Time Is Of the Essence

Hi, my name is Tracy Wiswall and I currently serve as both the co-Chair of the Central Gardens Safety Committee as well as current President of the Central Gardens Neighborhood Watch.  In these roles I work closely with local law enforcement  departments as well as emergency services.  A comment I often hear from these professionals is that time is of the essence when responding to 911 call.  Whether its an attempted break-in or a medical emergency, these men and women simply cannot do their job if they can't locate your home.

It is the very uniqueness of our neighborhood that makes it so difficult to find many address markers.  Some addresses were painted on the house or the curb years ago and have since faded.  Some are now covered by bushes that were once only a foot or two tall.  The point is that if you can't see your house numbers, neither can a responding unit to a 911 call.  Moreover, if you can't clearly see them during the daylight hours, you can be absolutely sure they can't be seen at night.  

Step 1:

I would like to raise approximately $600.  The money will be used to purchase supplies that can be loaned out to neighborhood residents in order to promote awareness of the issue and to help improve address visibility throughout the neighborhood.  

Step 2:

Promote awareness of the issue via email communications from the Central Gardens Association, at neighborhood events throughout the year, and at each of the quarterly Neighborhood Watch meetings.  I also think this is a great way to market involvement in Neighborhood Watch.  

Step 3:

Based on a first come first serve basis, loan out the bags to residents for personal use, at block events or even to help neighborhood kids raise money.  We hope that we can keep the program going indefinitely.  

Step 4:

We hops that this campaign will remind people to purchase or relocate house numbers to ensure they are clearly visible from the street.  As an addition to or in lieu of house numbers, residents can borrow our bag(s) of supplies to paint their house number on the curb, the steps, or any other visible location.  The bags will contain all of the supplies needed including: masking paper and tape, brass stencils, black and white paint, reflective material for nighttime visibility, and other miscellaneous items and of course instructions.  

As someone involved in neighborhood safety, to me nothing could be more important than each passing second that goes by waiting for an emergency vehicle to respond to a 911 call.  I see this as an opportunity to primarily promote awareness so that others will stop for a minute, look at their house from the point of view of someone who has never been there before and truly assess whether they believe a police officer or ambulance could easy find their address when time is truly of the essence.