Topic: Fort Worth

Code Blue Training Class
Saturday October 13th
8a.m. to 4p.m.

Police Academy
1000 Calvert St. Fort Worth

Please contact Rick or Cathy Pepper at code.blue@txpepper.com

As the fastest growing neighborhood in North Fort Worth, volunteers are always welcome and needed to ensure our safe, family friendly community for all homeowners and their guests. The Fort Worth Citizens on Patrol (Code Blue) program allows private citizens to be the "eyes and ears" of the Fort Worth police.

Code Blue members are issued special Code Blue identification (shirts, hats, jackets and badges) as well as police radios. The time spent patrolling our neighborhood is completely voluntary. For more information visit the:

Crime Watch / Code Blue
section on our website.

The 2007 Citizen on Patrol Training Classes

Training classes are held in the auditorium at the Police Training Center at 1000 Calvert. All classes are held on a Saturday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.


October 13, 2007

Code Blue Training Class
Saturday July 14th
8a.m. to 4p.m.
Police Academy
1000 Calvert St. Fort Worth

Please contact Rick or Cathy Pepper at code.blue@txpepper.com

As the fastest growing neighborhood in North Fort Worth, volunteers are always welcome and needed to ensure our safe, family friendly community for all home owners and their guests. The Fort Worth Citizens on Patrol (Code Blue) program allows private citizens to be the "eyes and ears" of the Fort Worth police.

Code Blue members are issued special Code Blue identification (shirts, hats, jackets and badges) as well as police radios. The time spent patrolling our neighborhood is completely voluntary. For more information visit the:

Crime Watch / Code Blue

section on our website.

The 2007 Citizen on Patrol Training Classes

Training classes are held in the auditorium at the Police Training Center at 1000 Calvert. All classes are held on a Saturday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

July 14, 2007
October 13, 2007

The 2007 Summer Reading Challenge is June 2 through July 28. You may read to yourself, read to another person, or enjoy having somebody read to you. People of all ages are welcome to join.

This year the Fort Worth Public Library will use the Summer Re*ader Web site to keep track of days read. A link to Summer Re*ader is on the library's home page. You can sign up on your own or ask a librarian to help you. You can still keep track of your reading by using a paper calendar. Just bring your calendar to the library and staff will help you log it into Summer Re*ader.

Each day that you read for at least 20 minutes, either mark that day on your calendar or log onto Summer Re*ader to track your progress.

When you have marked ten days off on your calendar or online, come to the library to claim your prize. You will get a certificate and a book bag, and be entered into the prize drawing.

Every time you read at least 20 minutes for an additional ten days, you will earn another entry for the prize drawing.

Drawings in five different age groups will be held at the end of June and the end of July for each library location. The age groups are 0-3, 4-7, 8-12, 13-18, and Adult (19 years and up). Winners will be notified by July 3 and August 3 for each drawing.

For more details or to sign up, you can visit the Ft Worth Library website or any Ft Worth library.

Courtesy of the City of Fort Worth Communications Department

Fort Worth Neighborhoods receive honors at 2007 Neighborhoods, USA Conference

Fort Worth, Texas - Three Fort Worth neighborhood associations walked away with honors at the 32nd annual conference of Neighborhoods, USA (NUSA), in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Friday, May 25. Oakhurst Neighborhood Association was named the 1st Place Winner in the category of Multi-Neighborhood Project Partnerships; while the Lake Worth Alliance received 3rd place honors. Historic Carver Heights was recognized with 3rd place honors in the category of Physical Revitalization-Beautification in a Single Neighborhood. The Garden of Eden Neighborhood Association, 2006 national "Neighborhood of the Year", was also a finalist in this category.

In the category of Multi-Neighborhood Project Partnerships, the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association received 1st place honors at NUSA for its 19th Annual Oakhurst Code Blue Police and Firefighters Dinner, a community meal organized by Oakhurst's Neighborhood Patrol (Code Blue) to honor the work of police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel who respond to emergencies in Oakhurst and the north sector of Fort Worth. Lake Worth Alliance received 3rd place honors for its project to heighten community awareness of Lake Worth as an endangered water resource and successfully advocate for the implementation of the city's pilot dredging project.

