.  The amount of the grant was $310,000, and the city added another $50,000 from the general fund.  The above sign will be 20’x 20’, with letters that will be 2’ high.  The sign will be illuminated with different colors at night to accentuate the visibility.  Placement of the first two signs will be along I-30, near Randol Mill going east, and near the Crown Plaza going westbound.  Additional signs of the same type will be located along I-20 and 360 in the coming years.  Construction is scheduled for early summer 2014.

In addition to these signs, there will be different signs in our city to designate the entertainment district.  These will be 30’ high and will cost $450,000.  They will be funded through the hotel occupancy tax.  Their placement will be within the city to designate the boundaries of the entertainment district.

Back In Town

Just a note to say that I am back in town after the annual vacation to the islands.  Leisure time is over, I feel rejuvenated and ready to get back to work doing the city's business.  However, while I was gone there were a few incidents that were of significant impact to our community.  First, there was a fire at 700 Kyle Dr. the day that I left.  Station 8 Firefighters arrived on the scene at 11:50 and the fire was extinguished at 12:50.  This was a very damaging fire, almost a total loss.  The fire was believed to have started in the attic and or garage area. 

The second event was the double homicide at 2100 Madison Dr. near Whole Foods on Sept 7th.  On Sept 11 two suspects in the case were arrested.  On 13 Sept a third suspect was arrested.  Anibal Hernandez of Arlington and Miguel Trevino of Euless are both charged with Murder and the third suspect faces charges of Tampering with Evidence. 

What I want to bring to your attention is the fact that we live in a world where your life can be altered or terminated in an instant.  There are bad people in this world everywhere you go.  But there are also people like the first responders in both of these incidents that go above and beyond their calling.  I am always amazed at the efficiency of the committed professionals that respond to emergencies in our community.  I want to simply say thank you to the Arlington Firefighters and Police Officers that make our community a safer place to live.   

State of the District

I have been remiss in not posting on this subject earlier.  My efforts were channeled in having a successful Town Hall Meeting and I haven't gotten to this subject until now.  I had an opportunity to attend the "State of the District" luncheon held about a week ago.  This is an annual luncheon sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, for the purpose of announcing results of AISD student performance, and solutions to existing challenges.  The AISD Superintendent, Dr. Marcelo Cavazos conducted the body of the presentation.

This was the first year of the new state standard, and the AISD as a district performed admirably.  As you may know, it is very important for potential residents in our area to know that a quality education can be attained in our public schools.  After the testing of the 2010 school year, my district had three of the five "Academically Unacceptable" schools within its boundaries.  The AISD has made strategic changes to meet these challenges and they have paid off.  All three schools were brought up to "Meets Standards'.  Two of the three schools have done so with "Distinction".  Results:

Lamar High                         Met Standards with Distinction               Principal Dr. Larry Harmon

Shackleford Jr. High            Met Standards with Distinction (3)          Principal Andy Hagman

Roquemore Elementary        Met Standards                                     Principal Yvonne DuPont

It is important to note the the following:

3 of 6 high schools, 12 of 12 junior high and 24 of 50 elementary schools received at least one distinction.  Shackelford Junior High has received "Distinction" in all three categories.  Ellis and Speer elementary were the only schools in District 1 that did not "Meet Standards".

I want to personally thank Dr. Cavazos, the AISD Board, the Principals and all of the hard working faculties for the successes that they have achieved.  The education of our children is the most fundamental investment that we can make in our future.  The dedication of our AISD educators are already paying dividends.  Well Done!

Aftermath

The town hall meeting was a huge success.  We had 500 people in attendance and all seemed very interested and supportive of this project.  My purpose in calling this meeting was to lay all the cards on the table so that you now know what I know.  You know where we are with Fannie Mae.  That there is one piece of the puzzle that isn't under contract, and why.  We tried to answer all the hard and commonly asked questions.  This town hall meeting on the Lamar Project was our effort to be transparent and open concerning every aspect of this issue.  You responded admirably!

As a result of the meeting, I have not heard one negative comment.  I have been asked several questions that are difficult and I will try to answer a few here.

1. You supported the Lamar project and voted against the Abrams Lofts.  The density is the same, how can you do that?  A.  If you do the simple math you will see that the number of door knobs are the same but the number of people are twice as much on Abrams as Lamar.  692 students divided by 4.25 acres is 165 per acre.  Lamar is 78 people per acre.  The number of door knobs is 53 per acre for both.  The two student housing projects on the south side of Abrams are 67 and 116 people per acre, that's enough.

2.  Why would I want to rent and pay $1,200 to live next to the hood?  A.  This single project will infuse $178 million into that area.  You are looking at this project as it looks today.  The interest that this project will attract is already starting to show and we haven't gotten everyone under contract yet.  Senior living people have showed interest.  The TXDOT properties are back in play.  Today's hood isn't going to be tomorrow's hood.  Have some vision.  Also changing neighborhoods doesn't happen over night, be patient.  If you have better ideas or solutions, I will be glad to entertain them.  If you have more money I will be glad to put it to work in this area. 

3.  Apartments don't commit crimes people commit crimes and you will simply relocate people to other apartments and the problem will simply be relocated.  This doesn't solve anything.  A.  When I took office gun shots were commonly heard each night.  With police and code cooperation we have moved gangs out and relocated them elsewhere.  The President's corner area is safer today due to that effort.  Yes they relocated and I'm certain that they are still out there, but those efforts have improved this neighborhood.  There are 45,000 multi family door knobs in Arlington.  Mr. Kembel talked about his relocation plans.  He is an earnest and sincere man with Arlington's best interest at heart.  He will soon move here and his family will become Arlington citizens.  He has skin in the game.  I referred to a study done by Dr. Bowman concerning calls to service verses apartment condition/economic level of residents.  I showed two different apartments complexes and the difference in calls to service and why.  We showed you how we plan to maintain the apartments over time.  I told you that I would take you to single family neighborhoods that are unsafe due totally to the above factors and not density.  The hypothesis that density produces crime is inaccurate and you will have to come to terms with that.  The world is a complicated place.  I don't plan on fixing it, just making it a better place to live.

4.What are the infrastructure costs?  Where is that money coming from?  A.  Demo is 2.5 and sewer and drainage is 750K.  These monies will come from our economic development department/capitol budget.  The 5.2 for the park renewal and linear median park will come from Parks and Recreation budgets.

I would like to go on record and thank my co-host Jimmy Bennett, and the panel of Trey Yelverton, Bob Kembel, Bruce Payne and Bowie Hogg.  Their knowledge and honesty was displayed for everyone to see.  Simply put, we are men that are trying to make Arlington a better place to live.  It was a great town hall and it couldn't have succeeded without the support of the citizens of Arlington.  Thank you!

Town Hall Meeting

Just a reminder that next Monday on the 26th there will be a Town Hall Meeting at the Convention Center, rooms 5-8.  The event will start at 7:00 pm and last till 9:00.  The subject will be the apartment project on Lamar from Lincoln to Rolling Hills Country Club.  Jimmy Bennett and I will be co-hosting the event.

Schedule of Events

Introductions--Charlie Parker

Efforts by the City of Arlington--Jimmy Bennett

Rehab vs. Redevelopment--Charlie Parker

History of the Project--Trey Yelverton

Project Overview--Bob Kembel

380 Agreement--Bruce Payne

Roquemore Elementary--Bowie Hogg

Questions

This is a very important meeting that will give answers to questions and dispel rumors surrounding this  project and it's importance to our community.  Please take the time out from your schedules at home and attend this meeting.   I think that you will be well informed for your efforts.