Stuffed: GNWatch Thanksgiving Dinner...

Thank goodness I wore my eatin' pants tonight. My wife and I joined friends and neighbors this evening at the Lodge of the Great Northwest for the Annual GNWatch Turkey Feast. Loads of good vittles from Bill Miller's as well as the usual assortment of desserts our GNWatch members are famous for.

You can read the full report and see pictures by checking out the GNWatch Page.

GNWatch Appreciation Dinner Report

Just last evening, my wife and I attended the Great Northwest Watch annual appreciation dinner. We had a great time. You can read more about it on the GNWatch Page.

Cellular on Patrol Class a Success...

Saturday, my wife and I attended a Cellular on Patrol class at our lodge. You can read about it here...

The Bucket is Here, The Bucket is Here!

You may have read (or seen on TV) that the City of San Antonio is making it a little easier for people who would like to help cover up the handy work of taggers. They have put together a kit in a 5-gallon bucket that comes with all the tools you need to get started cleaning up the vandal's work when you see it.Is this an awesome bucket or what?Inside the bucket it includes a gallon of recycled paint, a paint roller, roller cover, tray, paint brush, a safety vest and some safety goggles. I know that whenever I paint, I always wear safety goggles!

The kit also included some literature on different programs - did you know you can adopt a Via bus shelter? I think the best handout in the kit was a listing for who you should call to report defaced utility boxes and such. I'm going to provide that list over on the GNWatch page when I get a chance.

Anyway, long story short: if you would like to learn more about this really good program, please visit the city of San Antonio Graffiti Wipeout page here.

GNWatch and NNO Appreciation Dinner...

Last night we attended the annual appreciation dinner for Block Captains and National Night Out party hosts. You can read about it here.

Our National Night Out Party...

Tuesday evening, over 25 National Night Out Block Parties took place in the Great Northwest Neighborhood of San Antonio and those were just the "official" parties. There were loads more of families and neighbors just stepping out to enjoy the beautiful weather and warm company of neighbors.On our block in the Silver Creek subdivision, fellow GNWatch block captains Gus & Ruby and Myrl & Margie joined Eva and I as we invited close to 50 guests in taking time to chat about life on our street, enjoy some complimentary pepperoni pizzas from Pizza Hut, and way more food than an army could have consumed. Our group also tossed in cans and boxed foods to support the San Antonio Food Bank.

Once again, great sponsors including Target and HEB really came through for us. Thanks to our GNW NNO coordinator, Betty Hood (who had over 250 people at her block party), the business community in and around our area really supported the efforts. I'll post a full list of sponsors, but we really do need to thank The great folks at several Target stores throughout San Antonio (Target is the official sponsor of NNO and they really, really do go above and beyond to support this effort), HEB for providing all the registered parties in our area with great baked goods from their bakery, Pizza Hut and Domino's, and Sonic.In addition to loads of great food, we even had treats for the dogs!Like most of the parties in The GNW, we held drawings to give away the many door prizes like gift cards, free dinners, and other coupons and such.One of the real hits of our party was a picture spot my wife put together. Yes, this is the long awaited public apology: I told my wife this was a goofy idea, but the neighbors all loved it. A decorated frame hung from a tree that allowed people to pose for pictures. I spent this evening sending out copies of everybodys portraits. I admit it Honey, great idea! How's that?We didn't want to leave our daughter who is serving in the Air Force in New Jersey out of things, so my wife whipped out the laptop, turned on the Skype and took Roxanne around from person to person to say Howdy! How cool is that?Throughout the neighborhood, including the GNW Library, and on Pete & Lydia's Cul de Sac, folks had great parties. Our association really does it up for NNO, and this year, we included the idea of asking party visitors to make donations to the San Antonio Food Bank. If you'd like to donate - you still can, just drop off your canned goods at the Lodge of the Great Northwest in the lobby - before Noon Friday. Thanks to all those who helped with this great cause.

