Several comments have been made to me over the last year, both on the street and at our monthly meetings, about the look of our neighborhood lately. While most of our homeowners are very diligent about sweeping in front of their homes and removing stray bottles and newspapers, some seem to feel that it's not necessary. 

I have been asked to contact the Sanitation Dept., but I hesitate to do this for one main reason: When an inspector comes to our area, he will probably need to justify his time, and to do that, will start to issue summonses as he strolls through our blocks. Please step back and take a look at the area around your home. Have you swept at least 18" into the street? The dry leaves and garbage can accumulate pretty quickly. Many of the fines are increasing starting June 1. A violation for failing to sweep 18" into the street will now cost $100., something few of us can afford. During the winter months, we are allowed to put our trash out after 5 PM. Starting last month, we must put out the trash no earlier than 8 PM. Be assured that the Sanitation Dept. will have inspectors out enforcing that. 

Graffiti tends to make a neighborhood look run-down. City Councilman Dennis Gallagher is proposing two forms of legislation to fight this form of vandalism. The first bill would give authority to judges to suspend the driving privileges of youths under 21 caught writing graffiti. The other bill would permit authorities to release the names and photographs of minors who commit graffiti. They are currently exempt from public identification. This is certainly a good start. 

There have been reports of two men traveling door-to-door in our area selling ADT alarm systems. A call to ADT to verify this was not immediately helpful. The sales pitch claims that there have been many burglaries in the area. This is not exactly true. The numbers they use include all of the 105th Precinct, which is extremely large, a fact that the salesperson wasn't aware of. Whether this business is legitimate or not, it's never a good idea to tell a total stranger that you may be interested in a security system. That tips them off to the fact that you don't currently have one. Your best bet? Call a company directly. 

I want to thank Marie Loftus of Gettysburg St. for volunteering to help with the Welcome New Neighbor program. That is very much appreciated. 

A long time officer of the Creedmoor Civic Association has announced that he will not be running for office this year. Larry Burke of 242nd Street had participated in many civic functions for many, many years. He gave up a lot of his time to work on different projects, such as detailing the defects on the sidewalk construction work. Mr. Burke was most recently our First Vice President. 

Thank you, Larry. 

Your neighbor, 

Rick Duskiewicz