What's on Nextdoor?

Dear Neighbors  - here is a sampling of the kind of information that was quickly dispatched to the neighborhood this week.  It started with an Urgent Alert because it had just happened and the criminals may have still been in the area.  The result was an arrest and property returned.  If you have not already signed up for CroissantPark.Nextdoor.com, you might want to get on-board.  You can sign up for Urgent Alerts via text messages to your phone, or just monitor what's going on when you feel like catching up on neighborhood goings-on.  You can control how often you receive emails, or not receive them at all if you choose and just check in to follow what's happening at your leisure.  Check it out.

Urgent alert6 Jun

Virginia Dill Russell from Croissant Park

house burglary at 600 block of SW16th Street between 7:15 and 9am Thursday morning.

Shared with Croissant Park only in Crime & Safety

THANK 5 REPLY 15

Cathie, Carroll, Michael and 2 others thanked Virginia Dill

Newell Holt from Croissant Park6 Jun

Police are looking for a white male, thin build, early 30's, goatee, looks rough, had a hat on this morning, has been seen walking around the neighborhood near three breakins in last few days. If you see him call 911 & tell them you see the suspect in case number 13-63931. Police say we will see him again. They think he lives nearby.

ThankRemove

Kimberly Bishop O'Steen from Croissant Park6 Jun

Would love to see a mug shot if anybody can advise us when one is posted. Is it too early to tell if he is a suspect in any of the other break ins?

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Kimberly Bishop O'Steen from Croissant Park6 Jun

Just FYI, I have an awesome security camera system being installed today if anybody needs any footage in the future. Will have cameras on SW 16th St. and SW 6th Ave, including my alley.
Kim

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Steven Cook from Croissant Park6 Jun

Who is doing the installation and how much?

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Kimberly Bishop O'Steen from Croissant Park6 Jun

Mark Leer, of Leer Security. I'm going with the good stuff, with all IP Cameras, as opposed to the Analog, which everyone is selling so cheaply right now. I have 8 cameras going in, both around my ... View more

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Fritz & Rhonda Kramer from Croissant Park6 Jun

would love to come over and see how it works when you get it put together. My inexpensive system is quite sensitive and annoying to watch a replay of every moth that flies by at night and I get a recording of every headlight reflection hitting my windows. Otherwise we can make out people quite well. Rhonda

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Kimberly Bishop O'Steen from Croissant Park6 Jun

I'll let you know when it's finished.
Have you ever heard of any neighborhoods putting cameras on the light poles? I'd bet that there would be plenty of neighbors who would help pay for a system that could help monitor the neighborhood. Just curious... Kim

Sent from my iPad

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Newell Holt from Croissant Park7 Jun

An update for everyone - we were called by the Hollywood Police late yesterday afternoon telling us they had arrested two juvenile black males who they caught breaking into a house in Miami about 1 hour after they apparently broke into our house in the 600 block of SW 16th street. Our break-in was at approximately 9:05am yesterday (Thursday). In their car the police found our two stolen laptops and two iPads. We went to Hollywood and retrieved them. The detective told us there are gang members in Hollywood who rent a car, put dark film over the windows and then drive to Ft Lauderdale and/or Miami to burglarize homes. They are organized and dangerous. The detective told us to tell our neighbors to be on constant lookout for people and vehicles who do not seem to "fit" in our neighborhood and report them immediately to 911 along with some description, license number, etc. He said when responding the police often meet the suspects going the other way and need some description of the vehicle, especially something that sets it apart, so they will recognize it and can react. We are happy to have our stuff back and that the criminals are in jail. However, I do not think this is the end of the crime in our neighborhood. Hopefully, all of us can be vigilant and help the police put an end to this.

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Rosemary and Virginia Dill thanked Newell

Fritz & Rhonda Kramer from Croissant Park7 Jun

would you mind if I post this information on the Croissant Park Civic Association blog, Facebook page and email list? Not everyone is on Nextdoor and your input could be very effective information for the neighbors? Please let me know. Rhonda

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Newell Holt from Croissant Park7 Jun

That's fine with me.

Sent from Newell Holt's iPhone

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Tony Puentes from Croissant Park8 Jun

Thx for the heads-up. Is there a typical car type they use?

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Jean Ready from Croissant Park23h ago

I appreciate this information and will continue my neighborhood watch. Always sorry to hear of this gang activity and so glad that your stolen articles were returned. Thank you, Hollywood PD.

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Michael Jaramillo from Croissant Park16h ago

thanks for the update and your vigilance.

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Newell Holt from Croissant Park8h ago

I don't know whether there is a favorite type of vehicle they use, but the police said they usually black out the windows. When the police run a tag on a car with blacked out windows and find it to be a rental they become very suspicious.

