GNWCIA Meeting Report: My Notes...

A quick note: Sorry to be delinquent with the posts this week - I have been overwhelmed with watching TV now that many of my must see shows are on (Lost!) and I have also been doing some work which causes me to have a little less time to fritter away my life banging away notes into the computer and posting pictures of people being goofy. But, I will try to do better and provide those of you who make this Blog a daily visit on your Internet journey, a rewarding experience each day. No, I'm not running for any elected office.

So, then. My wife and I made the short trip down the street to the Lodge of the Great Northwest so we could attend at least the first hour and a half of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association. The audience was , dare I say, packed, with residents compared to normal meetings we attend. I don't have an exact head count, but it was easily triple or quadruple the normal crowd we see. Thank you residents; we need more people to show interest, and mark my words; you will enjoy the show, especially if you are a closet Springer Fan.

But I digress.

Following the fully participated in moment of silence and pledging to the flag, the meeting was called to order and such, then we heard from residents to complain:

Up first, Former Board Chair, Mrs. Kathleen Callahan and a few comments about the the content of letters from Board Chair Besing and Vice Chair Doherty in last months paper. Read it here. I'll save you some time and tell you that she was upset that two sitting Directors made comments in the official paper regarding intentions to run for the board. Multiple theories as to how this was a disadvantage to other potential candidates, and potentially, caused some candidates not to run knowing that they have to run against incumbents.

I don't know how I feel about the first part - is it an advantage? Who knows? Will it keep other people from running? In my estimation, if some potential board candidate made the decision to run based on whether or not an incumbent was running, I'll tell you right now, that person would not get my vote. Either do it because you intend to win and do a good job for the community, or don't run. If announcing their (Doherty and Besing) candidacy via Passages weeded out any crappy candidates, then I'm all for it.

Former (even before Mrs. Callahan) Chairman of the Board of Directors, Joe Martinez gave his concerns about a new GNW Group called The Happenings, not getting fair use of the GNW Lodge. I didn't quite get the full story, so I'd appreciate if someone from the Happenings group could fill me in, but the gist of it was that the Lodge people made the group meet at a smaller venue (Emerald Valley Lodge), which is not fair. That facility is not conducive to meetings, and I can testify. My understanding was that the reasoning was that it costs more money to open the GNW Lodge, so it needs to be for a group large enough to show that it is serving the interests of the community as a whole. I'm gonna have to side with Mr. Martinez on this one (at least the parts I understand). If a group is an officially sanctioned group of the association, let 'em have the good room. I recall my wife and I being the only attendees of a Board of Directors meeting, and our last GNW watch meeting only had about 5 or 6 folks in the audience.

Okay. You may recall the folks in Emerald Valley who had some drunk guy plow his car into their house. The residents spoke before the board to address their concerns and seek assistance from the board and security to help with the problem. This family has already made contact with the city and other agencies to try to address the problem, but you could see the look on the collective faces of the directors and most audience members; this is not an issue that the association can address in any substantive way. The resident made many informative and helpful points, explaining the problems with the street, the fact that vehicles speed and such. But, unfortunately, her suggestions of having the GNW Security basically sit on her street after hours and write down plate numbers of speeders is obviously a no go.

I was extremely proud of how Director Sigrid Long handled the matter in addressing the residents concerns. She made several suggestions on how to proceed and of course, mentioned the fact that the GNWatch group might be a place to start. (I later gave the family my e-mail address and number, and hope they will join the watch soon).

Have you had enough yet? There is more.

We had a surprise guest speaker, Judge Marcia S. Weiner who is the Justice of the Peace for Precinct Two, Place One. If you get in trouble, you will find her over in Leon Valley. It just so happens that my son is doing his Criminal Justice internship in her office, so, needless to say, I have nothing but glowing comments about Judge Weiner and her thirty or more minutes of informative material.

Seriously though, Judge Weiner has an informative pitch involving the the problems associated with truancy and the escalating troubles youth get into. She gave us ideas of the ways she deals with the little criminals to get them back on the right track. Turns out, she often gives the screw-ups community service and that if they live among us, they could perform said service here in the GNW! Sign them up! We need some fences painted.

Anyway, I believe the Passages will soon be running an article written by Judge Weiner, and if you'd like, she left some informative handouts with the office staff.

Okay. On to Committee reports.

Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, Mrs. Callahan gave a stirring report on the status of the committee and the resulting happy kids. Then the questions from Directors Garcia and Pucci started. There seem to be two concerns from the board members: Are there any conflicts of interest, and how is the money accounted for?

