Safety

Neighbors at NNO.

Graffiti

Help us make Whittier prettier and remove graffiti on your property or report graffiti that you see to the City by calling 311 or reporting online at: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/graffiti/

If you are a victim of graffiti, you can obtain cleaner free of charge from the Blaisdell Fire Station (on 28th and Blaisdell), or you can hire a professional graffiti-removal contractor (check the Yellow Pages under "graffiti removal and protection"). Often, these companies can also apply a protective coating that makes graffiti easier to clean should it happen again.

Whittier Alliance has NRP funds available for graffiti prevention and abatement projects. We are able to reimburse for up to 1/3 of the amount of removal, preventative coating, landscaping, lighting and mural/mosaic projects. Download the Graffiti removal/prevention application.

Free Graffiti Clean-Up Kits and Graffiti Removal/Remediation Grants

The Whittier Alliance can help you be pro-active in removing and deterring graffiti!
Through generous grant sponsored by the Golden Living Center on 2nd Ave in Whittier the Whittier Alliance is able to give away free Graffiti Removal Kits. These kits come in 3 types to fit your graffiti removal needs.
  • Citizen's Kit 1 for graffiti removal from painted and sensitive surfaces
  • Citizen's Kit 2 for graffiti removal from brick, stone and masonry surfaces
  • Safewipes for graffiti removal form hard surfaces such as signage, play equipment, bus shelters, etc
The Kits are available at the Whittier Alliance office on a first come/first served basis.

In addition the Whittier Neighborhood Revitalization Plan (NRP) Graffiti Removal Program reimburses 1/3 of the costs of graffiti removal and long term preventative remediation such as lighting, murals and landscaping. For more information or a grant application please contact the Whittier Alliance office or follow the link to our Safety page.

Restorative Justice

The mission of this organization is to improve community livability through restorative justice practices. Restorative justice is about repairing the harm caused by crime or conflict. Face-to-face conferences allow the people affected to meet and decide outcomes together. In contrast to the traditional system of justice, which is punitive, restorative justice aims to mend what was broken. RJCA seeks to involve neighborhood stakeholders in a number of roles: as conference participants (4 per conference on average), conference facilitators (15 in the pool at any given time), and neighborhood service supervisors. Volunteers also serve as translators and offender advocates, as well help with office work, special events and community outreach. If you are interested in participating or to learn more, please contact Community Coordinator Taryn Runck at 612-746-0784, or trunck@rjca-inc.org. To learn more about RJCA, please visit www.rjca-inc.org

Block Clubs

We also have $100 grants available for block/apartment club activities. Download the Apartment Building & Block Club Activities application

National Night Out

We strongly encourage you to have a condo/apartment or block club event for National Night Out. A simple potluck or ice cream social can really help build community and foster safety. The city has a lot of useful information: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/nno/block-clubs.asp

Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) and Safety

The NRP steering committee looks at ways to use the funds allocated to safety strategies. We hope to create another safety calendar for 2008 by collaborating again with MCAD. Also, from July to September 2007 we funded extra police "buyback" shifts in the form of Eat Street Beat officers to help make Nicollet Ave safer at night.

Whittier Walkers

The Whittier Walkers are neighborhood volunteers who meet at the Black Forest a few nights a month to walk the neighborhood. They are a positive presence on the streets, offering more eyes and ears for the police and neighbors alike. New walkers are always welcome. While increasing the safety of the neighborhood, you can learn about all of the businesses, buildings, gardens and people who make it up! If you are interested in walking, contact Josie at the Whittier Alliance, at josie@whittieralliance.org.

Problem Properties and Neighborhood Safety

The Whittier Alliance partners with the Police, the Crime Prevention Specialist, the neighborhood probation officers, the City Attorney, the adjacent neighborhoods, block clubs and others in order to ensure that safety and livability issues are adequately addressed. If you have concerns about a property on your block, want to make your block safer, or have other issues, contact Josie at the Whittier Alliance, at josie@whittieralliance.org.

What YOU can do:
  1. Call 911 to report illegal or suspicious activity while it's happening.
  2. Call even though your neighbor called or you're not 100% sure of what you saw. The police allocate resources based on calls for service. Also, that's one of the ways they build cases against problem properties.
  3. Call the Community Response Team (CRT) 673-5716 to report concerns that are ongoing and not in progress; ie. many people coming and going from a building where they do not live. You can also call 311 to report misdemeanor level crimes that no officer has witnessed. The police track these reports as well as 911 reports in order to determine where they focus their efforts.
  4. Call the Whittier Alliance at 612-871-7756 to report any concerns or issues and we will get in touch with the police.
  5. Come to the Community Issues meetings the 2nd Monday of every month (held at 6:30pm at Whittier School during the school year, elsewhere during the summer months) and tell the Police yourself what you're worried about.
  6. Start a block, apartment or condo club in order to collect contact information for your neighbors and get to know each other. This way you can work together on safety and livability issues.
  7. Join Whittier Walkers! It's a simple, pro-active, grassroots way you can make the neighborhood a safer place. When law-abiding citizens take back the street, they make it clear that unsavory behavior will not be tolerated. Please call Josie with questions or to join! It can be as little as 1 hour and a half walk per month. You can do a trial walk and check it out before you fill out an application and have a mini-orientation.