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Home My WebLink About09/14/06� B A K E R S F I E L D Irma Carson, C Mike Maggard Jacquie Sulliva Staff: John W. REGULAR MEETING OF THE SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE and Community Advisory Committee of the City Council - City of Bakersfield September 14, 2006 11:30 a.m. City Manager's Conference Room 1501 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, CA 93301 AGENDA 1. ROLL CALL 2. ADOPTION OF AUGUST 10, 2006 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS a. Update regarding Gang and Graffiti Enforcement — Police Chief Rector b. Update on State of Emergency Action Plan — Greg Williamson & Beverly Jo c. Discussion regarding Park Watch Program — Dianne Hoover 5. NEW BUSINESS 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT � ,�.�-�.�...,,.,.. B A K E R S F I E L D AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Staff: Alan Christensen, Assistant City Manager Councilmember, Irma Carson - Chair Councilmember, Mike Maggard Councilmember, Jacquie Sullivan REGULAR MEETING SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS and COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE and Community Advisory Committee of the City of Bakersfield Thursday, August 10, 2006 11:30 a.m. City Manager's Conference Room The meeting was called to order at 11:40 a.m. 1. 2. 3. 4. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmember, Irma Carson - Chair Councilmember, Jacquie Sullivan Absent: Councilmember, Mike Maggard Advisory members present: Bob Malouf, Employers Training Resource; David Strong, Corp 4 Better Housing. ADOPTION OF THE JULY 14, 2006 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. PUBLIC STATEMENTS None DEFERRED BUSINESS a. Update regarding Gang and Graffiti Enforcement (Police Chief Rector) Police Chief Rector gave an overview of statistical information on Gang and Graffiti violence. There were 55 gang shootings in 2004, 85 in 2005, and 30 in 2006. There Safe Neighborhoods and Community Relations Committee August 10, 2006 Agenda Summary Report Page 2 were 32 homicides, 16 of which were gang related. Approximately 114 graffiti arrests have been made and 223 cases were cleared, with most of these arrests being juveniles. For the first 6 months of 2006, the Gang Enforcement Unit made 1,300 arrests, seized 77 firearms, and conducted almost 1,900 probation/parole searches. b. Discussion regarding Safer Neighborhood Parks Assistant City Manager, Alan Christens�n, informed the Committee that a letter that will be mailed out to our State representatives requesting legislation for safer parks. It will state that the Safe Neighborhoods and Community Relations Committee is seeking to establish crime-free zones around �all public parks. This legislation would be similar to the current provision under California State law which establishes safe zones around all schools. Recreation and Parks Director, Dianne Hoover, said that cameras are being installed in several public parks around the City, but the location of the cameras will not to be known to the general public. She also mentioned that they had a meeting at Silver Creek and Riverwalk Parks to discuss setting up the Neighborhood Watch/Park Watch Program. Karen Bennett with the Police Department Crime Prevention Division was present at the meetings and gave information to the public as to how they could get started on the program. Kern Security was hired to patrol certain parks after the hours of operation (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.). c. Discussion regarding timeline to development a plan for State of Emergency to Stop the Violence (Committee Chair Carson) Committee Chair Carson distributed the draft State of Emergency Action Plan for discussion. Beverly Johnson, Department of Health Services; Mark Stansbury, Ebony Counseling Center; Karen Goh, Garden Pathways, Inc. and Sheryl Barbich, Vision 2020 have volunteered to write the plan. It will consist of a five-step strategy which is Intervention, Prevention, Community Involvement, Job creation and Suppression. Ms. Carson said that the timeline for the draft to be completed is no later than December, 2006. She also mentioned that they will consider the adoption of a joint standing committee at the September 18th Joint City/County Meeting and the plan will be submitted to the Committee at that time. 5. NEW BUSINESS No Items 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS None 7. - ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 p.m. Safe Neighborhoods and Community Relations Committee August 10, 2006 Agenda Summary Report Page 3 Staff present: Assistant City Manager, Alan Christensen; Assistant City Manager, John W. Stinson; City Attorney, Virginia Gennaro; Recreation and Parks, Dianne Hoover; Police Chief, William Rector; Capt. Archie Scott, Lt. Hajir Nurridin, Bakersfield Police Department; and Capt. Tim Taylor. Others present: Karen Goh, Garden Pathways; Marque Standsbarry, Ebony Counseling Center; Manuel Gonzalez, Stay Focused; Patricia Cueto; Tom Dinnauer, Valley Plaza; and several members of the media. cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council �• . ��-� -F.�'i�i :-• � �• � � • � �I• • _ �T� � � �• •I�I� :� F �T� • �• :� �[� � - � - �� - L��IIII: Date: To: From: Subject: � B A K E R S F I E L D Department of Recreation and Parks September 11, 2006 Alan Tandy � Dia e oover Park Watch Programs The following report will outline the various programs already in place that could be considered part of a comprehensive Park Watch program. Finaliy, the report will outline some of the challenges of a Park Ambassador type program. The four areas outlined below include: 1) Neighborhood/Park Watch 2) Adopt - a- Park Program 3) Park Patrol 4) Park Ambassador Program 1) Neiahborhood/Park Watch This program is set up by the Police Department and is being encouraged in neighborhoods all over the city. Basically, neighbors come to a general meeting and are given information on how they can be the eyes and ears in and around their neighborhood parks. If they see something inappropriate, contact the police with as much details as possible: descriptions, license plate numbers, time of day, etc. We have already offered Neighborhood/Park Watch at Silver � Creek and at The Park at River Walk in conjunction with the Police Department. Staff is willing to offer the trainings in other park areas where the neighbors are interested in keeping "watch" over the park and neighborhood. ' 2) Adopt — A— Park Proaram The Adopt — a— Park program is the same as adopting a portion of a highway, street or trail. This works especially with scout troops, a non-profit organization or even a family interested in seeing their neighborhood park really shine. Interested groups can contact the city for an agreement. Terms of the agreement could be such that the group agrees to certain projects within a given year: paint the restrooms once, plant and maintain flower beds, paint picnic tables or enhance park signs with landscaping. Volunteer groups such as these would need to provide their own liability insurance. 