Patrick Cotrona - What's Next - EACA Public Safety Fair

by Ted Bradford

EAST ATLANTA — There has been a lot of discussion at recent meetings and at the rally held in Patrick Cotrona's honor about what we should do next to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. I know the Patch recently ran an article about that very subject: Life After Patrick: What Do We Do Now?

The East Atlanta Community Association is hosting a public safety fair this Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the grassy lot at May and Flat Shoals avenues to educate the community about what we can all do to improve public safety in the neighborhood.

Here is the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/543882022326808/

While EACA and Neighborhood Planning Unit-W continue to work with the city on improve policing, lighting, code enforcement and other public safety concerns, it is important for individual citizens to know that they have a role to play as well. There are many things people can do on their own that will not only improve their own safety but the safety of their street and the community as a whole.

One issue in particular that we want to focus on is the low levels of lighting on residential streets. While many people have expressed concerns about this recently, most don't realize that improving the lighting of their own house can have a huge impact on the adjacent street.

Georgia Power even offers a service where they will come out and install street lamps and other outdoor lighting fixtures for you. The city has been actively working with us to address lighting on a macro level, but there is no reason for citizens to wait.

The EACA Public Safety Fair: "Take Back Our Streets & Light Up the Night," will feature informational booths from:

• Georgia Power
• Atlanta Police Department
• East Atlanta Community Association
• East Atlanta Security Patrol
• Adopt-a-Street
• the Entry Enforcer home security specialist.

Our goal is to help answer the question "What do we do now?" with concrete steps that people can take immediately to make our streets safe.

— Mr. Bradford, of East Atlanta, is vice president of the East Atlanta Community Association.