Dear friends,

On Tuesday, August 7 we will kick off National Night Out in front of City Hall. This annual event is an opportunity for neighborhood watch groups to hold rallies in their communities and engage their residents in crime prevention. Public Safety remains the top priority of this administration and this increasing trend of violent crime must not be accepted in this community. Our residents play a critical role in making our neighborhoods safer. National Night out is a fun way to bring neighbors together.

Neighborhoods across Orlando will participate in this educational event. Last year, Orlando ranked third nationwide for the number of neighborhoods and block captains participating.

This community participation is an essential part of our Public Safety Initiative. We dedicated substantial public safety resources from additional officers to enhancing technology, and we will continue to allocate resources when available to ensure our residents have safe and secure neighborhoods, but we need your help. The Orlando Police Department's Community Involvement Division has numerous opportunities for you to get involved and make a difference, including Neighborhood Watch and COPS.

Look for your neighborhood rally or come down to City Hall on Tuesday, August 7 Hall at 4:30 p.m and join Police Chief Mike McCoy, Fire Chief Jim Reynolds and myself for our National Night Out Rally.

Sincerely,

Buddy Dyer
Mayor

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News provides public safety updates on new and ongoing City initiatives and opportunities for citizens to become engaged.

Children and Teens on the Internet

The Internet provides children and teenagers a whole new world to explore, but every adventure in life has its hazards. On the Internet, children and teenagers may be exposed to unacceptable materials featuring sexual, violent or other objectionable subjects.

Teenagers are most likely to participate in online discussions. While most contacts through the Internet are harmless, there have been reported cases of pedophiles using online and bulletin board services to arrange meetings with children and teenagers. These meetings may lead to the injury or molestation of your child. If you have reason to believe your child or teen is being lured by someone for this or other illegal purposes, contact the Orlando Police Department immediately.

How You Can Reduce the Risk to Your Child

1.	There are programs designed to block or filter objectionable materials from being viewed on your computer. These may be purchased at most computer stores, or downloaded through the Internet. While providing some help, these programs enjoy limited success. Most service providers do their best to prevent distribution of such materials through their service and some offer password protected programs to open certain categories or "chat boxes." The bottom line is your observant parenting skills and supervision.
2.	Spend time with your children at the computer. Guide them to areas that will hold their interest and teach them to use bookmarks. Many parent, family, religious and hobby magazines list interesting web sites that target specific ages. Review the sites and bookmark those you would like your children to visit.
3.	If you have older children or teens, ask them to teach you about the computer and the internet. During these sessions, you may learn more than which buttons to push.
4.	Establish rules for using the Internet. For example:   Determine time of day and the length of time your children may be online.   Do not give out personal information (i.e. real name, address, phone number, etc.).   Never agree to personally meet someone unless with the parent. That person claiming to be a 12 year old girl may be a 55 year old man!   Never send your picture.   Do not answer messages that are inappropriate.   Tell the parent if someone insists on violating the above rules.
5.	Watch for signals and investigate:   Talk with your children about the sites they are using and who they are e-mailing.   Look at what they are printing (the trash can is a great source of intelligence).   Review their bookmarks.   Check the computer's cache. The cache stores every visited page, leaving a great trail. (Kind of like checking your car's odometer.) If your child is clearing the cache after every use, that may also be a clue. If he or she does not know about the cache, don't tell them!

For more information on computer fraud and crimes, visit the Florida Computer Crime Center

PKZ Pedaling 4 Pride Bike Ride

On Saturday, July 28, more than 100 kids participated in the Parramore Kidz Zone Pedaling 4 Pride Bike Ride. Accompanied by Chief Michael McCoy and District 6 Commissioner Daisy Lynum, the ride zoomed through Parramore streets and ended with a barbeque at the Jackson Community Center.

The ride was part of Get Active Orlando's initiative to promote a healthier lifestyle through regular exercise. In addition, 15 bikes were given out to participants. These unclaimed bikes from the Orlando Police Department and Lynx were collected by Get Active Orlando and repaired by the Florida Freewheelers and the Florida Bicycle Association, with bike helmets donated by the Florida Bicycle Association and the Children's Safety Village.

Get Active Orlando, a program through the City of Orlando's Planning Division, is part of a national initiative called Active Living by Design and is funded by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. As one of only 25 community partnerships chosen to participate in this initiative, Get Active Orlando works to establish innovative approaches to increase physical activity through community design, public policies and communication strategies.

Get Active Orlando works in the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), specifically targeting seniors in Downtown Orlando and families in the Parramore neighborhood, and promotes at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily. The initiative's general message is that physical activity does not only have to be achieved by typical exercise methods such as going to the gym or running a marathon. Rather, people can also be physically active on a daily basis by making choices such as walking to lunch instead of driving, biking to work or school or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Mayor's Neighborhood Matching Grant

The 2007-2008 Mayor's Neighborhood Matching Grants Applications are now available. Grant funds are available annually, with awards ranging from $1,000 - $5,000 and are matched dollar for dollar by the applying neighborhood organization using a combination of cash, volunteer labor and/or in-kind goods or services. This year's application comes with significant changes that are intended to streamline the process making it more user-friendly and include:

	Attendance at an application workshop (workshops run from August 9 - September 24, 2007) http://cityoforlando.net/executive/nca/grants/MNMG/mnmg-workshops.htm
	Project development and readiness guidelines
	New budget form and cost estimates
	Detailed application instructions
	Courtesy staff review of completed applications

The application, guideline and instructions are available online at www.cityoforlando.net/grants or from the City of Orlando's Office of Neighborhood & Community Affairs. The Office of Neighborhood & Community Affairs must receive applications by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 26, 2007. Please call 407- 246-3787 to reserve your space at the Application Workshop of your choice.

Pine Street Changing Direction Downtown

On Saturday, August 18, traffic along Pine Street from Orange Avenue to Rosalind Avenue will be changed from one-way eastbound to one-way westbound. In addition, Court Avenue from Central Boulevard to Pine Street will be converted from one-way northbound to two-way traffic. On street parking and the freight zone will be removed. In order to accomplish this, both Pine Street and Court Avenue will be closed August 18 to allow for City staff and contractors to perform the required changes. Traffic will be detoured around the area during this time. A meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 7 at 9 a.m. in Conference room "R" on the 2nd floor of City Hall to provide additional information. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Jeff Arms in the Transportation Engineering Division at 407-246-3377.

Centennial Fountain T.V. Special

Inside Orlando

Inside Orlando returns to Orange TV with highlights of recent Orlando events. The WWE Wrestlemania announcement comes alive with special clips from the press conference, professional wake boarder J.D. Webb talks about his record-breaking jump over the Lake Eola fountain and a special feature from Lynx highlights how to use bike racks on the buses to get around town. Inside Orlando airs on Brighthouse Channel 9 on Thursdays at 11 a.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Monday at 3 a.m. Inside Orlando is another creative product by the City's Office of Communications.

City Hall
400 South Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32801
Phone: 407.246.2221
Fax: 407.246.2842
Email: buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net