Good afternoon, everyone! I hope this email finds all of you doing well. This past fall, I promised all of you that I would keep you apprised of our efforts to continue to hold our officials accountable and track their progress against the promises that were made to all of us. To that end, in recent days the Alderman's office released official statistics about police staffing in our ward; the results were mixed. While the number of police officers currently serving our community is less than the amount we were originally promised (I've been told by someone "in the know" that there is a plan to get us back on track) the Alderman actually released the hard data; this is a significant and important development. If you recall in our first letter, and all of those that followed, one of our biggest requests was for the Alderman to proactively engage his constituents AND to provide information/data so that we can hold him (and all decision makers) accountable. One this one point, we're making progress. On the flip side, the level of criminal activity in our community remains at an unacceptable level. As residents are ability to change this reality is limited. However, in the coming month, I hope to be able to provide an update on some ways for all of us to get more involved. There are some communities in the Chicagoland (and around the country) that are utilizing social media / apps / etc. to successfully address similar issues we are facing. Lastly, and for those of you within the Belmont Harbor Neighbors Association, I've been told (by a friend, but not someone connected to BHN) that there is a meeting next Wednesday, April 13th at 7pm at Merlo Library. I have to admit, it continues to be difficult for me to obtain updates / information about when / where meetings are taking place, which is unfortunate and not how our Neighbors Association should operate. If someone has a better way for me (or any of us) to get “in-the-loop” I welcome any/all ideas. All the best, Ted