Officer Matt Welcomed Back with Pie! When I heard that Officer Matt Zakarian was returning as our community liaison to the Glendale Police Dept., I just had to bake pies to bring to our neighborhood watch meeting.

[At the meeting] we had an excellent briefing by Officer Matt and crew regarding our role as neighbors in the neighborhood watch system and our relationship with the GPD in keeping our neighborhood safe by deterring crime.

What struck me the most significant, and worth repeating, is how vital it is that we simply get to know our neighbors and pay attention to our surroundings. We need to be able to tell what is out of the ordinary in our neighborhood in order to prevent crime.

I find it easy to be wrapped up with life and “livingness,” which includes communications from my cellular device. I noticed I was ignoring the life around me if just for the time my attention was on my phone.

I take lots of walks around our neighborhood. Now I take my phone with me for emergency use only. I used to save my “catch-up” conversations for when I was out walking but, when I returned home, I had the feeling I missed out on something. I realized I did miss out. I missed out on observing the world around me, including saying “hello” to  fellow neighbors. Getting to know one’s neighbor and one’s neighborhood is not only vital to keeping our neighborhood safe from crime but I find it can be therapeutic as well!

I invite all our neighbors to attend the next meeting on May 8 at 6 p.m. at the Sparr Heights Community Center. I mentioned to Officer Matt that I would bring more pie. I’m also organizing a potluck dinner in case one happens to miss their evening meal in order to attend. (Contact me if you like to cook, bake, get more info on our neighborhood watch, or all of the above.) Our Sycamore Woods Area Captain Julia Leeper has been on post for the last 30 years and is a pro at organizing neighborhood watches. So if you are interested in starting a watch, interested in community welfare or simply interested, come to the meeting; we would love to have you.

Penny Keaton, Neighborhood Watch Captain  La Crescenta

More Thoughts on Uses for OSH Building

In the Letters to the Editor section [Viewpoints, pg. 19, Feb. 21] input was given by Tracy E. Collins that stirred a long festering pot in my brain for uses of the [former] OSH facility. Our valley sorely lacks a serious dining facility. The OSH building can provide a fantastic venue that has not existed along Foothill Boulevard for decades, since the “Polynesian” restaurant burned down and the Scotch Mist folded decades ago. (Anyone remember???) 

The OSH facility has plenty of parking, a fantastic south facing outdoor patio for a pet-friendly and highly romantic “under the stars” dining venue in good weather, along with lots of floor space for indoor venues that can vary from super casual to more “upscale” dining. Downstairs could make a super bar/entertainment venue. Noise is a problem for us, but that can be solved with hanging anechoic panels, not these simplistic cloth covered panels in common use today that do little to deaden noise.

Right now most of our dining money goes out of the valley. We’d like to keep it here!

Anyway, let’s keep the creative juices flowing for ideas that enhance our valley along the Foothill Corridor.

Jim Lumsden

La Crescenta