You should know that I have been sighted by two of the three factions of the GNW community for not giving a crap about all the details of every little thing in our community. But in the GNW, there are actually three factions.

One faction is made up of people who align themselves with former board chairman Martinez. A second faction is made up of people who align themselves with former board chair Callahan. The other 95 percent of the people in the GNW fall into my faction. We are the people who just want to pay our assessments, live in the community and not be inundated with this petty, petty, petty crap.

In this case, if some residents want to donate money to a scholarship fund and they want to take the proceeds of the vending machines at the pool to add to that fund, go for it. Keep it all legal and open, but go for it.

I have a better idea.

Do it, but do it as a private thing and don't even involve the association with it. They got a whopping $35 from the vending machines last year. My son is in college. $35 doesn't cover half the cost of his parking permit for one semester. The association (as far as I understand) doesn't provide any of the funds to the scholarship, right? So just do it on your own, and be done with it.

But, in the mean time, the deadline for this years scholarship is early April, so contact your high school and do whatever it takes to get the scholarship money.

I don't want to sound like I'm in a hurry, but it should not take 20 minutes of my life to hear about some stupid (Stupid is such a harsh and opinionated word - please don't let it taint the meaning of this report) scholarships at an HOA board meeting. What impact does that private group of well meaning neighbors (and I do applaud them) have to do with the running of the association? I'd like equal time for the Line Dancing committee and the Bunco team, please.

I was unexpectedly asked to give a few words about the GNWatch meeting coming up next Wednesday. I didn't expect to be peppered with questions from the board, but I was.

I have mentioned it before. I have a great deal of respect for Director Pucci. He asks everyone who speaks before the board questions that are intended to provide information he needs to make a decision. I'd like to think I had my shit together, but who knows? Bottom line, come out to the meeting next Wednesday, the 27th of February. I'll write more about it next week.

Our community Manager, Mr. Darrin Laraquente broke down a series of complaints he has received from residents and addressed each. I'm going to tell you right up front; Mr. Laraquente has hit the ground running and is doing a fantastic job for this association. He is still getting to know the community and trying to put people's complaints and concerns into perspective. Kudos to him and to how he is motivating the staff to get things done.

What he is facing is a series of things that are happening in neighborhoods all around San Antonio. First, people are tagging and vandalizing The Five Oh (78250 - get it?) daily. If that isn't bad enough, we have otherwise upstanding residents who are doing ridiculous things.

On a recent tour of the greenbelts in our area (also known as drainage ditches and dry creek beds), he got to see first hand how some residents simply dump garbage over their fences into the open area. Imagine this. You cut your tree limbs and you toss them right over the fence. Someone looks at them and can see exactly where the tree in your back yard has been cut, and exactly where the branch that matches the cut limb is laying on the other side of the fence. Hello? This isn't CSI people. You don't need a sperm sample to figure out who the donor is.

Okay. If you are still reading this, this is where it ends. My wife and I had another, more important meeting to attend, so we left promptly at 9PM.

On the way out, one resident stopped me to suggest that I stay for the next round of action. I'm sorry, but I'll wait for the official minutes.

Oh, I did hear from several people who stayed that there was an attempt to censure a few directors, but in keeping with my new policy of not reporting anything that I don't witness first hand, I'll have to read about it in the official minutes, and so will you.

Help me out people. We need more eyes and ears at these meetings. Why don't you come on down on the first and third Thursday of the month and sit in with us. You can pick any faction you want to sit with - there are no assigned seats.

As always, I tend to get things wrong. Don't file a lawsuit, just send me an e-mail or make a comment and tell me how bad I screwed things up. If you were at the meeting, I'll be happy to print your take on events, unedited, with or without attribution. My goal is to get the information out to my neighbors.

GNWatch Update: Park Police to Speak...

If you have been following neighborhood related news, you may recall that I have been tagged to help coordinate our neighborhood watch group. I've started a campaign of calling people on an old list I have to confirm they are still living in the GNW and if they want to still be active in the Watch.

Okay, here is a little advice: E-mail does not work. I don't know if my e-mails go directly into some Spam filter or if people look at them and just delete them for cause, but attempting to contact people you have never met face to face by e-mail just does not work.

Calling people is a little better but, 1) I hate talking on the phone for a number of reasons not worth getting into, and 2) I hate to call people during what might be their dinner time or their TV watching time or whatever. So, that leads me back to e-mail, and it just doesn't work.

So, maybe a few people in my neighborhood will happen upon this Blog. If you do, I'd like to let you know that I can now confirm, Chief Steven Baum of the San Antonio Park Police will be our speaker on Wednesday, the 27th of February at 7:30PM, Lodge of the Great Northwest.