Other sponsors of door prizes, giveaways, and general financial support include Dave & Busters, Marie Calendars, Olive Garden, Acadiana, Pet Smart, Great Northwest Animal Hospital, Kay's Kutz, City Public Service, Peter Piper Pizza, Jack In the Box, KFC, Mama Margie's, and I know I am missing several, so I will work to get the names and add to them.All in all, I think the change of weather made for a more comfortable NNO this year, but I do think that the fact that it gets darker sooner contributed to an earlier end to activities this time around. So just as we had cleaned up the food and chairs and tables and such, the staff and board members from the Great Northwest made it by to say howdy. Who are we to turn down guests?

How did your NNO party go? Tell me about it. Leave a comment or e-mail me.

GNWatch Meeting Notes: Pre-NNO Meeting...

Looking for the meeting notes for the Septemebr GNWatch meeting? You will find them here: Click!

GNWCIA Executive Board Meeting Report: My Notes....

My wife and I made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the meeting of the Board of Directors of The Great Northwest Community Improvement Association this evening, and I thought I might share a few of my notes and some other related comments.

Before the meeting started, we were treated to a Happy Birthday wishes and cake for Mr. Joe Martinez, resident extraordinaire, and former board director. For all the time he has spent serving the community, he looks pretty good for an 80 year old.

Just kidding.

Anywho, on with the report: The board heard from the various departments, starting off with DRACO.

• Jose tells us that the GNW Architecture Control Committee lost a member and the board moved and approved Ms. Andrea Hall to fill the vacancy. Good choice.

• We also learned that the 20 acre Tezel Family Farm located behind a portion of the GNW is being rezoned from R5 to HE, which basically gives it an historic designation. This is good news; you won't be getting a strip mall in the middle of your neighborhood.

• Finally, Jose pointed out that the number of Section 8 houses in the entire GNW has doubled. This brought on some questioning from the board. Section 8 rentals are a very touchy subject, and please, don't get me started on how the San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) is totally abusing/ruining this very beneficial and needed program by saturating good neighborhoods with Section 8's, defeating the whole process of "lifting-up" families in need.

Up next, Stephanie gave us some good news about the recreation department.

• Turns out our swim teams did well this year. They are planning a Labor Day Social from 5-7 on 1 September, then a community carnival on 6 September - this is open to the public, not just residents - and on the same day, there will be a Luau for residents only. See Passages for more information.

• The bad news is that the Silver Creek pool has a huge leak - to the tune of about 12,000 gallons of water a day. Get your check books out.

Fred from maintenance reported that the wiring for new security systems is right on schedule.

Chief Burton gave us the security low-down: Bad news; burglaries are up. Folks, lock your doors, don't leave your laptops and iPods sitting in the car seat, and good grief, watch out for your potted plants in the front yard. Yes, the folks in the white van are still driving around stealing them. Don't be afraid to contact security or SAPD if you see something that needs to be reported. And please, watch out for your neighbors.

The board made some appointments to the various liaison committees, and they are:

• ACC: Janet
• GNWatch: Ida
• Scholarship: SK
• Community Enhancements: Ida
• Community Leisure: Janet
• Government Relations: Richard
  

Two items were brought up for unfinished business:

• TOPS is some software that is supposed to be used for HOAs and Condo management etc. This software has been purchased etc but hasn't been implemented. We have news that by 1 September, the staff should have the conversion to this software and we should be going on it.

• Tennis Court Repair has been put off until fall. We have actually experienced an increase of tennis players and people have actually been waiting in line to get on the courts, so the staff hasn't wanted to start the installation of the new surface until summer is over.

And in New Business, Guy had some question regarding Passages and letters to the editor and such.

There you have it, and you didn't even have to attend, but it sure would be nice if we could get a good crowd of folks to come out, if only to show this board how much they are appreciated.

Finally, if you are feeling a little civic minded this weekend, our beloved A-Team will have an opportunity to volunteer an hour or two of your time out in the green belt. A group of us were out there last weekend helping with some minor clean-up and it was pretty fun and productive.Even if you can only join us for an hour, we're going to be picking up light trash - cans and cups and plastic bags and such - so you can come and meet some neighbors and get a little exercise. The time is from 9am till noon, but as always, come and go as you please. We'll have water and bags for collecting trash. If you have gloves, bring them, but if not we'll probably have some spares for you to use. Meet the group behind the soccer fields located behind the Silver Creek Lodge and pool complex. I hope to see you there.

