-Hopefully we won’t be hit very hard by the hurricane! Below please find information sent from the Mayor’s Office. FYI, the City’s website is www.providenceri.com, the number to call if you have any questions is 421-2489.

-Our next EC&G meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7pm at PC. Room number and agenda to follow. Please mark your calendars!

-Sadly had to cancel our Fargnoli Park Farmers’ Market for Sunday but hope you will support our local farmers and businesses and stop by next week. As always, fun activities for the kids! Fargnoli Park, Smith St. between Academy and River Avenues, Sundays from 11am-2pm through Oct. 30th.

-We are ALWAYS looking for volunteers! Please let us know if you can lend a hand. For instance, one of our members was able to secure additional trees from the PNPP/City for planting this October and could use help. Dates and further information will be posted on our website and Facebook.

-Good news! The Pleasant Valley Parkway will receive some much needed improvements next Spring. Sections of the Parkway will be changed back to one-way and the dangerous intersections will be re-configured. Thanks to Council President Solomon and the neighbors who have been working on this project for several years now.

-A reminder that we work very closely with Lt. Reddy and Lt. Gannon on safety/crime issues and partner with Susan DeRita who started and manages a neighborhood crime watch group. If you would like to be added to Susan’s email notification list or have any questions, please contact Susan at susan.derita@cox.net.

-Don’t forget to check back with us for updates – either here or on Facebook…and please remember to ‘like’ us!

Stay dry and safe folks!

Best wishes,

Robin

Robin Jarzembowski
Elmhurst Clean & Green
www.elmhurstcleanandgreen.org

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

We have exciting news!  We are moving our Farmers’ Market to Fargnoli Park on Smith St., Elmhurst next summer.  We believe that this location will draw more people as it is walkable for many and in a highly visible and well traveled location.  The vendors will be set up on the Jastram Street side of the park which folks will be able to easily see from the street.   

We are looking for volunteers for our planning committee and will hold our first meeting in the next week or two.  We are also looking for vendors, artisans and market volunteers, so please pass the word.  Thank you!

If you have any questions at all regarding the market or volunteering, please let me know – contact@elmhurstcleanandgreen.org. 

Free Street Trees

Don’t forget to mail in your applications for  free street trees from the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP).  This Friday, 1/15 is the deadline (for postmark).

Council President Michael Solomon

Congratulations to our new Council President, Michael Solomon!  We look forward to continuing our work with Michael and always appreciate his support of Elmhurst Clean & Green.  Michael will be attending one of our meetings in February or March to update us on what is happening in City Hall. 

Neighborhood Crime Watch/Tips For Burglar Proofing Your Home

It has been relatively quiet in the neighborhood lately and I’d like to thank Lt. Reddy for his support and cooperation and for stepping up police presence in light of the break-ins/attempts during the summer.  Also to Susan DeRita for facilitating the neighborhood crime watch alerts.  The three of us met and discussed expanding the crime watch to include other neighborhood associations in the City.  We will provide you with an update on this in the near future.  Please see below for some excellent tips on burglar-proofing your home sent in by one of our members. 

TIPS ON BURGLAR PROOFING YOUR HOME

You can’t stop crime but there are things you can do to help prevent being a victim. Follow these tips for making your home a lot less attractive to burglars.

Let there be light… lots of light. Thieves hate light at night, so give them a healthy dose of it. Motion-activated lights placed in strategic spots discourage bad guys, and using electric timers to turn on lights while you’re gone suggests that somebody’s home. Even a porch light that illuminates the most vulnerable break-in spots is helpful.

Eliminate their hiding places. Just like bugs in the dark, thieves love nooks and crannies where they can hide. Keep your shrubs and bushes trimmed in places where they may cover a window or door.

Be alarmed, and advertise it. Alarm systems are a highly effective deterrent because thieves usually take the path of least resistance. Make sure your alarm company gives you signs and window stickers to advertise you’re protected. Even if you don’t have an alarm system, get some signs and stickers that suggest you do—it can’t hurt.

Make the house secure. Here’s a simple fact: the stronger the door and its locks, the safer your house. Avoid flimsy, hollow veneer doors that beg to be kicked in and use 1-inch deadbolt locks for added security. Sliding glass doors are easy targets, so put a stick in the track to make it impossible to slide open from the outside. Sadly, lots of burglaries occur when thieves walk right in through unlocked doors, so make sure you use the locks.

Ask for help. Ask neighbors to keep your front steps or driveway clean of newspaper and flyers so you’re not telling the world you’ve gone out of town. If you’re going to be gone for more than a couple of days, tell your newspaper to stop delivery and do the same at the Post Office—thieves love to steal mail, too, especially credit card statements and other stuff they can use to steal your identity.

Keep it safe. Purchase a home safe for important documents and other valuables and place it in a spot that’s not easily found. Make sure the safe is fireproof.

Consider a canine. Burglars hate dogs because they make noise that attracts attention. If they approach a house and hear a husky bark, many thieves simply move on.

