Neighborhood Watch Groups Mark Territory with New Signs

New street signs are popping up around Rosemont, but they aren’t the kind warning drivers about speed bumps or a school zone.

Neighborhood watch groups in Rosemont are marking their territory by posting Rosemont-specific neighborhood watch signs, replacing the ubiquitous signs that can be found faded and neglected on just about any street in Sacramento.

“The old signs weren’t representing anything,” said Linda Kenner, who along with her husband Doug, helped to connect Rosemont’s block-specific groups with each other last year.

As they grow and become more organized, the neighborhood watch groups around Rosemont are becoming community hubs, allowing neighbors to meet each other and feel safer.

“I’d like to see [us] get a reputation among criminals for, ‘Don’t go over to Rosemont–there’s too many eyes over there,’ ” Linda Kenner said.

The new signs, designed by neighborhood watch member Brad Cook, will only be posted where an active neighborhood watch group is present, Linda Kenner said. They’re more expensive than the standard neighborhood watch signs, but organizers say they’re worth the increased price tag.

Tina Wong is a neighborhood watch coordinator on her street near , and said her group put up one of the new signs a few weeks ago. Wong, who has lived in Rosemont 10 years, said she decided to start a neighborhood watch group last summer to try to meet more of her neighbors.

“It’s a shame when you live in a place for a number of years and you don’t really know your neighbors,” she said.

Wong, who is retired, said few people in her neighborhood seem to have the time to organize community events or hold meetings on their own.

“A lot of the people here are very hard working, and I think they mostly [have] jobs, so there’s just not the time … to do community stuff or get to know your neighbors or get out there to do that,” Wong said.

Despite their busy schedules, Wong said since starting her neighborhood watch group, she has seen her neighbors take a strong interest in decreasing crime.

Wong said the neighborhood watch groups also have the added benefit of connecting individual blocks in Rosemont into a larger community.

“It makes the Rosemont community more cohesive,” she said.

Lucy Gutierrez, who has lived in Rosemont for about 30 years, agreed. She said when she first moved to the area, everyone in her neighborhood was on a first-name basis. But as time went on, neighbors moved out and the street became less cohesive.

“It got to where nobody knew anybody,” Gutierrez said. “Nobody really talked to anybody.”

She said her neighborhood watch group has been a way to counteract that.

“It’s really nice getting to know all our neighbors so we can help each other out,” she said, citing a recent example of a neighbor who called her when she spotted a suspicious person on her doorstep or neighbors who teamed up to find the absentee owner of a corner lot and convinced him to mow the lawn.

“It’s reassuring to know your neighbors are watching and making a difference,” Gutierrez said. “It makes a difference.”

The Rosemont Neighborhood Watch will hold its at , 9242 Kiefer Blvd.