|
Spring 2008
Spring
is in the air!
The flowers are in full bloom
and the trees are sprouting new leaves. The birds and bees are out in force and the rains are here bringing everything back
to life. What a wonderful time of year it is. Our neighborhood is alive with
the sights and sounds of spring.
Along with the pleasures of
spring come the back breaking work of pruning, mulching, fertilizing, and landscaping that keep our neighborhood looking beautiful. Some of us tend to our own yards and others have a yard maintenance crew do it for
us. In either case, our yards must be kept to a standard in which our neighborhood reflects - the essence of a luxurious community. With this come our deeds and restrictions which uphold the neighborhood to a standard
of excellence.
But here lately I have become
a little disappointed by driving around on a Thursday evening.
After the yard crews have come
and completed their work and deposited their goods – trash bags full of grass clippings and stacks of palm leaves, it
almost looks like the fairy garbage man arrived and deposited these piles of trash bags in front of every other home. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if trash pickup was the following day but here
it is Thursday evening and our garbage pickup isn’t until next Monday. That’s
5 days before the next trash pickup. How sad it is to drive around our neighborhood
and see these trash bags sitting out for 5 days not to mention that the trash bags sitting there on the lawns damage the grass. The weekend is here, our friends are invited over for visiting and all they see is
trash bags sitting out by the curb.
Now according to our deeds and
restrictions:
Section
4. Trash and Rubbish Removal clearly states that all trash should be placed in a refuse container with a tight
fitting lid in an area adequately screened by planting or fence not to be seen from neighboring lots.
Leaving garbage in front of
your homes is against our deeds and restrictions!
But for those of us who take
pride in our homes and neighborhood, its like a slap in the face. Respect your neighbors and your neighborhood. Let’s
make this a clean neighborhood that we can be proud of. Don’t put
trash out and leave it until it’s the night before garbage pickup and make sure it’s put it a tight lid container. Let’s make our neighborhood a nice place to live and play.
If you have any comments or
want to send your HOA Board an e-mail to voice your opinion, send it to:
Karen Janczak - Crest Management
Company
karen@crest-management.com
The
Buckingham Guards
Have you ever been to England
to see the Queen? How about the changing of the guards… the Buckingham
Guards? Well, we are about to see it here at the Lakes of Buckingham –
Kelliwood.
We should all know that these are really
not guards but, gate attendants. That’s right; they attend the gates here
in our neighborhood and restrict the public traffic from coming and out – 24 hours a day. They sometime will assist
you in opening of the gates too! But do we really need them?
Let’s look back at our history and
see how we obtained them.
Back in June of 2006 you were asked if
you wanted a 12 hour gate attendant or 24 hour gate attendant and the majority of you all wanted a 12 hour gate attendant. Now there were a few homeowners who thought it upon themselves to go around and collect
proxies from their fellow neighbors and make their vote count. Even though they
may or may have not known what was occurring or what they were giving their vote for, they gave them their proxies and these
people in turn submitted a vote for the 24 hour gate attendants.
When the meeting of Lake Forest of Kelliwood
Homeowners Association met in July of 2006, the present day attendants we voted in and an agreement was signed by the Board
of Directors so that they were in place for 1 year. You were then billed $375
for the remainder of the year and a total of $750 for the next year. This was
over and above the $1980 that you pay for HOA dues. Now our neighbors to the south of us, Lakeforest, whose homes are a lot
more expensive than ours only, require a 12 – hour gate attendant during the day. Also, did you know that we are the
most expensive HOA fees in Katy?
Now fast forward to August 27, 2007 –
We received a letter stating that a new security company will be hired and yet another increase will follow in order to take
care of the previous company’s problems. Instead of the $750 that we had originally signed up for, our new rates will
now be $842.57. That’s a $92.57 a year increase from the original $750. If you want to compare it to the original $350, it will be a $492.57 increase.
Are we responsible for that? Do we want to continue with the increasing our assessments including having a 24 hour gate attendant or
just a 12 hour gate attendant like Lakeforest? Should we be responsible for and take care of their problems? I should say not!
The main problems that I see here are that
not enough people are willing to get involved. Yes, then they complain about
it when the invoice comes, but where were you at the Homeowners meeting? Where
are all the volunteers when we need them? We need block captains, neighborhood
board watches, activities directors, sponsors, etc, etc. Not just a bunch of people complaining. We as a community need to get involved and be involved.
If you want to see something done about
the gate attendants, then may I suggest that you get involved and voice your opinion instead of just complaining.