Document just in case. If, despite your best efforts, you do get burglarized, you’ll be glad you prepared yourself for an insurance claim. Use a video recording of the contents of your home and describe what it is you’re taping. Also, make copies of receipts of big-ticket items and appraisals of expensive jewelry and other collectibles. Keep the tape and copies in a safe deposit box or a family member’s house. This extra step also comes in handy if you have a house fire.

Well 2011 is here and many of you may be thinking about what your New Year’s resolution will be.  If it happens to be to volunteer in the community, than I have a proposal for you!   Or if you’d just like to see a greener, cleaner and safer neighborhood, the same holds true!

I’m sure you’ve noticed how many trees have been cut down in the area and what a difference it makes to the environment…some areas look so barren now!  Luckily, though, we have the opportunity to have those trees replaced and then some, as the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP) has extended their deadline to apply for free street trees to January 15, 2011.  

All it takes to make this happen is for you to obtain permission from 5 home owners within a three block area to have a tree planted in front of their house and their commitment to water and weed their tree. You or another volunteer must act as the ‘point person’ to make sure that everything is all set for planting next spring.  The new tree owners help to plant their tree, but if they aren’t able, another volunteer will be appointed.  That is it!  The PNPP and the City do the rest. 

Hope you’ll consider helping to create a greener Providence!  For more information, please visit the PNPP site: www.pnpp.org.   Don’t forget to spread the good word as this program is available to all Providence home owners.  Thank you.

Best wishes everyone for a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

Bob McMahon/Parks Dept. have started construction of the new walking path and ballfield at Davis Park.  Coming soon, solar lighting and black iron fence along Chalkstone. 

Christine, President of PC’s student environmental group recruited about 15 students who finished painting the front fence at Fargnoli Park.  Looks great and thanks so much to the student volunteers!

A few of us met with Amintha Cinotti from the Providence Planning & Development department and will soon have information to pass along to Elmhurst businesses regarding the benefits of establishing a merchant’s association. 

A beautiful new ‘Elmhurst’ sign for the Eaton/Smith island has been designed and will be made by our member, Larry Pavese.   It will be installed early next spring.  Anna and I planted some tulips and daffodils around the monument so it should look nice!  More landscaping in the spring as well.

Several people questioned why trees were cut down on the Parkway.  We have found out that they were diseased.  Heidi is working on applications for obtaining free trees from the City.  We will be looking for volunteers in the spring to help plant them.  

Speaking of free trees, Dec. 1 is the deadline to submit applications for free trees for neighborhood streets.  All that is needed is 5 neighbors per street to agree to have trees planted in front of their homes and to help plant and water them.  If you are interested, you still have time!    Please visit the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program’s web site for more info at www.pnpp.org.  Folks, these are beautiful, tall, mature trees of many different varieties…not little saplings!

We will soon start planning next season’s farmers’ market.  It will be much bigger and even better than our first.  If you’d like to be on the sub- committee, please let us know at contact@elmhurstcleanandgreen.org.

We would like to see some holiday/winter decorations on Smith St.   If you have any ideas or contributions or can volunteer, please also let us know at our contact address.

Our next EC&G meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 8 at 7:00pm at PC’s Feinstein Center, Room 405, 4th floor.  Please see our map of PC for location.

As always, thank you for your support, and best wishes to all for a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Topics of discussion will include:

Update on Davis Park projects

Recap on farmers markets

Discuss future tree planting initiatives

Information re: recycling event with City

Update on forming a merchant’s association

Update on Eaton Island project

Miscellaneous/new business (time allowing)

Hope to see you there!

Thanks as well to the EC&G volunteers and PC students who braved the rain to help plant trees the weekend before.  Over 30 trees were planted throughout Elmhurst. 

We’d like to keep up the momentum with tree planting and are looking for volunteers for this Spring to assist with planting on Pleasant Valley Parkway.  The more volunteers we have, the more trees we will request.  Please ‘contact us’ if you are interested.  Thank you.

For more information on obtaining trees free of charge from the City of Providence, please visit the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program’s web site, www.pnpp.org.  All you need are 5 residents per street to ‘sign on’ in order to be considered.  The deadline for Spring planting is Dec. 1.

Our last farmers market and fall community fair went very well yesterday.  The weather was just beautiful and everyone enjoyed being outdoors, shopping, hearing about services from local organizations, meeting new friends and visiting with neighbors.  We were extremely pleased to have join us Mayor David Cicilline, State Representative Joanne Giannini and Councilman Terry Hassett.   It was a great day and great first season!  Thank you so much to all of the volunteers who helped yesterday and throughout.   Thank you as well to Mark Sweeney from The 02908 Club, Anthony from Big Tony’s and to the vendors who donated gift certificates and items for our raffle.  We appreciate your support!

A few EC&G folks and PC students braved the rain on Saturday to help Valentina and others plant trees throughout Elmhurst.  You can see some of the trees on River Ave…they look great.

Lastly, we have re-scheduled our clean up and Fargnoli Park fence painting for this Saturday, 10/31 from 11:00am-1:00pm.  Please let us know if you can help - contact@elmhurstcleanandgreen.org.  Thank you!

The trees from the PNPP will still be planted tomorrow unless there are high winds.  Volunteers are to meet at 315 River Ave. at 10:00 am and see either Joe or Valentina.  Thank you!