GNWCIA Meeting Report: My Notes...

Talk about smooth and efficient! My wife and I headed down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the meeting of the board of directors of the GNW Community Improvement Association (GNWCIA), and it was wrapped up and we were on our way in under an hour. Outstanding! No bickering or infighting, no ridiculous interruptions asking to consult the lawyer; just honest, volunteer members trying to do the business of the association. I'm a huge fan of that. So here goes with a quick recap if you care...

• We heard from one resident asking about a financial report that hasn't been presented.
  
• After that, the meeting was called to order and the community manager gave the report:
• Some residents have asked to see the ballots of the recent failed election. These ballots have been secured in binders to keep them from being tampered with and now arrangements are being made for the interested parties to review them. On a personal note, I have to question going through the expense of this. Simply put, the ballots are irrelevant becasue no quorum was reached. Yes, the board chose to appoint the top three vote-getters from the ballots submitted, but they were not required to do so. Therefore, the only possible conclusion that I can draw from this is that some resident(s) want to see my personal votes. Well, let's save everyone a lot of money. Why not simply take note of the election signs people put in thier yards (you know, Vote for Smith, Jones and Schmedly), then the people who have the most signs posted on lawns win the election - and everybody knows everybody elses vote. Short of that, I thought it was a secret ballot.
  
• Financial report is almost ready to be delivered to the baord. Some issues with a past office member have created a problem with the accounting. They are working to get it fixed. C'Mon people. If you expect some foul play, then call the police. Otherwise, give it a rest.
• Swimming has increased more than 3X the number ofver last year. Last year it rained every day. Today it was 102 degrees. You do the math.
• A pipe broke in a pool pump and a vending machine was vandalized.
• People are having a hard time adjusting to the new garbage collection system. Folks are parking their cans directly in front of thier garages. This is a no-no, per the City of San Antonio. Your ticket is forthcoming. The next edition of Passages will have some creative ideas on how to store your cans.
• Greenbelt between Timberwilde and Tezel is getting cleaned up this week. Workers are clearing spaces behind privacy fences to avoid fire hazard. FYI: some kids tried to light the place on fire and an alert resident busted them and put out the fire.

I'd like to point out that this format of having the Community Manager provide slides and the report for all departments is the way to go. Not that we don't like to hear from the department heads, but this is smooth, efficient and on track. Kudos to Darin.

There were no committee reports other than it was announced that the GNWatch meetings will be starting at 6:30 PM, last Wednesday of each month versus 7:30PM. One person said that she had not received an e-mail stating that change so perhaps it was lost in the Internet. If you know someone on the Watch, let them know that next Wednesday it will be at 6:30PM at the lodge.

That's it. And now you know enough to pay your monthly Homeowner's fee!

GNWatch Meeting Report: Tasty Treats...

