El Medio Bluffs: Neighborhood Watch Initiative Strengthens Community Bonds

By ERIKA MARTIN | Reporter

With property crime in Pacific Palisades more prevalent than ever, residents of the El Medio Bluffs took a proactive approach and formed a community initiative to foster a safer neighborhood environment.

Under the leadership of El Medio Bluffs homeowners Karen Ridgley and Peter Keenan, the area has instituted a Neighborhood Watch program. The nearly year-long effort culminated in the placement of 26 signs the weekend of Jan. 2-3, forming a perimeter around the neighborhood from West Bowdoin Street and Erskine Drive in the east, Bienveneda Avenue in the west, Sunset Boulevard to the north, and Asilomar Boulevard to the south.

The program was kicked off last January by El Medio Bluffs resident Elizabeth Stein, who set out to “just get people talking to one another.”

“As I spoke to people, I realized how many people didn’t know their next-door neighbor,” she said.

To connect residents, Stein organized rosters of participants for 31 of the neighborhood’s 32 blocks.

“If you know them, then they will know something is wrong at your house,” she said. “That’s the way we can watch out for each other.”

Once people started discussing the implementation of Neighborhood Watch signs, Stein knew she didn’t have the time to commit to the project. In stepped Ridgley and Keenan.

“Since I am retired I felt I had time, and since my block partner across the street had already researched the cost for putting up the signs for our own street, we took it on,” Ridgley said.

Keenan, who works freelance producing television commercials, said he’s “not Joe Volunteer” himself.

“I just figured I’ve got the extra time, so I’m going to help where I can,” he said.

Out of the roughly 400 residences in the El Medio Bluffs, Ridgley said “at least a couple hundred residents” participated in the organization of the Neighborhood Watch. Efforts were spearheaded by group captains who were assigned to each block. Their main task was to inform neighbors and collect funding for the signs.

Together they were able to round up a total of $3,700 from neighbors. El Medio Bluffs resident Jenny Kovner got pricing for the signs, and the next hurdle was the three-month process of getting approval from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Department of Lighting (DOL) and Department of Transportation (DOT) before placing a sign on any existing structure, which was the cheapest way to erect them.

Ridgley said now there is good sign coverage throughout the area.

“In most of the groups we had excess money, so where street captains or groups did not come forward or exist we were still able to erect signs in visible areas,” she said. “There is no entry point coming into El Medio Bluffs from Sunset Boulevard that does not have a sign.”

Ridgley and Keenan are the first to admit the signs are not really going to end burglaries, and that isn’t their main goal.

“It’s for heightened awareness of the burglaries and that we should have ongoing efforts to watch out for one another,” Ridgley said, citing examples like having a neighbor pick up your newspaper when you’re out of town or giving retailers delivery instructions not to leave a package on your front steps.

“It was just more about awareness,” Keenan said. “The best thing that happened out of this whole deal wasn’t the purchase of these signs, it was getting to know your neighbors.”

The hope is also that neighbors will become more aware of practices to prevent crimes of opportunity.

For example, LAPD suggests acknowledging someone at your front door even if you don’t intend to let them in. That way they don’t think your house is empty and ripe for theft.

“House break-ins, car windows smashed … These are things that are happening all the time,” Keenan said. “It just boggles my mind that people still leave their cars unlocked with things like iPads and wallets visible.”

According to Ridgley, the increased communication among neighbors has also made people more aware of what crimes are happening around the community.

While Keenan acknowledged there were “a few grumblers” who weren’t keen on the signs being erected, he said it seemed “they were more upset because they weren’t aware it was happening.”

“I think it’s fine as long as it doesn’t get to vigilante status,” Keenan said. “That’s what I think a lot of people got turned off by in the initial response.”

Now that the signs are in place, the group is going to focus on strengthening neighborhood relationships.

“We’ll probably revert back to small group meetings and coordinate with captains for any information that needs to be shared across the community,” Ridgley said, such as sharing crime alerts and best practices.

She said the team is also open to advising other areas that may want to start their own Neighborhood Watch.

But the biggest takeaway from the whole ordeal, Keenan said, is to “get up off your hinder and knock on the door to your left and to your right, and the world will be a better place.”