Meeting - May 15, 2023

Information sent out ahead of the meeting via email:Maymont Civic League Meeting T oday! Monday the 15 at 7pm We will meet at the Maymont Garden Hall, which is down the walk-way from the Hampton gates of Maymont . Please join our Facebookgroup “Maymont Civic League” or emailinfo@maymontcivicleague.org to be added to the email list and stayup to date ! Agenda Items are: Fire Department will talk about safety in older homes3rd Precinct police updates  – there was some turnover which iswhy we didn’t have someone at the last meeting5th district updates from Amy Robins Speed Limit discussion – option to go down to 20mph Loud Concert at Maymont – how to address ? Sidewalks going in! Any other concerns We hope you will join us!—Minutes taken at the meeting:Attendees: Joy Rogers (President), Leah Hopper (Vice President),Gayle Goldberg (Treasurer), Jan Hatchard (Membership Coordina-tor), Kirk Millikan (Secretary), Rebecca Fischer, Michael Glass, Joe Goldberg, Kim Griffin, T ony Halsey, Art Hatchard, Lily Jones, Debbie Ladd, Alexander Lawson, Elisabeth Linka, Stephanie Lynch (5th Dis-trict Councilmember), Lieutenant Marvin Marsh (Richmond Police Department), Hugo Mendoza, Emily Morris, Parke Richeson (May-mont Executive Director), Ethan Smith, Hannah Stewart, Lee Williams Joy opened the meeting with introductions of the board . Lt. Marvin Marsh from the 3rd Precinct (which includes ourneighborhood) provided updates. Lt. Marsh has been with the Richmond Police since 2000. He graduated from Armstrong High School and Virginia State University. For the Maymont neighborhood, there have been no violentcrimes year to date; no theft from motor vehicles reported thisyear; one stolen vehicle this year . For the sector as a whole (which also includes the Fan and Randolph), statistics are not as good as our neighborhood, butthey are not bad overall . Shoplifting has increased a lot, specif-ically at the ABC Store on Broad Street. Breaking and enteringreports have increased from 5 to 10 year-to-date. There hasbeen an uptick in catalytic converter thefts again. The illegaldumping on T exas Avenue is an on-going investigation; thedumping was identified as a hair product . Fraud alert – startingto see an uptick in fraud phone calls, particularly calling elderlyfolks with fake “ghosting” numbers . Elisabeth Linka introduced herself and provided her contactinformation (804-646-2905, elisabeth.linka@rva.gov) . Elisa-beth is an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Richmond,and she is the 3rd Precinct prosecutor . She provided updateson the illegal towing in Richmond. The substantial investiga-tion is on-going with fraud in addition to property crimes. On-Time T owing and No Limit T owing are the towing companiesbeing investigated. $175/day is the maximum cap for a towcompany charging per day, and these companies are charging$400+ per day . If you think you are a victim of illegal towing,you should call the police non-emergency number – the mostimportant thing is to provide pictures of where you parked,any towing signs put up, and any other documentation . Can call or email Elisabeth to check on the status of crime cas-es if you have been the victim of a crime . It was asked if the No Parking signs on Westover Road can beremoved per current codes and with some Byrd Park streetsclosing on the weekends . Lt. Marsh said he would look into it. Steve Brown, one of the fire marshals in Richmond, provided firesafety updates. He has been a firefighter for 29 years. Working smoke detectors are extremely important. Onwww.rva.gov, there is a fire marshal’s page where you can re-quest free smoke detectors. The smoke detectors will be in-stalled by the Richmond Fire Department in your house, andthey now have a battery life of 10 years . After 10 years, thesmoke detector needs to be thrown away. Recommend testingsmoke detectors once a month. Cooking is the number one cause of house fires. Mr. Brownrecommends having a mat in front of the stove where only oneperson is allowed to stand. If you are cooking, he rec