My wife and I along with several our our neighbors made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the monthly Great Northwest Watch meeting. And tonight, it was more of a free for all, dig in and eat some vittles type of meeting. We had brisket, burgers, dogs and a multitude of side dishes including my wife's famous chili and numerous desserts.Are you seeing a pattern here? I can't even do volunteer work unless it has some sort of connection to food! I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the "before" on this brisket. My wife talks about meat that can stand on its own without a sauce, and Richard's Brisket passed the test with flying colors - Tasty Treats all around!We had about 40 folks including several of our newest Block Captains show up for the event. In addition to good food, we had Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons from District 6 Councilwoman Delicia Herrera's office and Officer Danny Robles, our SAFFE Officer field questions from the audience.Of specific note was a series of questions one resident had regarding reduction in Section 8 payments the city is paying to landlords. The same resident had some other issues regarding water bills and CPS issues. I appreciated the way Mr. Fitzgibbons was able to immediately accept the complaints, offer his card and put her in touch with the appropriate person in his office to deals with those issues. People, this is why we have representatives, so we can get answers. Kudos to our District 6 staff.Officer Robles fielded several questions from tagging to drug concerns and all matter in between. He talked to us about the Cellular on Patrol program and how we can put together a group of residents to have a class (you need to be certified to get the secret handshakes and such). I'm going to begin putting together an interest list of people that would be willing to take the course. If we can get 15 people, we can do it. In fact, I'm going to contact some folks from neighboring associations and see if they would like to form a joint class. Wanna be in the next COP class? E-mail me and tell me if you would rather do it in an evening (say 6pm to 9pm) or on a Saturday (maybe 9am to noon). You do not need to be a resident of The GNW or a member of the GNWatch to do this. We just want to make the class worth the officer's time.We talked briefly about the National Night Out and what a great deal that is. If you were eagerly anticipating the heat of August for the next NNO, hang tight. It will now be in October (we think October 7th - more on that soon). If you want a good way to meet your neighbors, do like we do: Set up a table out front with a pot of chili, some hot dogs, a cooler full of refreshments and a yard full of lawn chairs. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to have fun! Our coordinator, Ms. Betty Hood is already working on obtaining door prizes. More to follow on this.

I was very pleased to have most of our members of the GNWCIA Board of Directors present. These people put in a lot of hours of their own time and it was super awesome to have them come as members of the GNWatch and meet and mingle with our Block Captains. We appreciate the hard work you do for the association.Finally, I'm going to approach the Board concerning maybe changing the meeting times to begin earlier - even 6:30PM or 7PM (we normally start at 7:30PM). Tell me what you think about it. Would you come to the meetings if you thought we could get in by 6:30 and be out the door by 7:45 or 8PM? If this was your first meeting, I should tell you that we usually are a bit more structured. I walked in the door tonight with no agenda at all and literally shot from the hip the entire evening, fitting in the speakers as they arrived and such. My guess is that many people do not want to attend a meeting that drags on and on (like my blog posts). So please, tell me what you think.

GNWCIA: We Have New Board of Directors...

If you only show up here just to get the latest details of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association (GNWCIA) then I've been a pretty crappy correspondent in the last few weeks, wouldn't you say?

Well, herewith the latest news available to anyone with two functioning fingers and an account on the Google: Our sitting board of three remaining directors appointed three more folks to take the open positions good through 2011. They are (in no particular order) Lee Besing, our former Chair, Janet Doherty, our former vice-Chair, and Ida Rodkey, one of the five folks who ran in the recent failed election attempt. I offer my personal congratulations to them all and hope they will continue the good work and progress the board had been making in spite of the buffoonery that some of the other directors had attempted to inflict upon the association.

And of course, comments like that can often upset folks, so I am pledging to myself to limit such observations in the future. I've never tried to be some sort of rebel voice attempting to sway opinions one way or another for issues faced by my HOA, but I can tell you when I see stupid.

A year or so ago, through no input or request from me, the fine people in charge over at the office added a link to my friendly neighborhood Blog on the front page of our HOA's official site. That decision was almost immediately attacked by a few board members who felt I was a threat to good order and discipline, certainly sophomoric in nature and quite often in bad taste. I don't know those to be actual quotes by the way, but I certainly accept them all as accurate descriptions of what I do here.

Upon hearing rumors of the complaints, I immediately contacted people in the know and suggested the link be removed to avoid any problems. You people should not be subjected to someone like me but, I'm happy to report that those critics were denied their requests and the link remained for some time (almost a year, really).

But all good things come to an end. Just as a matter of normal updating and such the link to the page was removed and I harbor no regrets or ill-feelings as a result. I'm just glad that a lot of my neighbors who looked over the community-sponsored web page followed my goofy picture to this page, and as a result, my wife and I have met quite a few neighbors we may have never met before. So thanks for the exposure.

Different topic: I received word from Councilwoman Delicia Herrera's office that Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons, aide to the Councilwoman, will begin attending our Neighborhood Watch meetings instead of the GNWCIA Board of Directors meetings, because they felt it was better for interaction with the community. Ya think? I'm sure the idea is that he won't have to wait for a lawyer to be consulted if he asks a resident "How's it going?"

