GIGA GRANADA HILLS

On Saturday, October 2, drop by Fire Station 87 for the North Valley Disaster Preparedness Fair from 11-3pm. City, county and state agencies will be there distributing safety information available, free safety items, child fingerprinting, and a drawing for an emergency response kit. Also, take a ride on the earthquake truck! Fire Station 87 is located on Balboa just south of Devonshire.

Here's another reason why I don't cover crime : our paper of record is doing a better job than I ever possibly could. The L.A. Times this morning unveiled a new database that maps and analyzes crime data from all over L.A. In neighborhood crime rankings, of 206 Los Angeles neighborhoods, Granada Hills comes in at 151. That's not too shabby. Disturbingly, the database reports a recent uptick in violent crime in our neighboring Northridge . However, Greg Ridgeway, director of Rand Corp.'s Center on Quality Policing, is quoted in the Times' story cautioning that "a spike in the number of reported crimes might be the result of an increased police presence in an area, or it could be a sign of improved cooperation between police and residents who were once distrustful or reluctant to share information with officers." See the L.A. Times crime database here .