In the category of Physical Revitalization/Beautification in a Single Neighborhood, Historic Carver Heights, was awarded 3rd place for its Wildcat Creek Clean-Up project, which focused on improving safety, beautifying a park area and revitalizing a neighborhood corridor by partnering with city departments. Fort Worth's Garden of Eden Neighborhood Association was a finalist in this category for its project to completely renovate a home that had been unoccupied for ten years due to a hate crime committed there in 1996.

Neighborhoods, USA, a national non-profit committed to building and strengthening neighborhood organizations, annually presents these awards, which are the only national awards given on an ongoing basis to neighborhood organizations in recognition of their outstanding projects.

Courtesy of Fort Worth's Animal Care and Control Division

FORT WORTH - A low-cost pet license and vaccination clinic is set from 1 to 3 p.m. June 2, 2007 at Lake Como Park, 3401 Lake Como Drive. The clinic is designed to increase the number of pets with current tags and rabies vaccinations.

The annual city pet license usually costs $7, and a rabies vaccination can cost even more. However, in order to increase the number of animals with current identification and protect residents and pets from rabies, Fort Worth's Animal Care and Control Division offers both the license and the three-year rabies vaccination for only $4.

You also can have your pet microchipped for $10. Microchips are tiny, rice-sized computer chips injected under the skin on the pet's shoulder. A unique number - that traces back to the owner - is assigned to each animal. All lost pets are scanned for microchips when they arrive at the city's animal shelter.

Owners of impounded animals with current identification are quickly notified when a pet is lost. However, although all pets in Fort Worth are required to be licensed, less than 1 percent of impounded animals have identification. Animal Care and Control officials believe the lack of identification is the number one reason for high euthanasia rates in animal shelters.

The rabies vaccination also is required for all pets to protect the population from the threat of the deadly rabies virus present in wild animal populations. For additional information, call 817-392-3737.

A reminder to all residents that the City of Fort Worth has a Water Conservation Ordinance. The main provision of this ordinance is that there is no landscape watering between 10 a.m. and 6.p.m., with the exception of watering by hand or with soaker hoses. This time of day restriction is in effect each year, June 1-September 30. For more information, visit the Ft Worth Water Department Water Conservation webpage.

CODE BLUE – The Villages of Woodland Springs – March 2007

March has seen VOWS residents assisting the FWPD to apprehend some bad guys committing crimes in our neighborhood. Captain Reid of the FWPD commended two of our Code Blue patrollers for helping catch some graffiti painters and the recovery of a stolen vehicle. Many of our residents are reporting graffiti and suspicious activities they observed in VOWS. Thank you! This is the type of community concern that will show the bad actors VOWS is a frustrating place to commit crime!

Currently, construction site thefts are the target of choice for criminals in VOWS and the surrounding areas. Please pay particular attention to any new homes and builder’s trailers in your village. Call the non-emergency number (817-335-4222) with license tags of any suspicious vehicles. A good clue that crime may be occurring is if you observe workers taking appliances, plumbing fixtures, wood, bricks, or equipment out of houses under construction or off work sites. This type of theft is probably occurring shortly after legitimate work crews are finished for the day. License tags are crucial to catching the bad guys, so be observant and accurate. The more information you can give the PD, the better chance they have to catch the bad guys.

As always, keep your vehicles locked in your garage and keep valuables totally out of site if you must park in the drive or street. March 2007 Confirmed Crime Report

13Mar07 - Summerwind Dr. - Burglary – Building (construction trailer)
17Mar07 - Spotted Owl Dr. - Theft – Shrubbery (yes… someone stole a plant!)

R. Pepper – VOWS Citizens on Patrol

At 1:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, weather permitting, the City of Fort Worth/Tarrant County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will activate/test the 132 outdoor warning sirens located within the city limits of Fort Worth.

The sirens for The Villages of Woodland Springs are located at 11697 Park Vista Road (siren #12) and 11997 Timberland Blvd (siren #105). These are the sirens we would hear should imminently dangerous weather be approaching.

As a result of the recent expansion of coverage, many citizens of Fort Worth will be hearing a siren at their home or office for the very first time. Even those who have had a siren near them in the past will probably be surprised by the unique and powerful electronic sound* of the new sirens. Each siren, which covers up to four square miles, has a signal strength of 127 decibels within 100 feet of the siren and approximately 70 decibels at the edge of their projected sound radius.