So if you live in the GNW and think you'd like to get involved with things, why not try to do it by becoming a Block Captain? It's fun and, next Wednesday the 28th of May, we are going to precede our meeting with a cookout - burgers, dogs, chili, sides, dessert! Want to know more? E-mail me!

Whirlwind Week Report: And it isn't over...

I hope you can forgive my lack of exciting reporting coming from The Five-Oh in the past week or more but things have been quite hectic and rewarding on several fronts.

I shan't bore you with the Neighborhood Watch related issues that made big news, but I'll send you to this link regarding a tragic situation and leave it at that for the time being.

In other local neighborhood excitement, our board of directors (there are only four currently) figured out who would be the new Chair and vice-Chair. I'm not sure if it is public info or not, so I suppose we'll have to wait until the next meeting for the announcement. The really interesting thing to me is that one of our board members no longer lives in the neighborhood. In other words, someone who will not be impacted in any way by decisions of the board is helping (or in some cases, hindering) the things that impact me! I think that is wrong. What about you?

Okay, forget all that unpleasantness. So last night we were off to attend my son's commencement ceremony - he graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Unlike many of his fellow graduates, he was on the 4-year plan as opposed to the apparently common 5, 6 and 7 year programs. You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years. I know, they're called doctors. Sorry.

Just as we were leaving the house, my daughter called and said that her flight from Philadelphia had been delayed and that now, she wouldn't be getting into San Antonio until Saturday AM instead of late Friday night. I know, you are probably asking yourself why I, as a good father, didn't volunteer to drive to Dallas, pick her and her husband up at DFW, then drive back to San Antonio? People, Texas is a big state. It would take me five and a half hours to get from my side of SA to DFW and and other five and a half hours to get back! And we still had to attend my son's graduation!

Luckily, she has a friend who lives just near the airport, so they got to have a nice visit and about 4 hours of sleep before taking a flight out this morning. Oh, and in case you are wondering, American Airlines didn't offer them a hotel room, or a pillow - and surely no coupon for a free flight or bag of peanuts.

But back to the graduation. This event was held at the UTSA Convocation Center. Not a bad place for a ceremony of this size.We are usually pretty good at picking out our kids from a crowd of people, but without binoculars or a telephoto lens, we spent most the ceremony fawning over some kid who looks like my son from half a mile away. I'm sure that kid will do well in life, but as soon as he got up to walk, we knew it wasn't our son. Bad posture. As it turned out, we were never in a position to see our son until he got up to walk to the stage. Perhaps that other young man's parents were in the audience and made the same mistake with our kid.

So, they have these things down to a science. The administration knows that you couldn't care less about the other 700 people graduating, you only care about your own kid. Speeches were short, there were no politically motivated anti-W comments and in general, once they started reading off names, it was like fine clock-work.

Unfortunately, they still go alphabetically, and with a last name starting with "S", we had a lot of waiting to do. And we did wait, very politely I might add. But funny, as the end of the commencement neared and as we began to get excited for our son (and apparently some kid who looked just like our son), we noticed that the people who have graduates with last names starting in the first half of the alphabet were starting to simply get up and leave.Hey, I don't care if you want to leave and not watch my kid graduate even though I gave a heartfelt golf-clap when your kid walked the stage, but please don't block my view of the stage as you exit your seat. How discourteous is that? And it wasn't one or two families. I'm talking half the place was emptying when there was literally ten minutes left.Well guess what suckers, when the commencement was over, UTSA brought out the Mariachis! How Purro San Antonio is that, to bust out orange sombrero wearing mariachis? And they were damn good. To all you people who left early - piss off!So it isn't over yet. My daughter and son-in-law got in this morning and shortly, we are off to my son's commissioning ceremony. I know a few of you have seen me around minus the mustache and goatee. I'm stuffing myself into my service dress uniform for the ceremony and had to shave to be in "regs". Hopefully there won't be a weigh-in. My daughter has come with her uniform and she will give my son his first official salute. Bust out your hankies.