If you have any questions about Oscar Perez Memorial Park or the associated tagging (graffiti) there, now is the time to come and talk to the man who is popping the perps.

Need more info? E-mail me.

Great Northwest Watch Report: My Notes...

Most of you won't give a hoot about any of this, but since I use this blog to tell you about the place I live, mi barrio as they say, hopefully some neighbors will find the information, uh, informative.

My wife and I joined a handful of residents at a meeting of the Great Northwest Watch Wednesday evening – the first one for 2008. We had an informative meeting and I’d like to take a minute to tell you about it. The meeting did get off to a late start because the Lodge was being used as a place to take pictures of various sports teams, but it wasn’t a real issue. Chief Burton of GNW Security had arranged for two of our SAFFE officers, Officers Atkinson and Struxness, to provide the group with some home security tips and a way for homeowners to get a 5 percent discount on insurance. They offer a free service where they will come out to your house, do a thorough inspection of the place, then send a form into the state insurance board. Regardless of your insurance company, if you meet the requirements, state law mandates that you get the 5%. They offered up a handful of tips about different easy and inexpensive ways of securing your doors and the difference between what works and what doesn’t work. As they pointed out – they can't guarantee that nobody will try to burglarize your house, but you can make your house a less attractive target with easy and inexpensive methods, and simply send the crooks on to your neighbor’s house to do the stealing. Gee, I hope your neighbor has some insurance!

They also gave out a few interesting tidbits - did you know that not all burglars are male? Yep, the percentage of female criminals is rising fast. Your burglar will not always be dressed in black or look like that character from the McDonald's commercials. They are going to try to blend in to the surroundings. But the stats show that they still tend to be young, and they tend to be nervous. So if some young nervous girl is hanging out by the side of your house, it may not be because she is waiting for your son to get home, she could be there to rip you off.

One other thing that I have mentioned here before, and that has to do with the City of San Antonio and our SAPD. We have a force of about 2,000 officers (with 400-600 eligible to retire this month), to cover our entire city. The city of Philadelphia which is roughly the same population as San Antonio has 6,000 officers. Last year, our city fielded over 1 million 9-11 calls. If you dial 9-1-1 to have a police officer come figure out who knocked over your garbage can, what are the chances they are going to get to you anytime this week?

Sadly, the same thing is true for my pet peeve, graffiti. Please do not dial 9-1-1 to report graffiti. Call the non-emergency number 207-SAPD (7273) or 207-7484 and report it there. If you are giving a description of a suspect, describe the person from either head to toe, or toe to head. Men: they do not need to know how large Jennifer Broome's breasts have suddenly become. Give them something they can work with while they are looking for the scoundrels. And do me a favor, if you see them, take a picture of them (the graffiti artists) in the act. That might help.

Before the officers skedaddled off, they also mentioned something you might want to do. Get your camera and make a video of all the contents in your house, and do up an inventory of everything and take it to another location. This way, if you get ripped off, you have a list for the insurance company with pictures. Also, do a back-up of your computer. They mentioned people who had laptops stolen and had huge business set-backs because all of their contact information, calendars and work was on the laptop. Good advice.
Up next, Mr. Mike Yager from the GNW A-Team gave a few quick words on how he is trying to revamp the group of area volunteers. His comments were well received and my wife and I even piped up to give testimonials of what a great time we had working with a group a few weeks ago.

Mike hit on one area that I’d like to mention and that is that some people may have a firmer line of what they consider helping out the community and doing personal services for people who should be paying for it. For example I think we can all agree that a group of people volunteering to help clean-up a community park is an effort that the community as a whole benefits from and whether or not you have kids who play in that park, it is still for the betterment of the community. Mike and a few others (myself included), can see trying to help an older couple, disabled person, or perhaps a young mother who has a spouse deployed with lots of little kids around the house who might need assistance with some yard work or something. Some people feel that this crosses the line because suddenly, now one person is upset that volunteers mowed his neighbor's yard, but not his.

My view is, first and foremost, this is a volunteer effort. If you don;t want to support a particular project, simply don't. Nobody is going to hold it against you. Mike has taken it a step further (hence, the reason he is in charge). He says that tough evaluations and decisions will have to be made, and some people may be unhappy that the A-Team could not support their need. But we can't allow that disappointment to halt the good that the group can do as a whole.

So, if you think you have even an hour to give only one time, not even on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, but just one time, please contact Mike. You can get a form for the A-Team and Mike's contact info from the February Passages (online now).

