Community Corner
Anti-Crime Campaign Draws Hundreds to Celebrate Safe Neighborhoods
Neighbors across San Ramon got together for National Night Out, a national movement that promotes public safety and crime awareness.
Last night, residents of 23 San Ramon neighborhoods kept their porch lights on and gathered outside with neighbors to celebrate National Night Out.
The event was designed to help neighbors get to know each other better while promoting safety through neighborhood watch programs. It also gives residents a chance to ask questions of police officers and firefighters.
Residents of the four neighborhoods surrounding the Piccadilly Square area of San Ramon hosted an ice cream social for a chance for neighbors to meet each other and talk.
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"(This event) is a way for us to socialize and get to know new neighbors and address crime awareness," said event coordinator Jenny Lee.
This year was the third annual National Night Out that Piccadilly Square has hosted and 400 people attended, said Lee.
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Organizers set up stations for folks within a one-block radius to meet and form neighborhood watch groups, to promote safety in their communities.
Last year, only five families participated in setting up neighborhood watch programs, said Orna Pond, who has lived in the Hawthorne neighborhood of Piccadilly Square for a little more than a year.
"I think more people should participate (in neighborhood watch programs) because you feel safer if someone is watching your house," said Pond. "It's good to trust your neighbors to help keep the community safe."
Other than ice cream stations, popcorn stations, and neighborhood watch stations, Piccadilly Square set up carpool stations so neighbors could coordinate carpools to work or school.
Neighbors interested in carpooling could register at a carpool station and event coordinators would find a neighbor that was the closest match for them, lead organizer Jolly Gandhi announced to the attendees.
"We all know that we're not here to walk in Windemere, it's just as far as it can get from work," Gandhi announced. "So carpooling is a great idea."
San Ramon has participated in the country-wide anti-crime movement for four years, said Darlene Kittredge of the San Ramon Police Department, who has organized the event locally in years past.
Participation in the event has remained steady the past two years, she said.
"Other cities have twice the population with less participation, so I think we're doing pretty good," Kittredge said.
