National Night Out was a party uniting people in neighborhoods to celebrate their communities and take back their streets.
Cheektowaga has traditionally had a big event in the Town Park to celebrate the idea of citizens working to help themselves.
Supervisor Mary Holtz says that is an initiative people learn when they move into the town, because so much is done by volunteers, including 11 fire companies and taxpayer groups representing segments of the community.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda was in the city's northwest corner at J.H. Williams Park for a party on Roesch celebrating community activist David Spinda and unveiling a plaque honoring him. Derenda says community activism is helping fight crime and neighborhood problems.
"We get a lot of people out there. There are more block clubs than there were six years ago when I started as Deputy Commissioner of Operations," Derenda said. "We have a lot of citizens involved and without their help, we wouldn't be able to do the job that we do.
Derenda knows the problems well, talking of difficulties in his own East Side community and the residents fighting for improvements.
