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Minutes of the General Membership Meeting of the Westmoreland Association Inc.

March 20, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 p.m. by President Walter Mugdan. A motion was made and seconded to waive the reading of the minutes from the November meeting. Treasurer Frank Keenan gave the Treasurer�s Report, indicating a balance on hand of $16,620.12 as of March 20th. A motion was made to accept the Treasurer�s Report, the motion was seconded, and the report was unanimously approved.

The first order of business was the election of Officers and Directors for the upcoming year. Mr. Mugdan announced that Frank and Susan Keenan would be unable to complete a full term of service because they are relocating to a home on the East End of Long Island which will become their principal residence. They agreed to continue in their positions until after the May meeting at which time other members will take over their roles. Mr Mugdan then proceeded to report that the present Board of Directors had agreed to extend their tenure and asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were none, and motions were made and seconded to accept the Board of Directors who then moved to accept the present slate of Officers.

The meeting agenda continued with the introduction by Mr. Mugdan of Deputy Inspector Scott Hanover, the new Commanding Officer of the 111th Precinct, and Gary Pajolly, Community Affairs Officer, to the attendees. Both stressed the importance of �neighbors looking out for neighbors� as an effective crime prevention tactic. Inspector Hanover announced that there were six arrests for burglary thus far this year with all of the burglars from outside of the neighborhood. He noted that one observant neighbor was instrumental in apprehending some of the criminals by noting the license plate of their car and calling 911 to report suspicious activity. Any suspected drug sale transactions should also be reported to 911. Officer Pajolly explained that there is a Block Watcher program in effect, and urged interested members to see him at the end of the meeting for details and enrollment information. He also left brochures relative to alerts on terrorist activity for distribution among the members.

Inspector Hanover stressed the importance of protecting against Identity Theft and suggested some basic safeguards, namely: protecting one�s Social Security number; using a shredder when discarding financial and personal information; destroying the hard drive on discarded computers; and being wary of cell phones with cameras capable of recording credit card information. He stated that car registration and insurance identification cards should always be carried on one�s person and not left in the car; valets should never be given a set of keys that include a house key; and information requested on warranty cards should be called in rather than mailed in. Phone calls that attempt to verify jury duty data and emails that purport to be from one�s bank should be dismissed. Checks should be deposited electronically rather than sent via the mail wherever possible since there have been several stolen check episodes in the neighborhood, and the ever-present problem of commuter cars being stored and blocking driveways should be reported to �311� so that an electronic trail of the incidents can be established. Children should be warned to be alert to the possibility of cell phones and IPODs being stolen from them. In closing, he noted that the precinct�s crime prevention officer is Faith Carter who can be reached at telephone number 718 279 � 5215 in order to arrange for a survey of the home along with individualized crime prevention advice.

Mr. Mugdan thanked the two officers for their attendance and their advice and briefly outlined to them the procedure in place with respect to the neighborhood lock-up of Admiral Park and requested continued police support for it.

With respect to ongoing construction in the area, there have not been any changes to report since the last meeting. It was noted that the City Planning Department has not worked as quickly as was originally anticipated on the R2A rezoning issue probably because of the vocal opposition from some quarters. It is expected that there will be a Community Board 11 public meeting on the subject and a strong show of support from our members will be needed at such a hearing.

Mr Mugdan reminded those present that dead household batteries are ineligible for regular trash collection and can be brought to the Westmoreland meetings for delivery to Community Board 11 for disposal. He noted that the Aurora Pond restoration project was going well and praised those involved with it for doing such a good job.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Keenan
Secretary
 

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