Okay, following the A-Team discussion, it was my big debut as the new coordinator for the watch. I'm happy to report that I did not faint from nervousness, though my wife says that I constantly clicked my pen. Perhaps next time, I take one of those little squeeze balls.

I wanted to ask my fellow watch captains (it sounds almost Tony Soprano-like) how they felt about a few things about how the format of the meetings go and just stuff that was administrative in nature. One thing for sure was that everyone agreed we should make the meetings as quick as possible - they start at 7:30PM, and we should definitely be done and on our way home by 9PM. And, the assembled crowd agreed that we should only have guest speakers if they were on topic. If not, why bring someone in just for the sake of speaking?

If you are reading this and you live in the GNW and you are, or you want to be, a block captain, please get in touch with me via e-mail by clicking here. I will try to contact the folks I have contact info for. Also, you don't have to be a block captain to attend the meetings. The next one is Wednesday, February 27 2008 and we will have a speaker from the San Antonio Parks Department to talk about - what else - Oscar Perez Memorial Park.

GNWCIA Meeting Report: My Notes...

I made the short trip down the street to attend the meeting of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association board of directors this evening. Herewith my notes, but first, I really need to make something clear to those folks that live in the community who read my take on things.

There are in fact a few factions of homeowners who attend the meetings, belong to the board and are former board members or want to be board members. I fall into none of those categories. That is to say, I do not turn away from conversations with anyone at the meetings nor do I take cues from anyone when I write these notes. Yet, I have been told to my face by members of both groups that they know I am secretly for the other side. The funny thing about it is, if someone was keeping track, I routinely agree with and write about positions supported by a faction and a paragraph later, poo poo the ideas of the same group. But in my opinion, the bizarre part isn't that people are convinced I'm part of one faction or the other, the bizarre part is that there are different factions of people who attend these homeowner meetings.

When my wife and I attended meetings and we were the only residents in the audience, we sat there and reacted to things the same way we do when the audience is packed - we either roll our eyes and laugh when we hear something stupid, or we shake our heads in agreement when we hear something we agree with. The strange thing is, when we were alone in the audience, there was no one there to tell us which side we were supporting when we had our little reactions. And frankly, there still is no one telling us how we should agree or disagree with the things the board of directors say or do.

Having said that, read on and hopefully I'll write something that falls into your faction!

This was the first meeting with the new Community Manager officially present, and Mr. Darin Laracuente set the tone from the beginning. As the directors began to find their seats complete with the new awesome sounding audio system in place, the projection screen behind the board alternated a logo of the Great Northwest and guidelines for participation in the meetings. The bottom line was, if you fell to show respect, follow the rules or get out of hand, you'll be asked to leave. If you don't leave when asked, you'll be escorted out. Bravo Mr. Laracuente!

Residents to speak included a guy concerned about his filthy neighbor who never mows his yard, has a back yard that looks like a city dump, has junk yard dogs assembled in the city dump-like backyard barking and howling and when the dogs aren't barking and howling, they are howling and barking. He asked the board to look into efforts to do something about it.

The same gentleman went on to lambaste a writer to the Passages who called for doing away with the GNW Security staff. Good Call.

Next up, senior Silver Creek Resident, Ms. Olivia queried the board about a rumor she heard regarding the management of pools. Chairman Lee Besing nipped this in the bud, stating that yes, the board had looked at some options but found that our staff does a much better job for a lot cheaper.

Finally, Mrs. Rodkey had two points to make to the board - her first was to offer praise to Director Richard Garcia for his continued graffiti abatement efforts. As I wrote previously, Director Garcia is out and about painting over graffiti and fighting the good fight to keep the neighborhood free of the stuff. Kudos!

Mrs. Rodkey also asked the members of the board to please work together and vote their conscience, and not necessarily for or against other directors based on which faction they seem to be aligned with. I have it on good authority (Mr. Joe Martinez) that every current board member has been aligned with his Sentinel faction at one time or another, so I'm not quite sure how they line up now, but regardless, I believe Mrs. Rodkey was quite correct in her observation.

I should tell you at this point that the continuing display of the "Rules" must have been working as there were no real outbursts by audience members or board members alike.

As they moved into the agenda, Director Besing introduced Mr. Laracuente to the group and reported that there has been some minor restructuring of office personnel. Mr. Laracuente announced that the office would now be open from 8:30AM to 7PM Monday-Friday, and he hoped to soon open as early as 8AM to accommodate residents.

Chief Roger Burton did recommend yours truly to fill the vacant GNW Watch Coordinator position (which my wife will surely help me with) and the board approved my selection.

Maintenance and Recreation directors gave some updates and then the new business started.

