Lighting the streets
The Block Association’s March 2002 application for a community–police partnership award recalled a lighting campaign begun in 1994. Meetings with police, DOT and Con Edison led to a lighting survey and brighter street lamps. The account also described residents pursuing better exterior lighting on buildings.
Community on Patrol
In 1995, the Block Association and the 13th Precinct developed Community on Patrol. A designated member made neighborhood rounds, gathering observations from building staff, businesses, sanitation workers and officers. Problems such as broken lights, graffiti and street hazards could then be referred to the appropriate agency.
Operation Interlock
The application also described the Block Association introducing a police radio-network program to neighborhood buildings, with presentations explaining participation. It reported roughly twenty residential buildings involved since 1997.
1999
A relationship carried through a change of command
A February 1999 Town & Village report described a gathering hosted by the Block Association at Arlene Harrison’s home welcoming Captain John Healy to the 13th Precinct and honoring outgoing Deputy Inspector Steven Anger. Police leaders and neighborhood representatives joined the occasion.
The article praised the partnership behind work at Kenmore Hall and remembered Officer Anthony Sanchez, who had died in 1997. It records the personal relationships that supported the Block Association’s more formal public-safety programs. The gathering was a historical reception, not an open public precinct breakfast.
The smaller questions that shaped daily life
The Block Association’s older organizational history records work on a sewer problem at the Park’s southeast corner, newsrack removal, Irving Place telephone booths, oversized trucks, sidewalk cycling and neighborhood noise. It also lists efforts to reopen Eden Farms on Third Avenue and opposition to proposed nightlife and adult-entertainment uses.
The older project lists give limited dates and detail for these activities.
Making room for residents’ voices
The Block Association’s earlier organizational history also records a campaign for residents’ freedom to speak about a proposed housing facility, including congressional testimony.
2015
Street-light and parking-meter repairs
In August 2015, the Block Association credited Neighborhood Watch chair and Community Board 6 member Pam Vassil with helping DOT repair a Bishop’s Crook lamppost opposite The Players where wiring had been exposed. The same letter reported her effort to obtain repairs to malfunctioning parking meters.
The value of knowing one another
The tools and programs have changed, but those relationships remain central to public safety and advocacy. Knowing whom to reach—and returning to the conversation—helps keep a neighborhood concern from being lost.
