Citizens for a Better Ridgewood opened its doors to residents on Monday night, as the civic group held its first meeting of the fall season after breaking for the summer.
The meeting gave community members a chance to honor people who organized events, as well as address concerns regarding Grover Cleveland Park. Representative from the 104th Precinct also attended the meeting to talk about the latest crime statistics from the area.
Some residents and local officials were honored by Citizens for A Better Ridgewood for the work they did over the summer in bringing community events to Grover Cleveland Park, like a movie night on August 30, which showed the kids movie “Despicable Me” and a puppet show on August 31st.
Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, Chief of Recreation of the Parks Department, was among the six honorees. She helped organize the events after residents complained that the park was underutilized, and said that the events were some of the most well attended in the area.
“The community came out in the hundreds,” she said.
Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Bushwick) was also honored for her role in addressing residents’ concerns. Reyna said that, along with help from the 104th Precinct, she was able to work on improving the quality of life in Ridgewood, including decreasing prostitution, and dealing with issues that affected both the Queens and Brooklyn portions of her district.
“When you deal with issues that bounce back and forth, it becomes very challenging,” said Reyna, who district stretches into the Bushwick and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn. “That’s the beauty of what you have as representation.”
Captain Michael Cody attended his first Citizens for a Better Ridgewood meeting since taking over the precinct command in early June.
Cody said that although there haven’t been any major issues overall, there has been a slight increase in robberies, with four robbery arrests in the last month.
He has also worked to combat the prostitution problem that has been plaguing the area recently. Using a method that he picked up on while he was a patrol officer in the Bronx, Cody has had some of his officers go undercover, one posing as a prostitute and another pretending to be a customer. Cody said that they did this once in July, which yielded eight arrests and another at the end of August, when 11 arrests were made. He added that he intends on sending out this operation at least once a month.
Residents at the meeting were told to keep a look out for a man who allegedly groped a young girl on September 16. The alleged incident happened between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. inside the Kid City clothing store on Myrtle Avenue. Police have a sketch of the man based on the account from the girl and they urge anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS or visit nypdcrimestoppers.com. Cody said it was important to find this man before he does harm to anyone else.
“We don’t know who this is,” Cody said. “But whoever this is, is a real bad guy.”
The next Citizens for a Better Ridgewood meeting will be on Monday, October 31 in St. Aloysius Parish Hall located at 382 Onderdonk Avenue in Ridgewood.
By Luis Gronda