Director Sigrid Long who is part of the GNW Scholarship Committee gave a report and provided a letter and information to the directors. In probably the only real fireworks of the evening, and I should say that it was extremely civil compared to previous meetings, Director Garcia asked a few thoughtful questions regarding the Scholarship Committe.

He asked if the board had oversight. Director Long responded yes.

Director Garcia asked if the names or the applications of the past winners were available to review. Director Long reported that there were some hard copies somewhere but added that they may have been destroyed to protect the privacy information of the applicants.

Director Guy Pucci then asked if the scholarship money was drawing any interest? Chairman Besing responded that the program was actually operating in the red.

Director Long stated that it was not actually in the red, but not drawing interest and that in fact, the account was losing $5.00 a month due to some banking penalties.

Director Garcia then asked if there was any criteria that would disqualify a board member from the committee as a conflict of interest. Director Long replied that none of her kids had applied for the scholarships.

I think several suttle points were made and the meeting moved on to the next item.

Director Long questioned why an article she submitted for publication in Passages was not included in the paper. Chairman Besing responded that they ran out of space and that the article will be in the next issue.

The meeting got to the budget discussion at which point in apparent protest (or not - I don't know for sure) several residents (or members of a single faction if you choose) got up and left. Too bad. The fact is, in just a short period of time, the new CM and (once again) temporary accountant have gone through and weeded out a boatload of items that were either mis-categorized or wrong. The budget looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago. And, because there were hardly any procedural disruptions from the peanut gallery, the department heads were able to address questions the board and other audience members had.

Only one point I care to address and that is salaries. I overheard several audience members questioning the amount of money the staff is paid. We have a staff of between 18-24 employees supporting one of, if not the largest homeowners associations in Texas, covering over 5,000 homes and multiple community facilities, and apparently, many of you would like to hire people for minimum wage or less.

I was talking to my parents and my aunt and uncle this past weekend and they laughed when I told them people are bickering over an assessment fee of $235.00 a year. They pay that a month for their associations. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to see the board lower the yearly assessment if only to send a signal to the residents that they are trying to keep fees under control. But please don't tell me that you want to run the facilities of this association with illegal immigrant wages.

And with that, I welcome your comments. I don't always get it right and I may miss a few things, but I promise, you'll get more information from my notes and sooner than you will otherwise.

NOTE: Regarding the strike through of comments about the Sentinel group, Mr. Martinez advised me via e-mail that he did not recall the conversation I mentioned and further that at least two board directors, Mr. Sharma and Mr. Miflin have never been part of his group. I have no issue with making the correction and setting the record straight.

2nd NOTE: I received a second update indicating that Ms. Long also has no affiliation whatsoever with the Sentinel group. In other words, apparently very few members of the board have any affiliation with Sentinel. I apologize to any board members who may have been wrongly identified as being associated with the Sentinel group.

GNW Watch Report: Turkey, Trains and Talk...

This evening, my wife and I attended the monthly meeting of the Great Northwest Watch and enjoyed a nice turkey dinner prepared by Luby's along with great sides provided by the various attendees in potluck fashion.

Here, GNWCIA Board Director Richard Garcia (2nd from left) gets in on the serving line.

Following a tasty Thanksgiving treat or "Festive Fall Feast" if you prefer, we were fortunate to have a presentation on Operation Lifesaver. Buck Russel is a presenter for Operation Lifesaver which is an organization started in 1972. As a non-paid volunteer, Buck finishes his day job as an engineer on a train and speaks to any group that will take the time to learn a few important things about train safety.

Buck Russel from Operation Lifesaver

There are a few things you should know that honestly, I just never thought about. First, almost everyday, someone somewhere is getting killed by a train. Have you ever found yourself walking along the train tracks maybe placing a penny or a nickel on the rails to get a flattened souvenir after a train passes? Well, I didn't know it but what you are doing is trespassing, and you can be cited.

Don't believe me? Another thing I didn't know is that the train company has the largest private police force in the world. If you recall from the old western movies, the Pinkerton's were a private security company that ran security for the trains. Well, it is the same deal today.

Just not as many train robberies.

Or women tied to the railroad tracks.

But the fact remains that 78 percent of the people that get hit by trains today are trespassing in all sorts of silly ways. Anywhere from people using the tracks as a place to jog - while wearing an iPod cranked up loud, or riding a motorcycle or ATV along the tracks. Think about it, how can you hear a train coming if you are riding a loud motorcycle on gravel or the thumpity-thump of the ties?Everyone seems to have this romantic image of the movie, Stand By Me, when the little boys are running across the railroad bridge as the train chugs behind them; suddenly at the last second they jump for their lives. Good times! Right?