We'll zip over to Florida shortly so my dad (who for medical reasons couldn't make it tonight) can slip into his uniform and provide another salute. As you might expect, our military family is pretty proud of our first officer in the family.

So, if I don't have more goofy pictures or updates on the latest restaurants for several more days or so, I hope you can understand. Maybe now is a good time to go back and read some of the older posts. You know you want to.

GNWatch Meeting Report: Dogs and Taggers: Animals....

I’d like to thank the large group of people who made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest for the GNWatch meeting last Wednesday evening. We covered, what I believe are two very important security related issues; dangerous stray and vicious dogs that have in some cases attacked residents and their pets, and the topic of graffiti in the Great Northwest.

First off we started with representatives from The City of San Antonio’s Animal Care Services, Ms. Elizabeth Brown from the community outreach section and Ms. Debbie Allen, manager of field operations. Thanks to some advance preparation spearheaded by one of our residents, Ms. Brown and Officer Allen came ready to respond to specific problems we face here.It is safe to say that the assembled audience was awed when Officer Allen cited a few statistics on the numbers of calls her officer receives on a daily basis, how those calls get prioritized, and unfortunately, the limited number of officers she has to deal with the calls. She answered head-on the main complaint that people seem to have when they call ACS to report stray dogs – they fact that by the time ACS can make it out to the location (often a day or so later) the dog is gone. But she used this complaint to educate us on how we can work within the system to document strays and better resolve the problems. Officer Allen outlined the descriptions and priorities of the calls they handle, and the types of things that are classified as violations.

Instead of repeating the content of her discussion, I like to offer a link to the ACS web page and encourage residents to utilize the city’s 3-1-1 number to report animal associated problems. It was refreshing to see first hand how Ms. Brown, Officer Allen and their team are working to better the process and to make great strides toward the stray and vicious animal situation faced by the city, caused primarily by irresponsible idiots who happen to be pet owners.

Following a very informative Q&A with the audience, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Lee Besing presented Ms. Brown and Officer Allen with a box of rawhide doggie bones to take to the shelter.

Up next, I was pleased to present a briefing to the group regarding efforts during the month of April to identify some of the thugs responsible for tagging and graffiti along many of the common thoroughfares in the association. The briefing included detailed maps, photographic evidence and results of the pressure put forth by local businesses and residents to have at least one suspect apprehended, and a group of people evicted from their residence.

I am happy to make this briefing available to anyone who would like a copy, though I warn you that, because of the detailed photographs, it is almost 8MB in size. That’s a big file if you have dial-up! Please feel free to e-mail me at Silvercreek78250@gmail.com if you’d like to receive the briefing.

This briefing has been provided to the staff of District 6 council member, Delicia Herrera and we are hoping to work with her staff to prepare for one of the city sanctioned Graffiti Wipe-Out days. More to follow on this. The bottom-line is, if you are the victim of graffiti, please photograph it, report it to GNW Security for their records, contact the police if it is significant property damage, and then clean it up/paint over it as soon as possible. If you need help with the painting, the security staff can help you with contacting volunteers who can help you. Our goal is to get it covered soon enough that the taggers can’t enjoy showing their work to their friends.

If you would like to be one of the volunteers who can help with painting, please contact me, or get with the GNW Lodge office folks to be put in touch with the A-Team. You’d be surprised at how as little as 15 minutes of your time can help make a big difference in combating this problem.

Reminder for GNW Residents

Just a quick note to remind the local readership of two important events:

Wednesday 30 April 7:30 PM at the Lodge: GNWatch Meeting. We will have representative from San Antonio's Animal Care Services come give us some information about dealing with vicious animals. The ACS folks have received a package of complaints from our residents and their person is going to provide some responses to the assembled crowd.

Following the Q&A, if we have time, I'll present some information on the recent rash of tagging in the area and what has been done. Hope to see you there.

(Oh, and my wife and I celebrate our anniversary the same day - am I a romantic, taking my wife out to a neighborhood watch meeting?)