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Carroll Billups from Croissant Park7h ago

Hello, Re: the return of the laptops and i-pads by the Hollywood police that were stolen on SW 16th Street and recovered at the scene of a Miami burglary an hour later. First, it is amazing you got them back so fast. But how did the police know those were your items? Did you have serial numbers to provide the police when they took the report at your house? Thanks

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LEAD41F

Crime Update8 Jun

Steven Cook from Croissant Park

0.08 miles
#13063931 BURGLARY RESIDENCE
6XX SW 16TH ST
Jun 06, 2013 at 9:14 am

Data provided by Fort Lauderdale Police Department

0.16 miles
#13064070 BURGLARY RESIDENCE
4XX SW 17TH ST
Jun ... View more

Shared with Croissant Park only in Crime & Safety

THANK REPLY 

Gerry Hughan joined Croissant Park7 Jun

SW 16th St

WELCOMED! 2 REPLY

You and Steven welcomed Gerry

3 new neighbors joined Croissant Park6 Jun

WELCOMED ALL VIEW DETAILS

What was going on?2 Jun

Jo Bowker from Croissant Park

What was happening on SW 8th Avenue last night (Saturday)? Lots of police cars with flashing lights and a helicopter that kept flying around and around..

Shared with Croissant Park only in Crime & Safety

THANK REPLY 9 

Tony Puentes from Croissant Park2 Jun

I saw and heard, too. I just checked the doors and other "securities". :)

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Tanya Anglin from Croissant Park2 Jun

Helicopters were freaking me out :-(

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Fran Hunt from Croissant Park2 Jun

I was just going to ask if anyone had any info on the helicopter flying around last night. SW 8th Ave and ?? street?

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Jane Pimentel from Croissant Park2 Jun

what time was this? didn't hear a thing....

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Tanya Anglin from Croissant Park2 Jun

I think it started just after midnight and carried on till about 4am

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Alan & Tami McClung from Croissant Park2 Jun

Cops said 2 bad guy's with guns, it was west of 9th ave.

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Hadrian Roesch from Croissant Park2 Jun

I had also heard of the noise from the helicopter from midnight until four also. Around 3 am I contacted Fort Lauderdale PD as I couldn't sleep through the noise. The dispatcher relayed that it was a Fort Lauderdale chopper and they were searching for someone.

ThankRemove

Jane thanked Hadrian

Bob Meagher from Croissant Park3 Jun

Any updates? Like... did they catch them?

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Alan & Tami McClung from Croissant Park6 Jun

Heard 3 in custody. That's all I can say :) :)

ThankRemove

Cathie and Fran thanked Alan & Tami

LEAD6

Caught the thief6 Jun

Virginia Dill Russell from Croissant Park

FLPD had the suspect of the burglary this morning on 16th Street in custody. Thank you to all the officers and german shepherd who got this guy off the street

Shared with Croissant Park only in General

THANK 6 REPLY 2 

Steven, Beth, Robin and 3 others thanked Virginia Dill

Kimberly Bishop O'Steen from Croissant Park6 Jun

That is so awesome!

Is it too early to tell if he's been responsible for any other burglaries?

ThankRemove

Fritz & Rhonda Kramer from Croissant Park6 Jun

yea! does anyone know which home was burglarized in the 1400 block of 6 Ave?

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LEAD41F

Crime Update6 Jun

Steven Cook from Croissant Park

0.33 miles
#13063224 LARCENY OTHER
4XX SW 20TH ST
Jun 04, 2013 at 4:22 pm

Data provided by Fort Lauderdale Police Department

Shared with Croissant Park only in Crime & Safety

THANK REPLY 

LEAD41F

Crime Update6 Jun

Steven Cook from Croissant Park

0.25 miles
#13063121 BURGLARY RESIDENCE
14XX SW 6TH AVE
Jun 04, 2013 at 12:11 pm

Data provided by Fort Lauderdale Police Department

Shared with Croissant Park only in Crime & Safety

THANK REPLY 

Croissant Park General Meeting May 2013

Croissant Park General Meeting May 2013

Hi Neighbors,

Our May meeting opened at 7:10 pm with a crime report from FLPD Officer Stevens.  Over the last two months there have been 10 residential burglaries that resulted in 3 arrests, 4 vehicle burglaries, 2 vehicle thefts, and 3 business burglaries that resulted in 4 arrests.  FLPD is working on an information base that links the perpetrators  who are repeat offenders.

Our President Pat Rathburn led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  All Board members were present and we had a large turnout of Croissant Park neighbors, approximately 48 people, for what turned out to be a rather lively meeting.

