Thursday, August 05, 2010
Our National Night Out 2010
More than three dozen block parties celebrated National Night Out this week in Lakewood. I was honored to see several of these neighborhood gatherings firsthand. It's traditional for a circuit of elected officials, police, firefighters, and others to make the rounds and try to visit as many as we can. It's so exhilarating to see such community spirit. Many, many hamburgers, hot dogs and condiments were sacrificed in the name of community!
For those of you are who car buffs, there's a better photo below of the van and the assistant chief too. The museum wishes it had better records about the van; it was apparently used for awhile, and then became a movie prop.
Yep. There were a lot of sights and sounds that day...
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I spent most of my time talking to my Lakewood neighbors, particularly those who work so hard to organize the events. But armed with my FlipCam, I also recorded some mostly random sights and sounds. You'll see lots of food, dunk tanks, children's activities, and more. You will also see a great diversity in neighborhoods.
Sorry about the part where I pointed the camera toward the sun. Anyway, the video reminds us we got a lot of variety in Lakewood. It's exhilarating to see community spirit shine brighter than that sun in NNO party after party, but you can never forget the underlying challenges that keep us all humble. Crime, poverty, alienation from each other ....
I did not pull out the camera at one complex where some of the people looked hard at me and my carpool buddy, a Lakewood police officer. It was an apartment complex where on an emergency call, police go in with no fewer than four officers for backup. You don't go in with two officers. You go in with four. It's a tough place.
There was one collection of young fellas watching us from the far end of the second floor. One of them came over to talk, grinned, and talked to us very cheerfully. Then he turned back to his pals, raised arms high, and flashed some hand signs to his pals on the second floor. It's been a long time since I reported on this kind of stuff, but I quickly recognized his hand signals as meaning, "Hey guys, this elected official is A-OK!"
There were many fun conversations there too. I was struck by the parents who spoke especially with pride about their children who were running around, having a great time. One youth told the officer that this party was great: the only other time you saw this many neighbors outside together was during a fight. I left humbled by so many challenges, but also admiring the residents and manager who are working hard to keep the place safe despite the pressures on and around them.
At another complex, a fella joked that a troublesome tenant he was evicting told him that he was a dead man. The apartment manager said he laughed and replied that he was disappointed, that he was hoping to hear something original because he'd already heard that line five times that week.
There was some humor there, but a powerful message about the cost of keeping apartments and people safe.
And you wonder why I am always ranting about being strategic with our human services funding and getting more police on the streets ... anyway ...
... that serious stuff is not why you came here. Here's what you came here for: The picture of Assistant Police Chief Mike Zaro putting the cuffs on City Councilwoman Claudia Thomas. She posed for pictures in the back of a 1940s police van that the folks from the LeMay Museum very kindly displayed at the Ward's Lake neighborhood event. We should all be so happy in the back of the wagon.
For those of you are who car buffs, there's a better photo below of the van and the assistant chief too. The museum wishes it had better records about the van; it was apparently used for awhile, and then became a movie prop.
Yep. There were a lot of sights and sounds that day...
