Community Comes Together on 58th Street
On a great Saturday morning residents of the 58th Street Block Watch came out to participate in a neighborhood improvement event. Adults and children came together to clean-up trash and debris and to beautify the neighborhood and support one another. This generous showing of support was not only in the streets but also helping neighbors in need clean-out basements and garages. Various items were donated to those on the block that could use the extra help. Finishing out the day, the group sat down for a conversation about the next block project while being treated to chips, hot dogs and EXTRA sweet kool-aid. A community rummage sale had been held earlier in the summer, but the block event helped everyone get a little closer and friendlier.
The following Monday residents pulled together an emergency block watch meeting for the residents of 56th, 57th, 58th, and 60th Streets. The meeting was called to address an attempted home break in that put everyone on high alert. Three officers from the Milwaukee Police Department as well as Mark Sanders, Community Prosecutor with the District Attorney’s Office, attended the meeting and listened to resident input and provided advice to the residents. Everyone at the meeting agreed they all needed to do more individually and collectively to safe guard their homes and their neighborhood.
Roosevelt Pritchett of Safe & Sound organized the meeting by reaching out door-to-door with residents, but admits the residents are already on their way and have a well organized communication system. Since that time residents have implemented MPD District 7 “itching to etch” which IDs tools and equipment by scribing the owners drivers license number. In addition, the group conducted a garage numbering service event to help police identify properties from the alley. Since then, they have continued to communicate and plans are in the making to develop a neighborhood Facebook page to increase the conversation and support for maintaining a great neighborhood.