3) Park Ambassador Pro�ram The Park Ambassador program is in a proposal stage and has developed into finro different scenarios: Scenario A: Have volunteers stationed at a kiosk area and be available for answers to questions, assistance with reservation assignments, and have information available on park rules and regulations. Volunteers would be designated by a nametag, shirt, hat, or vest indicating their status with the City of Bakersfield and would be assigned to the booth for a specific time. Scenario B: Volunteers would be trained by the Bakersfield Police Department as citizen ambassadors to walk around the park and assist park users in a friendly, non-confrontational manner. They could possibly help with explaining park rules, offer assistance to and from their cars, point out various features of the park, and basically deter illegal activity. Both scenarios would require extensive training by the Bakersfieid Police Department, background and fingerprint checks. These volunteers would not carry radios, but may be able to use their personal cell phones to contact the police or fire departments in cases of emergency. Volunteers may have to provide proof of insurance and be willing to assume the risks that are associated with the interaction of people. The city would also need someone on staff to coordinate the volunteer schedules. Once these volunteers are trained, you would not want everyone showing up at once, so coordinating schedules would be necessary. Monitoring the volunteers' performance of their duties would be an essential part of the coordinator's job as well. Therefore, the Park Ambassador Program is still in its initial planning phase with many details to work through before implementation is possible. 4) Park Patrol The City of Bakersfield relies on the Police Department for regular patrols though our neighborhoods and park areas. They also have a bike patrol program that uses bicycles instead of cars to patrol their areas. The bike patrol o�cers are familiar with the large parks along the bike way including Yokuts, Beach and The Park at River Walk. In addition, the Recreation and Parks Department has contracted with Kern Security to visit several of the parks between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, seven days a week. In some parks, Kern Security is closing restrooms and gates which have reduced graffiti and vandalism. Youth & Gang Violence Subcommittee of the Bakersfield City Council Safe Neighborhoods Standing Committee September 1, 2006 10 am Attendees: William Andrews, Irma Carson, Karen Goh, Beverley Beasley Johnson, Marque Stansberry, Kevin Stokes, Greg Williamson Councilwoman Irma Caron convened the meeting. After discussion, it was agreed the first step is to look at what resources and strategies are currently available in the community in the areas of Prevention, Intervention and Suppression. It was the group's decision to conduct a gap analysis utilizing a roundtable discussion inviting identified community agencies to speak on the issues. A tentative schedule for the meetings is as follows: Prevention Intervention Suppression 9/22/06 10/13/06 10/27/06 11 /10/06 Public Health Dept. Public Health Dept. PAL PAL 1 pm — 3 pm 1 pm — 3 pm 9am-11 am 9am-11 am Beverly Johnson and Greg Williamson were appointed the co-chairs of this subcommittee. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 22, 2006, at 1 pm at the Public Health Department. :; � d i•+ � .� � V N i 0 � � /�� 1�� .� E � O V � N � O O .0 L � � � =i% .� Z W '�^ V/ co 0 r O O� O C .O � N .� t�f � � � _ ^O i a .� � W � � . ,� C � � 2 o `� > a�i � � Y � U � � � � � � „ T L(% M O CO N .-. .-. �� 0 � � � W a >.. � Q. � U d � m Y � � U � N � � M M „ �� N d) C'7 � �-. � � � � � �� Q. � U a° � m Y � � � M , � N M .-. T � � � � � � � .� x U C � (� � � c � � � � U M T T T � O „ C'� a0 M N CO d' .--. �-. � � � � �� ..0 V � � � � C .� � � � U a c � W ti d' � , N � � � T � � � � L^l W � � /�� /J a� � g � � � � O c� � � � H � � � � , � � � T � � � � ^�` i � � c� � i N � � .� � U U N M � , � M � T � � � T � � U � L SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS ROUNDTABLE SCHEDULE Group Meetinq Date Location Time Prevention Friday, 09/22/06 Public Health Dept. 1 pm — 3 pm Intervention Suppression Friday, 10/13/06 Friday, 10/27/06 Friday, 11 /10/06 Public Health Dept PAL PAL 1 pm — 3 pm 9am-11 am 9 am — 11 am KERN COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ur��an Opportunity. Options. Empowerment. September 15, 2006 Mr. Adam Jones 123 Maple Street Bakersfield, CA 93304 Dear Mr. Jones: Beverly Beasley Johnson, JD Director The Bakersfield City Council and the County of Kern have come together to address the issue of youth and gang violence that threatens the weil-being of our neighborhoods. As we seek to identify and recommend strategies that may address these issues, a subcommittee of the Safe Neighborhood Task Force is looking to identify existing services and programs aimed at preventing youth violence. Your organization has been identified as one providing preventative services. The first conversation will be held on Friday, September 22, 2006, 1 pm to 3 pm, at the Education Center located at the Kern County Department of Public Health, 1800 Mt. Vernon Avenue. It is the committee's hope that you or a representative can attend this very important meeting. If you have any questions, please contact me at (661) 631-6550. Thank you. Sincerely, Beverly Beasley Johnson, JD Kern County Department of Human Services Greg Williamson Bakersfield Police Department Tel 661.631.6550 Fax 661.631.6631 TTY 800.735.2929 100 E. California Avenue P.O. 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