Wrong. A train going 55 MPH (and trains in Texas get up to 70 and even 80 MPH in some stretches), takes just under a mile to stop. Buck gave us a really good way to think about the weight of a train. Imagine what a 3,000 pound car does to a 12 oz can of soda when it runs over it. Well, that train does the same thing to you and your H3 as your as a Toyota Tundra does to an empty Dr. Pepper.If your group, school or church needs to hear Buck speak (and he is a fantastic public speaker I might add), the cost is free and he is happy to do it. E-mail him. If you aren't in San Antonio, contact the Texas Operation Lifesaver or the national organization.

Following the presentation, Chief Roger Burton gave us the round-up of various stats for the neighborhood. The Great Northwest Watch meetings are held on the last Wednesday of the month (though not in December). They usually provide very informative speakers and are open to all residents, even if you aren't involved in your particular street's watch. The next meeting will be the last Wednesday of January. Please come and join us.

GNW Watch Report: Meeting Notes...

Better late than never, right?

My wife and I attended the monthly meeting of the Great Northwest Neighborhood Watch this past Wednesday and I took a few notes which I will keep very brief.

Investigator Kelly Gleason from the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Vehicle Theft Unit came and gave us a great briefing on the auto theft task force that he is part of. First, it is nice to know that we have a multi-agency task force working the auto theft issue. You may have noticed some of the TV commercials playing regarding taking your keys out of your car. If you think this is a ridiculousness waste of money, consider that about 25 percent of the vehicles stolen here have the keys left in the ignition or they leave the second set in the car. Dumbasses.

Oh, and I didn't know it was a crime to leave your keys in your car, but it is.

A few other fun facts: In San Antonio, you have a 67 percent chance that your car will be recovered if it is stolen. I'm sure you will appreciate the beer and puke smell leftover by the little joy riders. If you are thinking that your car is headed straight down to Mexico when they steal it, it probably isn't. The recent war on terror has resulted in a lot more scrutiny along the border, and in fact, a lot of the money that places like Houston, Dallas and SA used to receive in grants for this type of work is now going toward the valley.

Also, every five minutes a car is stolen for 959,000 per year or a total of about $84 million in claims paid out a year. Hearing that makes me feel like my insurance rates are going up by the minute.

Following the theft presentation, Chief Roger Burton of the GNW Security staff provided us with some info on GNW reports in the last month. During the Q&A session, several audience members had some pretty tough questions for the chief regarding trends, follow-up of actions and exactly how the full GNW area is patrolled.

Based on a conversation I had with another resident, I asked the chief specifically about how the area is patrolled by his officers, and more pointedly, was there a fair amount of coverage in all areas. The person I had spoken with has had the benefit of living in both Emerald Valley and Silver Creek, and her observation was that the patrols seemed more frequent in Silver Creek than in other neighborhoods in the GNW. Chief Burton disputed this outright and suggested that, while he does not map out a specific patrol pattern for the security staff to drive, he is confident that his officers hit the entire GNW area several times per shift. Further, he elaborated that in areas where they see problems, they get even more patrols.

Chief Burton did state however that he was not going to simply sit in front of a resident's home, even if he suspected that the teenagers living there were causing problems. This would be harassment.

I am going to discuss this a bit with some of my neighbors and I will gladly consider e-mails from readers with thoughts, but I do have several items that the staff or the board may wish to consider in ways that we as a community may be able to deter some of the problems people occasionally see.

The thing that residents need to remember however, is that our security staff is more of a courtesy staff. They aren't conducting investigations or arresting people, so you can't be upset if they don't whip out the 9MM and start busting caps when some little JD is smokin' and jokin' down the street.

But, I welcome your input.

Great Northwest Watch Report: Dinner and Meeting

My wife and I attended the meeting of the Great Northwest Watch this evening and enjoyed a nice dinner provided by Grady's before the meeting started. You can never go wrong with Grady's as far as I'm concerned.

I took just a few notes worth passing along but I think they are important things to consider as we see an increased incidence of mischievous behavior in the area, primarily in the form of graffiti.

Chief Roger Burton of the GNW Security "Courtesy Patrol" as one resident pointed out, presented two winners of the National Night Out event. These residents held parties that had the most participation, and they were given gifts from great sponsors as a result. Ms. Betty Hood (who is the NNO coordinator for the GNW) had the biggest party attendance, and she received free Sea World passes. The second largest party was held by the Garza Family, and they received a check for $50. from Jefferson State Bank. It is always nice to see the local merchants come through in support of the community.

