The few nice days we've had have convinced many of us to start the spring cleaning of our front yards and sidewalks. What a mess they were! Months of leaves, garbage, Sunday circulars and other debris got compacted into a cement-like mass. Already our neighborhood is looking much better. 

Many of you have signed up to be placed on NY State's Cease and Desist law. If you are on the list and receive any solicitations from a real estate office, please follow up and sign an official complaint form. Too many of these brokers try to avoid this law, and it's not fair to the real estate offices that play by the rules. If you have been solicited by mail or phone, make detailed notes and give us a call at 464-3369. 

The 105th Precinct's Commanding Officer Michael Bryan has sent out a letter to all parents of children in our local schools asking them to do the right thing and follow the traffic rules. Too often, parents have committed the stupidest acts when dropping off and picking up their own kids. They've blocked school buses, crosswalks and run stop signs, especially around PS33. This places many of the other kids in danger. That's about as selfish as you can get. Deputy Inspector Bryan says that the 105th Pct is once again adopting a zero tolerance policy for these idiotic parents. That means no warnings,  just summonses. 

A presentation by PO Barto at last month's Precinct Community Council meeting gave attendees tips on spotting possible terrorist activity. If you see suspicious behavior that could lead to a terrorist act, call the NYPD's hotline at 1 888-NYC-SAFE. 

We're looking for volunteers for our Nominating Committee, since elections for all officers of the CCA are coming up. Hope to see you at Monday's meeting. 

Your neighbor, 

Rick Duskiewicz

P.S.: By now, we all know we must dial 1+ the area code for all calls within NYC. This has caused a lot of grumbling throughout our city, but it is now required by the FCC. 

One bright spot in this headache of a decision by a federal agency is that several of our members will be receiving quite a few less wrong numbers to their household.

In our November 2000 newsletter, we wrote about the problems that the Chironno family of 239 St. had to endure when the new area code of 347 was created. Their plight was also covered by the NY Times and the Daily News. Believe it or not, simply because many people failed to dial the "1" before the 718 area code, the Chironnos have received over 27,000 wrong numbers at their house since April of 2000!!   That is  not a misprint, every number has been noted. Since Feb. 1st, when the requirement to dial all 11 digits of a phone number went into effect, the number of daily wrong numbers have already dropped by more than two thirds, and is expected to drop to almost nothing by the end of this month.