This coming Saturday, the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) is bringing residents a chance to not only raise money for a good cause, but to blow the whistle on any reportable or unsafe conditions around their block.
Hoping to take advantage of the recent balmy spring weather, WRBA is holding its first-ever 311 Spring Cleaning and Fundraiser event on Saturday, March 31.
Through this one-day event, the Woodhaven-based civic group is looking to bring attention to dangerous or unsightly conditions around the area by having residents take a walk around their neighborhood—two, maybe three blocks—and make a note of any reportable conditions that they see.
Those conditions could include graffiti on the walls of homes, abandoned homes, potholes, illegal home conversions and anything else that residents feel might detract from the community.
From there, volunteers would call 311 after returning home and, one by one, report what they saw and where.
How did the event come about? Well, that’s a little more complicated.
The event was concocted by the WRBA’s board members recently, according to Ed Wendell, president of the WRBA, starting first as a way to bring attention to the 311 complaints that residents have, and evolving into a way to raise funding for the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
“It just happened that one idea led to the next,” he said. “It’s a way to kill a few birds with one stone.”
The goal of the event is to have residents report, collectively, 100 items of concern in one day.
“It’s a brand new idea to encourage people to get out and call 311,” Wendell said. “If you see graffiti on a pole, or a dangerous condition, an illegal conversion, an abandoned car, anything that would just normally sit there, don’t assume that some one else has called 311. Call it in.”
And as far as what to do with an enormous list of complaints, volunteers can send them to WRBA, who will have volunteers standing by to call those into 311.
If all goes to plan, the WRBA will document each complaint and follow up with 311, in order to compile statistics at the end of each month on how many complaints have been addressed. This, Wendell said, will help the civic group determine how effectively 311 addresses local calls for help, as they must respond within 35 days of a call.
However, the event also has a charitable side, as for each call, sponsors for the event will donate money towards the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Sponsors—of which WRBA has already enlisted nine—can donate an amount of their choosing per each phone call.
“It can be a fun event for people,” Wendell said. “People can go outside and stretch their legs, take the dog or the kids out for a walk and just find whatever they see. You’d be surprised what you can find by just taking a short walk around the neighborhood, and it’s for a good cause, a great organization.”
For more information on how to sponsor or volunteer in the event, contact the WRBA either via email at: info@woodhaven-nyc.org or call the group at 718-296-3735.
By Jean-Paul Salamanca
