June 2009
Community Paper
copyright ©2009 by Community Paper College Park, Inc. All rights reserved.


From the Desk of City Commissioner Robert Stuart

With another school year coming to a close, I wanted to take a moment to talk about summer safety as well as provide a general update about what is happening in District 3 and around the City.
    In speaking to our North Patrol Commander for the Orlando Police Department, I have found out that crime for all of District 3 is down 10% this year from last, which is great news. Violent crimes, including persons robbery, are down more than 50%, which is even better news as these are the types of crimes that Chief Demings and OPD have been targeting in order to make our City safer.
    But incidences of residential (including car break-ins) and commercial burglaries have risen, so please take every precaution when securing your homes, businesses and vehicles. From studying the trends, it seems that neighborhood “crimes of opportunity,” such as day-time break-ins to unoccupied residences, occur more when our students are out on break. With this in mind, OPD has taken officers who usually work in an administrative capacity and put them back on the street where they will stay all summer in order to help combat this upturn.
    Please help our officers by keeping your eyes open. Don’t be embarrassed to call your Orlando Police Department and let them know if you see a suspicious person walking through your neighborhood. You can call OPD’s Non-Emergency line at 321-235-5300. Also, please don’t hesitate to call the police to report solicitors in your neighborhood. And let your neighbors know if you’re leaving home, even for a short vacation. This is the core of our Neighborhood Watch Program…looking out for each other is the first line of defense in crime prevention. For more tips, or to sign up for crime alerts and check active calls, please check out Orlando Police Department’s website at www.cityoforlando.net/police.

While you are on our City’s website, please take a moment to visit our District 3 page, www.cityoforlando.net/district3 and take our District 3 summer survey. Your input is needed to help us determine if we are meeting the needs of our constituents. And please feel free to ask your neighbors to fill out the survey as well.

Last month, Baldwin Park hosted the first Green Fest, to showcase ways that we can all work together to become more environmentally-aware as a community. Also in May, Orlando and Orange County were the hosts of the Green Cities Florida conference. At the event, Mayor Dyer formally accepted the Solar Cities grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Orlando was one of only 12 cities from across the country that was chosen to receive this prestigious honor. With the money received from the grant ($200,000 for two years), the City will partner with the County and OUC to analyze opportunities for solar power in our community with the goal of installing at least 15 megawatts of solar energy by 2015. Both were great events that reminded me that all of us have the potential to reduce our collective impact on our environment. For more info on how to make a difference, please visit www.cityoforlando.net/greenworks.

Hope you and your family have a fun, safe, energy-efficient summer. As always, thanks for your continued support of our community and our Great City!

Robert
Robert F. Stuart, District 3 City Commissioner
400 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801
Phone: 407-246-2003; e-mail Robert.Stuart@cityoforlando.net
or check out Orlando's website (www.cityoforlando.net)