May 2014 Newsletter

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Greetings!

Let’s start with some housekeeping; it is spring after all. The true date, time, and location of the Anderson TOD open house are May 15th, from 3 to 8 p.m., at Southcentre Mall’s Centre Court. I am told that the content of the presentation will be more thorough than had it been presented as initially planned on April 3rd. The submission deadlines of these newsletters made the change of date a difficult message to communicate. I sincerely hope that you did not show up to find nothing in April. If you did, I hope you at least got some shopping done.

There is a new way to contact 9-1-1 for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired. It is called Text with 9-1-1 or T9-1-1 and it is exactly what it sounds like. Those with a hearing or speech impairment—and only those people—will be able to communicate with 9-1-1 operators via text message. If you are one of the 35,000 or so Calgarians who can benefit from T9-1-1, you will need to register with your service provider to access it. It is a great improvement over the teletypewriter system that has been in use since the 1960’s. You can learn more at www.textwith911.ca.

Beyond the T9-1-1 system, I’ve seen the Calgary Police Service working hard to engage communities. They spread valuable messages about prevention, and here are a few online tools that I think they would want me to share: The Hub, The Traffic Service Request Form, and the Online Crime Map. The Hub automatically delivers vital crime updates via email, phone, or text message to those who sign up. I often suggest using the Traffic Service Request Form. It is an online reporting tool that the Police use to identify problem areas for traffic violations. The Online Crime Map allows people to view what kind of crime is happening in their community. All can be found on www.calgarypolice.ca. These tools were created so that YOU can help make your community safer. The more eyes there are on the street and voices speaking up, the better. Just locking car, garage, and house doors is so simple, but is exactly what will coax wrongdoers to move elsewhere. Use the tools that I mentioned and the non-emergency line 403-266-1234 because the police can only respond to what they know about. Be proactive and stand up for your community.

The next Aldertalk is May 24th from noon to 2 p.m. at St. Sebastian School (65 Chaparral Drive SE).  Also, look for the street sweeping schedule at www.calgary.ca/sweep.

Have a great May!​