Chief Burton introduced us to SAFFE Officer Robles who gave us a brief update on the graffiti situation and on ways to combat the problem. He mentioned the importance of victims of this crime to immediately paint over or clean up the graffiti within 24 hours, and to do so every time it occurs. Equally important, he suggests that if you have a privacy fence in an area prone to graffiti, the best bet is to simply paint the entire fence, then, when the taggers do their "art work" you can cover it in the matching color of the fence. This looks better and definitely beats the appearance of an off color patch of paint on a nice wooded fence. If you get tagged, report it. Take pictures of it, and if you see the little bastards, try to figure out who they are or at least where the live. Surely you have an idea of the kids who roam up and down your street - don't you?

Next Officer Atkinson from SAPD gave some explanations about police response times, what they can and can't do and some information on ways citizens can get involved.

I was very interested in what Officer Atkinson had to say as my neighbors and I have talked often specifically about the graffiti issue at Oscar Perez Memorial Park. I have been a proponent of calling city hall and complaining that we need more attention paid to these little son's of bitches and their artwork. But Atkinson gave some pretty interesting and sobering statistics.

When he joined the SAPD force in 1987, there were roughly 2,000 officers. He said it was common for a dispatcher to report that they had three or four calls on hold and asking if any officer could respond. That is, several people who had called 9-11 to report a crime had to sit and wait while officers responded to higher priority calls. So, if you reported a theft or something, you were going to have to wait until more urgent matters were handled, then the police could get to you.

In 2007, the SAPD has, according to Officer Atkinson, about fifty more officers on the force, yet the city has grown by about 350,000 residents. Further, he said it is not unheard of for the dispatcher to report that they have fifty calls in the queue. Now imagine if you call in to 9-11 and report that some snotty little Rembrandt has tagged your fence. Guess where you are in that queue of 50 compared to people who have real crimes like stolen cars, robbery, dope deals gone bad and Senators trolling for perverts in the airport restroom.

To give you some perspective, the City of Dallas has 3,400 police officers yet they have 200,000 less residents than the city of San Antonio. ((I know, a lot of people think Dallas is a lot bigger, but the DFW Metroplex has multiple police forces))

I can only assume that Officer Atkinson was making a plea, and he is right to do so, for us residents to call upon Ms. Sheryl Scully and our city council to hire more officers, but I took away a more important point that he was making; when it comes to non-life threatening, nuisance crimes such as vandalism, tagging and disturbances (loud music and barking dogs), calling 9-11 is just creating a larger queue. Where we as residents can help ourselves and help the police and city help us, is to call the right people for the right crime.

San Antonio has an incredible 311 system which my wife and I use regularly. If it has anything to do with the city services that you pay for via your tax dollars, you can learn more about or report through by simply calling 311. They also have a web site here that has loads of information. If we can avoid having granny call the police every time a dead squirrel ends up squished on the street in front of her house, perhaps we can free up the police to help in more important endeavors.

What I also took from Officer Atkinson's talk was that we as citizens can and should do more. They have a few programs he outlined, specifically Cellular on Patrol (COP) and Citizens Police Academy. In both these classes, you learn what is important to notice, what is important to call the police for, what you should not call the police for etc etc. I don't think anybody is suggesting that we take up arms and take to the streets to do battle with the 14-year-olds who lack parental supervision; though at one point during the meeting, I did suggest we find the little hooligans and whip their asses, (even if my wife was outraged at my suggestion). I think the officers are suggesting that we can and should be more vigilant in our communities.

And what is wrong with that? How many of us could use a walk in the evening, just around the block? Why not take note of who belongs on your street and who doesn't, and why not kick their ass if they don't belong there?

So anyway, back to the meeting...

Let me leave you with a few thoughts, especially if you are one of the few readers that live in the area. You should really know that the GNW Watch meetings are a treat. Chief Burton is a very capable speaker with a down to earth southern drawl and an ability to communicate his message of safety and security. With PowerPoint slides of maps of the neighborhood, he shows where different calls to the "Courtesy Patrol" originate, which streets are problem areas, and every so often, details of the call. I especially enjoyed the highlight of a major theft reported to him - the loss of a trash can lid.

One area we may need a little work on though, is understanding what you should not do at meetings of this nature; give little anecdotal reports about your particular street or neighbors. In other words, raising your hand during the question and answer session of a neighborhood-wide meeting to report that you think the neighbor kid plays the stereo too loud is not an appropriate use of the time*.

* Suffice it to say, I'm being very diplomatic here: I could write an hour's worth of questions or "reports" that if people are worried about, they should contact security, 311, or their congressman via e-mail or the phone, but not prolong the meeting because they have a captive audience.

