Posted October 16th, by Jerry Beech, NOCUPP President:

The fall membership drive is now underway.?? Please be on the lookout for your renewal letter, and and if needed update your property information form with any changes.?? We really would like to get email addreses for all members, since most of our communications go out by email.?? If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Posted November 14th by Jerry Beech, NOCUPP President:

Please keep those alleys clear

Some of the alleys in in our area are getting overgrown.?? It’s not just an aesthetic issue.?? Officers of the North Oak Cliff United Police Patrol (NOCUPP) say that criminals can easily hide in the bushes, waiting for an opportunity to commit a crime or safely escape afterward.?? Not only that, in a few alleys police patrol cars have a hard time getting through the alley to do their patrols.?? If they cannot drive the alley it does not get patrolled.?? ??Since a lot of people NOCUPP has encountered in the past in alley have been found with flashlight and screwdriver in hand (hmm…) or a long rap sheet of past theft and burglary convictions, we definitely want the squad car to pass through. ??Keeping our alleys clear helps prevent crime on your block and keep burglars and auto thieves out of our area.

Fire trucks, utility vehicles and other emergency vehicles also need access to the alley even when it is not used by most residents, andthe City of Dallas occasionally decides to stop garbage pickups in a particular alley if there trucks don???t have enough clearance to pass through without touching vegetation.?? Once they City decides to stop trash pickups in an alley, it is a very hard process to get them to agree to do it again, even after your block cleans up the alley.

Cleaning up alleys is entirely the responsibility of the residents, whether you have a garage on it or not, so please take a moment to check out back, and if your shrubs need a trim, put it on your To Do list for this weekend!?? It is a nice time of year to do a little trimming out back and next week (11/18) happens to be bulk trash pickup week.