SPRINGFIELD – Longtime residents of Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood couldn’t agree with Bob Dylan more – the times most certainly are a-changin’.

With societal shifts making tight-knit neighborhoods more and more rare, it has been increasingly important to remain vigilant.

“I’ve lived here all my life in the same house and my dad was a cop for a very long time and to see the neighborhood change the way that I have is kind of sad,” Mary Kober, secretary of the Pine Point Community Council and Co-Chair of Sector G Community Policing, said. “It’s very much changed from what it was.”

With that being the case, some neighborhood residents have taken it upon themselves to find new ways to spread information on public safety and local developments. That’s why on the second Monday of every month for the past seven years they have gathered for the Pine Point Improvement League meeting.

“Sherriff [Michael] Ashe and [then] Deputy Chief [John] Barbieri put this all into play about seven years ago,” said Hampden County Sherriff’s Department Officer Joe DeMars. DeMars, who has led the group for six of those seven years, has been a resident of Pine Point since moving to Massachusetts from California when he was 2 years old.

Early in its existence, the Improvement League identified three major priorities on which to focus its attention – the redevelopment of Balliet Park on Breckwood Boulevard, crime suppression and quality of life.

The group has had an impact in all of these areas, enough so that at the Oct. 12 meeting, Ward 5 City Councilor Clodo Concepcion presented members of the Improvement League with citations from the City Council.

“When I first came here, this was a small group, but now it’s really going and it’s important work,” Concepcion said.

The city recently broke ground on the second phase of the Balliet Park reconstruction, which Concepcion said should be completed by the spring.

“Clodo has been instrumental with Balliet Park, getting funding and Mayor [Domenic] Sarno has been amazing in that he has actually taken interest in Pine Point when Pine Point was really forgotten,” DeMars said.

Once the park is completed, the Improvement League would like to host its own National Night Out festivities in August 2016.

The Improvement League also conducts neighborhood walks during the warm weather months, going door-to-door to talk with residents about taking precautions to prevent themselves from becoming victims, encourage communication with neighbors and discuss area issues. Participants also want to hear concerns that can then be passed on to other neighbors, Concepcion, Springfield Police Ordinance Officer Keith Fleming, or other appropriate city officials.

The next walk is scheduled for Oct. 17.

“Communication is key,” DeMars said. In 2014, he explained there were a rash of break-ins during which time the perpetrators went door-to-door, street by street, victimizing residents until through communication with neighbors and the police, the Improvement League was able to drastically cut down the number of breaking and entering occurrences in the area.

“People started looking out, people started talking and started making sure their valuables were locked securely and the Springfield Police actually caught them,” DeMars said.

Other issues ranging from graffiti to illegal dumping have also been tackled.

“The thing we keep trying to get people to understand is even if we live on different streets on Pine Point, it’s a problem for all of us,” he said. “That’s why we all try to work together to find solutions to all of these issues. I’m not tooting our horn too much, but we have had some success.”

The biggest assets to the Improvement League are the observations from the public, Kober asserted.

“There’s nothing wrong with a nosy neighbor,” she said.

The Pine Point Improvement League meets at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Pastoral Center, 51 Rosewell St., on the second Monday of the month, 6 to 7 p.m. For more information, contact DeMars, at joseph.demars@sdh.state.ma.us.