THEY DRIVE HIM MAD
15-YEAR-OLD ORGANIZING BLOCK WATCH TO TRY TO CURB SPEEDERS
Byline: By Ryan Konig, Staff writer
Before Tom Lennox is old enough to drive, he is starting a Block Watch to guard against
speeders in his north-central neighborhood.
Tom, 15, joined a growing number of Phoenix teenagers who are organizing neighborhood improvements when he held a Block Watch meeting a few months ago.
Many longtime residents in his neighborhood, which is North Lane between 15th and 17th avenues, are interested in participating, Tom said.
He said he plans to finish organizing the Block Watch when the weather cools off.
''We have a problem with drivers speeding through the neighborhood, and we have a lot of young children in the area,'' Tom said.
''Sometimes the drivers are going through so fast, you can feel the windows of your home shake.''
Tom came up with the idea of starting a Block Watch while talking about community service ideas with members of his Boy Scout troop, Troop 160.
The Block Watch will focus mainly on keeping children safe from speeding traffic.
''For a long time, I was the only kid in the neighborhood, and now there are kids all over the place,'' he said.
The Block Watch also would perform traditional Block Watch duties of making sure that neighbors know one another so they can spot strangers and report suspicious activity.
Tom said the Block Watch would succeed in his neighborhood.
''We have some really stubborn people here,'' he said. ''They've got guts, and we need people like that.
''Some of the people have been here since the days when this area was orange groves. That helps because they know everyone and they want to know everyone.''
Tom will be a freshman at Sunnyslope High School when the school year starts.
Longtime residents are pleased that Tom is helping the Sunnyslope area.
''I think he is the pride of the neighborhood,'' said JoeAnn Errigo, who has lived near Central and Dunlap avenues for 50 years. She met Tom while working with a local Boy Scout troop.
''I really appreciate this young man and the character that he has, setting a standard for other kids,'' Errigo said.
Richard Fox, president of the Phoenix Block Watch Advisory Board, said he has noticed growing interest among teens working to improve neighborhoods, either by participating in cleanups or in forming Block Watches.
The Awake Now Block Watch in west Phoenix, which formed about a year ago to look after the 35th Avenue and McDowell Road area, now is working to start a teen Block Watch program.
Color Photo by Ethan Miller, Staff photographer
When the weather cools, Tom Lennox, 15, plans to do something about the drivers who speed in his neighborhood.