Golden Triangle Public Meeting

The City of Fort Worth Transportation & Public Works Department will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, March 27th, 2007 at 7 PM at the Chapel, 4101 Golden Triangle Blvd., regarding the improvements for Golden Triangle Blvd. This is a great opportunity to get the latest updates on plans to resolve the issues with Golden Triangle. Please encourage your neighbors to attend.

Dear NFW Amigos:

Here is the latest on Keller Hicks road per TPW staff contingent on council moving forward with the outstanding critical capital needs package (over 110M):

Message from TPW:

The schedule is tight, but we are still planning to start construction on the segment in front of the schools and through the Alta Vista intersection as soon as school lets out at the end of May. I don't see how we can complete it during the summer, but we plan to be complete before Thanksgiving. The segment from Alta Vista to Park Vista is scheduled for construction in 2008.

Respectfully,

Sal Espino
District 2 Councilmember

Submitted by Lt. Shawn Stone FWPD

I hope that this finds each of you well and prepared for your kid’s spring break. I hope that each of you were able to attend the Police Forum we had at Northwest High School on January 30, 2007. The main issues were emergency response times and road conditions. These are Councilman Sal Espino’s main concerns and are mine as well. Hopefully, some of the new officers we have hired can make a dent in response times when they finally hit the streets.

I believe that spring is going to pass us by and we will go straight into summer as the temperature has been averaging highs in the 60’s and 70’s the past two weeks. As a result of this warmer weather, more and more of you are going to be working in the garage and in the yard. To leave your garage open and unattended invites thefts so please make sure you close your garage door when you go into the house or back yard. Lawnmowers and other yard implements are very useful but are also expensive to replace. Plus, you can’t play golf with those new golf clubs if they are stolen when you aren’t looking.

Our auto thefts have declined from early December when I had first requested the city to use the reverse 9-1-1 to warn about leaving keys in unattended vehicles. The emphasis now shifts to open and unattended garage doors. I will ask the city to use the reverse 9-1-1 to warn of the thefts that this encourages. Also, please insure that all valuables are removed from your vehicle and that it is locked. We had a spike in burglaries of motor vehicles in them middle of February and a lot were the result of opening an unlocked vehicle and taking what was in plain view.

Until next time let’s watch out for one another… I’ll be back next month.

Here is the February 2007 Crime Report…

09Feb07 .. Bay View Dr. ..... Burglary (Motor Vehicle)
10Feb07 .. Red Wolf Dr. ..... Burglary (Motor Vehicle)
11Feb07 .. Durango Root Dr. . Narcotic Violation
16Feb07 .. Crystal Falls Dr.. Theft
21Feb07 .. Hollow Valley Dr.. Theft (Construction)
25Feb07 .. Grey Twig Dr. .... Theft (Building)

Thank you for watching out for suspicious activity and reporting it through 9-1-1 (life-threatening or crime in progress) and the Non-emergency Number (817 335 4222).

You can become more involved in preventing crime in VOWS through a number of FWPD programs. Consider organizing a block Crime Watch group with your immediate neighbors. There are some groups forming right now in VOWS. For more information on how to establish a group, contact our neighborhood police officer (NPO) Mark Povero, (817 212 2875).

If you are interested in more active participation and a higher level of commitment, think about the Citizens on Patrol/ Code Blue program. Participation requires a day of classroom training and a shift riding with a FWPD patrol officer. COP patrollers are extra eyes and ears of the FWPD and are a proven deterrent to criminal activity. Contact us at code.blue@txpepper.com for full information.

At an even higher level of commitment you may want to train in the Citizens Police Academy. This is 12 week, 1 night per week extensive training program that educates you about all phases and functions in public safety. If interested, please contact our NPO.

Details about these programs and much more is available at http://www.fortworthpd.com

Rick Pepper

Dear NFW Friends:

Thank you for working together to improve our council district and our great city.

Please join us for a North Fort Worth Meet and Greet Reception with Councilmember Sal Espino.

Come on by and enjoy good food, refreshments, and company. Bring your family and friends. Please feel free to distribute this email invite.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Snooty Pig Cafe
2401 Westpork Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76177

Voluntary Contributions Accepted.

Please RSVP to sal_fw@yahoo.com.

