The UPTOWN Initiative PEPSI Refresh Grant

Revitalizing North Central is near and dear to my heart. Oh what a success story it would be to bring this once vibrant and elegant section of Troy back to its former glory! Xenia Allen, one of the founding members of the Uptown Initiative Neighborhood Project has written a application for a 50K Pepsi 'Refresh Grant'. This Grant would, if awarded, provide a great foundation for further restoration of Uptown/North Central. This has become a wonderful Community effort and we are asking and encouraging everyone to please go to the Pepsi Refresh site every single day and place your vote for this project. To vote simply click on the Internet address below or copy and paste into your browser.

www://www.refresheverything.com/search/?q=Troy+Neighborhood

The following are the Goals the group has included in their application:

1. Plant Trees and Perennials for improved curb appeal of our streets.
2. Artist paintings of murals at the gateway to Uptown.
3. Community outreach and education.
4. Regular clean -n -sweeps of the entire Uptown Neighborhood.
5. Encourage urban green living & sustainability.

Here is the breakdown of how the 50K will be used:

$27,500 Trees, Perennials,Supplies, Landscaping services

$3,500 Brochures, Fliers for Community Outreach & Education

$10,000 Artist Mural Paintings

$3,000 Uptown Neighborhood Banners

$3,000 Street Cleanups and Signs

$3,000 Administrative

Volunteering your time in your Neighborhood or any other project is time consuming and not all Citizens do it. So this is a small request to do some Community service and help this group out by giving them a BIG BOOST and vote for this project and also send out the link to everyone in your Address Book and ask them to do the same on a daily basis to make this a successful effort! Paste it on your Facebook page also. REMEMBER.....this voting segment ends on December 31st!

Chief Tedesco

Boy do I like the sound of that CHIEF TEDESCO! I know most of the Neighborhood heads are as happy as can be and I am leading that list, just jumping for JOY!

Why? The simple reason being of the history the groups of the City of Troy have had with John Tedesco when he was Captain of the Community Police. And why is he so popular? Because he has always done his job. I first met Chief Tedesco, years ago, while being involved in our South Lansingburgh group. We had been meeting for quite a while going over and over our problems of our ever changing neighborhood which was going downhill quickly. Let me preface this with, I had not previously had much success with the Police in Troy, I had some bad experiences when calling about problems, one being a young boy who I caught setting fire to my garage, others which involved others in our neighborhood when there was a local boy shooting out our windows with a BB gun. So the outlook on the Police helping us was 'not good'. Well we invited Tedesco to our meeting, he sat and listened and we talked. When some who don't like him call him "Mr. Personality" I have to laugh, because when you first meet him, he is ALL BUSINESS. He has what we call 'the puss' on, but he did listen and said 'this will be taken care of and this is what I can do for you", and let me tell you, it wasn't just Lip Service just to shut us up. He and his Officers went to work 'with' us. We developed a great relationship and he always stood by us. He was always just a phone call away, always RETURNED phone calls and emails, the attention was always there. My opinion of the Troy Police did a huge turn around. Though not a perfect force it is getting much better and will continue to do so and shine under his leadership.

The Downside was when he was promoted to Asst. Chief, we felt this would be a plus for us, but with this promotion his duties were taken away from him, things were not well in the Dept. another story for another time. We began the Merry Go Round of "Heads of Community Policing". It took a giant step backwards. There were times we weren't even notified there was a new Captain in charge. There were times when we would get a new Community Police Officer and not even know it as no one, the Dept. Head nor the Officer would contact us. Sometimes we LOST our Officer and didn't know it. It was in shambles, much like the Dept. is now. But NOT FOR LONG! Tedesco has great plans for the City and the Force. He is very organized and determined. The Officers badly need direction and they will receive it. There is some shuffleing going on now and we will be advised of more. Tedesco knows exactly what the Neighborhoods need and I for one am very happy. Let's give the Chief the support he needs to guide the Dept. in the most advantageous way for the Citizens of Troy.

Let's hear your comments and what you would like the Chief to do for the City and the Force. Let us not forget a great big HUGE THANK YOU to Mayor Harry Tutunjian for making the best selection of all. LONG LIVE THE CHIEF!!!!