Our District Commissioner Romney Rogers was our keynote speaker and he brought City officials with him.  Comm. Rogers first addressed Code Enforcement issues.  There is currently a discount being given to any violations of Code if, and only if, the violation is brought up to compliance.  So, if you have been cited for any code violation and received a fine or a lien, you are eligible for a discount on that fine if you fix the problem.  This discount ends June 30, 2013.

Next, there was a heated discussion concerning halfway houses, sober homes, etc. that fall under the term “community residential homes”.  The Association had previously been informed that these homes could not be closer together than 1000 feet, or they would be in violation of Code.  Board member Joe Russell located and mapped the known homes  in Croissant Park and it seems that they are all in violation of the1000 foot rule, and some are suspected to be unlicensed. Pat asked if the City has a list of locations of these homes and was told that there is no list.  After much discussion Director of Dept. of Sustainable Development Greg Brewton,  tells us that this problem exists throughout our City and State.  The City of Ft. Lauderdale tried to set legislation but it did not make it out of committee.  We are told that this must be dealt with at the State level, and that we can help by talking with our State Representative and State Senator. A motion was made and seconded to make it our primary legislative agenda to encourage the State legislature and City to pass laws and regulations on “community residential homes”.  Loren will see if she can invite our State Senator Maria Lorts Sachs to our September meeting.

Third on Comm. Rogers’ agenda was the paving of our streets. The City will be using new software that will input the age, use, and condition of our streets, then it will prioritize as to when paving will take place in each area, attacking the worst areas first.  We feel like we are long overdue in Croissant Park, so stay tuned.

Fourth issue was the WAVE, the proposed light-rail transit system. This transit system will be paid for by a Federal, State, County, and City 25-year bond issue, with an assessment for businesses and some residential properties on the route. Public hearings scheduled for June 4 and July 9. Check City website for more info.

Loren raised the issue of heavy rush hour traffic bleeding onto our residential streets and it was suggested that we re-visit speed humps in those areas to discourage cut-throughs. A member in the audience suggested that we reconsider some through-street closures that we rejected in the past. We should also bring speeders who cut through to the attention of Officer Stevens at our next meeting. Comm. Rogers stated that the commission is aware of the east/west corridor traffic issues and they are looking into it.  City Manager Feldman reported that there is a proposal to run Tri-Rail on the FEC railway corridor, thereby alleviating some of the traffic in the area.  

Loren’s second question referred to the impact of the increase in density brought on by the

 

 many new rental apartments and condos proposed on the south side of the New River and asked what the impact will be on traffic and what they plan to do about it.  The answer given is that the builders have to have an impact mitigation proposal.  The possible solution to the heavy traffic suggested by Mr. Feldman, was the WAVE for ease in getting around downtown, connecting with the Tri-Rail station and the FEC commuter rail proposed for 2016 or 2017, the “grand plan” for the near future.  Diane S.  asked why we need the WAVE, the proposed commuter rail AND Tri-Rail, the answer is that the WAVE will be local and the others are regional.

The Transportation Manager for the City, Eric Czerniejewski, will look into the walkability of 15th Street from 6th Ave to Andrews.  As it exists now there is no safe area to walk, and if the WAVE comes to be, that would be the gateway route from our neighborhood.  Safety zones, green bike lanes, speed limit lowered to 35 mph, safe and navigable streets for pedestrians, bikes, and cars are all in the works for his department.  Two of our Board members have brought up the problem of parking on streets, in yards, across sidewalks.  Code enforcement has been called, the problem goes away for a few days, then returns.  There seems to be no follow up.  Comm. Rogers indicated that there will be increased enforcement in the future.

Trees for swales: our City Forester, Gene Dempsey tells us that a street with sidewalks must have a minimum 12 foot swale with no overhead utility wires to accommodate the live oaks being offered to Association members.  If you don't have a sidewalk and only have street light wires, you will probably qualify for a tree. The Association is paying the $250 cost plus 1/2 the cost of installation - $130 (too large to plant yourself) leaving an investment of $65 to the homeowner for their 1/2 of the installation cost.  However, City Manager Feldman reminded us that FPL is offering trees that can be planted almost anywhere you choose if you sign up for electronic billing (paperless).  Look for the flyer in your bill or log onto www.FPL.com 

A member asked if anyone else besides her has brown water coming from the tap.  No answer to that inquiry.

The Ice Cream Social and Cookie portion of the meeting was enjoyed by all.  Thank you Board member Michelle and helpers for organizing the event. Thanks also to the neighbors who brought home baked cookies to share at the meeting and to send to our troops in Afghanistan. Pat will be packing those cookies to send overseas.

The man with the big smile and fist full of cash was the winner of the 50/50 drawing!

See you at our next meeting in September.  Have great summer!

Meeting adjourned 8:50pm.

Minutes by Virginia-Secretary

  

  

Memorial Day Celebration in Croissant Park