Recently, numerous residents in the VOWS have expressed interest in the Crime Watch program and several Crime Watch groups have already organized. Crime Watch is a wonderful program used to prevent crime in your neighborhood. Block Captains organize a group of neighbors who get to know one another and familiarize themselves with each others schedules, habits, etc. Anything out of the ordinary will be noticed by a neighbor and called in to police. If you have any question about Crime Watch, or are interested in starting your own group, please call our Crime Prevention coordinator, Cruz Marquez, at 817-871-6450.

If you really want to be “hands-on” in your effort to keep your community safe, consider joining Code Blue. The VOWS Code Blue group is very active in patrolling your neighborhood streets. They carry police radios and are the Fort Worth Police Department’s eyes and ears. They call in anything suspicious over the radio and patrol officers respond to check it out. If you want to go “above and beyond” and join Code Blue, please call me and I will explain to you how to get started.

The most prevalent crime in the VOWS is vehicle burglaries. Please remember to take all valuables out of your car when you go into your house and lock the car doors.

Don’t be a victim! Remember, the best way to prevent crime is COMMON SENSE!

Stay Safe and Stay in Touch,

Officer Marc Povero
817-996-0406

Thanks to numerous citizens in far north Fort Worth including some in the VOWS, our police storefront at 2421 Westport Parkway is operational and staffed part time by Fort Worth police officers. The NPO for Sendera Ranch, Officer Brad Black, and I now have computer access to our police department’s main computer system. This access allows us to remain in the Alliance area when we analyze our crime statistics instead of traveling to the N. Beach sector. More importantly, this computer access allows patrol officers working in your neighborhood to file reports from the storefront instead of traveling to the main sector. This will help reduce response times to incidents that may occur in the far north Fort Worth region.

Come on by and say hi if you’re ever in the area.

Stay Safe and Stay in Touch,

Officer Marc Povero
817-996-0406

From Sal Espino, Fort Worth District 2 Councilmember

The next meeting will be held at the Region XI Education Service Center, 3001 North Freeway (IH 35W), on Thursday, March 8, 2007. This will include an open house with displays available for viewing from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The focus of this meeting will be on that portion of IH-35W between North Loop 820 and SH 114.

For more information about this meeting, please click on the following link.

IH 35W CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENT STUDY

Submitted by Mark Rauscher

Submitted by Lt. Shawn Stone FWPD

I hope that each of you were notified and were able to attend the Police Forum we had at Northwest High School on January 30, 2007. It was my first time to host as an NPD commander and I think it was a success.

The cold weather has certainly come on strong again… The temperature is below freezing and the Metroplex is reeling from its second winter storm of the year. The snow and ice caught several of us without warning and stranded several people without cars after having accidents. As another result of the cold weather, the crime of auto theft is now the driving force behind our offenses. This past week, we had 13 auto thefts, all but one had been left running to warm up with the keys in the ignition. In early December, I had requested the city to use a reverse 9-1-1 to ask our citizens to not leave their keys in unattended vehicles, however we are still having vehicles taken with the keys left in them.

This was even mentioned in the Police Forum as a deterrent from leaving keys in the ignition. Parking citations are now required to be written by our officers when a theft occurs as a result of keys being left in the ignition. These parking citations are $100.00 each, but it’s still less than the cost of replacing your vehicle in the event it is stolen.

Also, please insure that all valuables are removed from your vehicle and that it is locked. Almost half of our burglaries of motor vehicles are a result of opening an unlocked vehicle and taking what is in plain view.

Until next time let’s watch over one another…

I’ll be back next month.

Fort Worth water customers may notice a change in the taste of their water over the next few months. Maintenance activities by Tarrant Regional Water District and construction related to expansion of the Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant are the reasons.

Tarrant Regional Water District is taking the 90-inch pipeline from Richland Chambers Reservoir out of service starting Monday for about one month. The Rolling Hills Water Treatment Plant will be receiving a blend of water from Cedar Creek Reservoir and Lake Benbrook during this time as opposed to the normal blend of water from Richland Chambers and Cedar Creek Reservoirs.

In mid- February, the Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant will be shutdown for about three weeks for construction activity related to the plant's expansion from 70 million gallons a day to 105 MGD. When the plant does resume service, it will be using conventional treatment with chlorine and ammonia instead of its usual ozone treatment. The new ozone equipment should be installed and operational by mid-April.

Every water source has its own distinct taste characteristics. This means customers may detect a change in the taste and smell of their water. Some customers are more sensitive to this than others. There is no water quality issue associated with these changes.