Just another concerned Homeowner…
If you want to have a say about it
send your HOA Board an e-mail and voice your opinion. Send it to:
Karen
Janczak - Crest Management Company
karen@crest-management.com
Alligators and Speed Bumps
I knew that title would get your attention,
however I really want to talk about the latter – Speed Bumps because we don’t have any
alligators here.
Speed bumps serve a purpose –
to slow down traffic. Speed bumps cause a gentle vehicle rocking motion that
causes driver discomfort, thus resulting in most vehicles slowing down to 20 mph at each bump. Depending upon street geometry,
speed bumps are placed every 200 to 600 feet. The presence of speed bumps causes drivers to slow down at the bumps and in
between properly spaced successive bumps. Speed bumps have the advantage of being self-enforcing. They are sometimes referred
to as "sleeping police officers". They are ugly, ruin your car and are expensive to install and maintain.
Speed bumps can cause several problems for emergency response and they also lengthen
the patient's journey to hospital, to say nothing of the inevitable jolting of people already in medical discomfort. All the
bumping around can also force paramedics or emergency medical technicians to delay or temporarily stop treatment of a patient.
Enough said about speed bumps because
we are not getting them, however I do want to emphasis that we need to be a little more responsible on how we drive in our
community.
Our subdivision is a humble subdivision
with a total of 15 street which takes a total of 45 seconds to go from Laura Way (front entrance) to Vinemead Ct (from the
furthest point) traveling an average of 20 mph.
I have seen people traveling anywhere
between 35 – 40 mph down some of our streets like they were going to a fire. Some of our neighbors who have children
that play in the streets have complained that other neighbors speed through our complex constantly.
Granted, our children shouldn’t
be playing in the streets but where else can they play or walk (considering the builder didn’t build us any sidewalks)?
In fact I’m sure that you have notice several of your neighbors who like to walk in the street around the lakes and
subdivision in the evening after the weather cools down.
All its going to take is one child
to be hit by a speeding driver and then we will all be saying “how unfortunate
it was because they were driving way too fast”.
So the next time your drive out of
the subdivision, check your time and your speed (20 MPH) and see how long it takes to drive to Fry road and you will find
that it is less than 45 seconds. And if you see someone driving excessively fast
through our neighborhood, write down the car description and tag number and report it to the management company.
And remember this – 45
seconds could save a child’s life!
…a concern parent/homeowner
A Common Courtesy
The other day I was playing outside with my kids. One of them came running toward me real fast and as always I catch him and throw him in my arms, but this
time I smelled something real bad. I thought that maybe he had an accident and
I asked him and if he had and he answered me “No!” After a more careful examination I found that he had stepped
in a pile of dog poop.
Now mind you I don’t even own a dog and I was just playing with my child
in the front yard of our house when this all occurred. “How irritating
this is” I thought to myself and proceeded to take him to the water faucet and clean him off. Then I began to think of the reasons for me not owning a dog (responsibilities, vet bills, diseases,
smell, etc.) and this was one of them. I have no problem with my neighbors who
own them with the exception that if it barks loud all night long and keeps me awake.
After this incident with my son I decided to monitor my yard a little bit more
closely. I notice that some of my neighbors would walk as far away as 2-3 blocks so that their dogs can do their business
in their neighbor’s yards – without picking it up! I also noticed that some of my neighbors walked their
dogs and carry bags with them to pick up their dog’s poop. My hats go off to those neighbors and their respect to our
neighbor’s yard and the neighborhood.
Then there are those who wander around looking for a place for their dog to
make their business and then walk off without thinking whether that person has an infant, child or elderly person who may
live there and likes to get out and enjoy their own yard. Or better yet, go driving by one of our lakes, stop to see the beauty
and only notice a big pile of dog poop there instead.
Granted, some of you may have landscape companies who cut your grass and weed
your flower beds and then there are some of us who like working in our own yards. The
inconvenience of walking around your own yard (like walking in a mine field)
and trying to do yard work is ridiculous. I even mention this to a neighbor once and his response was “Oh, it’s
such a little dog; it only leaves a little turd.” You know, he was right, but all dog "turds" big or small smell
the same. I’m sorry but I have a ZERO tolerance for dogs doing their business
in my yard.
Let’s ask a few questions here.
Why do they do this? Do they not have a backyard to let their dogs go
into and do their business? Maybe they don’t like the smell of it or don’t
want to step in it themselves. Maybe they don’t have a backyard because of a pool, pond, or a rock garden. Then may
I suggest Nottingham Park across the street or Bush park
walking trails right next door! Another good suggestion would be that you carry a bag around with
you and pickup the mess too! Come on people this is a common courtesy. Have some respect towards your neighbors and neighborhood... I do!
...from a homeowner who likes to work in thier yard.
 |