GNW Watch Meeting Report: My notes...

Last evening I had a chance to attend my very first meeting of the Great Northwest Neighborhood Watch. You'd be interested in knowing that I think there were more people in attendance at this meeting than what I have seen at the HOA meetings I've attended.

Just a few brief notes to let you know of my observations.

First, if you need any excuse to attend a GNW Watch meeting, the food was outstanding. I have noticed at the board of directors meetings, they usually have coffee and some cookies and such. This event had sandwiches, a veggie spread, cakes, cookies and more. If I were homeless, I'd become a member of the GNW Watch, just for the food*.

I didn't know how long the meeting was supposed to last, but for the first hour, we got a really good breifing and Q&A session with Mr. Jose Morlett. Mr. Morlett is the GNW Deeds, Restrictions and Covenants Officer or DRACO for the association and he is actually a certified code compliance officer. You can tell from his cheerful attitude that though he fully expects people to be upset with him when he has to notify them that they are in violation of the codes, his goal is to help the homeowner fix whatever the issue is.

Mr. Morlett gave us multiple examples of homeowners who were violating policies where it was a matter of time before the city was going to come in and issue a citation. Had the homeowner taken the cue from our own DRACO and fixed the problem, they would have saved the expense of a $200 fine from the city.

Mr. Morlett did tell one story about a disgruntled homeowner who was upset about having to move his goal post away from the sidewalk. (I feel this home owner's pain - we ended up getting rid of our goal post because it just wasn't worth the hassle). Anyway, as the story goes, while the gentleman was arguing with Mr. Morlett about what the difference was between the goal post covering the sidewalk and the mail box covering the sidewalk, the man actually ripped the mailbox off its post, ran into his garage to collect some screws, and promptly drilled the box to the goal post. As Kramer from Seinfeld might say, "Installed!"

Though I confess to cheering for the homeowner on that one, Mr. Morlett did tell us that the issue has to do with accessibility and mobility on the sidewalks for disabled folks. And, it is a city violation.

There was a good half-hour of questions from residents about specific things and lots of complaining about neighbors, but his talk was extremely informative. He told us exactly how the process works when he gives someone a notice but I'd prefer not to repeat that info as I just as soon not give any violators the big secrets. Suffice it to say, Mr. Morlett will work with you to help you solve your situation and avoid court at all costs - unless you push him to it.

One other thing to mention was that he is promoting something called The A-Team. The part I liked about this effort was that these people often come together to help out neighbors in need - elderly or disabled folks who may require some assistance with minor work around the house or something. I'm personally going to look into it and see where I might be able to volunteer a little bit. Perhaps some Granny out there needs help getting her Blog started!

Once Mr. Morlett finished his talk, Chief Roger Burton took over providing the assembled folks with maps highlighting locations of incidents of mischievous behavior, car break-ins etc. Additionally, we were provided print-outs showing the logs of calls our security staff made.

Folks, in spite of my personal pet peeve of graffiti, this area is not bad at all. I mean, a few car break-ins suck, but compared to the activity we see on KENS-5 every night, we are doing quite well, thanks.

I did want to highlight one call that the security folks responded to. It seems that a resident contacted security because a garbage man (is that politically correct?) found cause to relieve himself whilst working the route. Yes, the cad in question unzipped and whizzed as appreciative neighbors gawked in disbelief.

WTF!

So anyway, I was tickled at Chief Burton's description of events as he says that the man "whipped it out in front of God and Country and proceeded to urinate." Of course, I'm easily amused, though I understand the lady who called it in, was not.

When security raced to the scene of the incident, the trash hauler had moved on and the exact perpetrator of this heinous crime could not located. Tease.

I also enjoyed Chief Burton's description of an event that occurred several years ago whereby a man (now serving some 60 years for this event) broke into a home, "wearin' nothing but a birthday suit and a gun". And it seems, the man was armed with a weapon, thus the long sentence.

Anyway, the watch meeting ended with a raffle where a very nice lady, I believe Betty Hood (Lee - correct me if I'm wrong, please), drew names for some lovely gifts donated by area merchants. I'm not talking chump-change here. She also passed out envelopes containing certificates and coupons from local business for the people hosting Block Parties during National Night Out (like me) to raffle off to the guests. You can't ask for more than that!

So there you have it. Looking for some way to get involved? August 7th is National Night Out.

* I'm certain my comments about homeless people joining the GNW Watch for vittles is offensive to some and outright blasphemous to others. I am immature and I know it. Thanks for noticing.