Thursday 1 May at 7:30 PM is the Great Northwest annual meeting of the members held at the lodge. Please, if you have not sent in your proxy, hand carry it down to the office - there is a drop box for after hours. We must have a quorum or the money spent to put on the meeting is a total waste, and we'll have to try again.

Better yet, why not come to the meeting? Hope to see you there.

Priorities Report: This Year, I Learned A Lot...

So it was just about a year ago that I began this little endeavor to take note of the things I encounter as I live in my neighborhood and in San Antonio. I enjoy life in Texas and I think that if you give it a fair shot, you’d enjoy living in San Antonio. So to those of you who have stumbled upon this blog from somewhere else and come back for more even if you don’t live here, thanks. We can still be neighbors, just from a distance.

During about the same time that I started SilverCreek78250, my wife and I made the decision to take a greater interest in our neighborhood association. In addition to attending Board meetings, we got involved in the Neighborhood Watch program. So in the last year, I have gotten at least a partial understanding of things, I think, and for the most part, I have tried to use this blog – in-between frequent reports of trips and lunches and dinners and such – to inform local residents about the happenings within the association. So if you can indulge me for a few pages, I’d like to address something of a local nature that doesn’t involve food or goofy looking people I encounter. I won’t be offended if you hit the back button now, but if you are a reader from within the Great Northwest, I hope you can take a few minutes for this.

Over the last year, I have attempted to gain a greater understanding of the inner workings of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association, the personalities that make up the board of directors, the residents who volunteer their time and labor to make our association better and the staff that keep it all together. What I have found generally is that almost without exception, the people I encounter are motivated toward a common goal of making the seven neighborhoods that make up the Great Northwest, a better place to live. And that is a good thing, don’t you agree?

Sadly, I have also learned that a great majority of the people who live in the GNW simply don’t care to get involved in anything that goes beyond the boundaries of their homes. I confess, I’ve been there; life is hectic, there are only so many hours in a day and as long as my neighbors weren’t painting their homes bright pink or neon green, I was pretty satisfied that my assessment was being well-spent and happy to leave it up to the staff and those faceless people who ran the board.

When my wife and I started attending the board meetings and the neighborhood watch meetings, we began to see something very interesting. It is incredible how a small number of residents give of themselves so much for the betterment of the community. And these are not simply retired people with too much free time on their hands (as I might have said at one time or another). Most have full time jobs, and other activities that they somehow juggle while putting in unbelievable hours in meetings and consulting staff.

To their credit, the board goes through stacks of paperwork generated by the community manager and his staff so they can understand the needs of the various departments; recreation, maintenance, security, DRACO, and then through voting, guide the staff on matters that need approval. Aside from common sense, they have to consider the covenants, deed restrictions and the bylaws adopted by the previous boards dating back to the founding of the GNW Community Improvement Association back in the mid 1970’s.

Each year, the sitting board can propose changes to the bylaws and in fact, this year there are several changes being voted on in May. But what does it take to change the covenants and deed restrictions that were established in 1976? The answer my friends, is you. Or at least 75 percent of you.

In the neighborhoods that make up the GNW, there are approximately 5,000 homes. With one vote per home, it would take 3,750 homeowners to agree to approve a change. And that means that all 3,750 of those people agree to whatever the change is. If the board wanted to give away free $100 dollar bills, we couldn’t get 3,750 residents to show up to vote, much less agree on it. So in effect, we are stuck in 1976 with the ideas and deed restrictions that seemed like a pretty good idea back then.

As our original neighborhoods have grown older and newer neighborhoods have sprung-up, we see quite a few changes in attitudes, how people live their lives, and how people want to use their homes. I think 32 years later, we can all agree that we want to live in a neighborhood where yards are mowed, junk vehicles are not up on blocks in the middle of the yard, people don’t make additions to their homes that look like a clubhouse pieced together by the Little Rascals. Can I get 3,750 head nods on that? But what of new types of construction innovations that we hadn’t thought of in 1976, or taking into account the age and lifestyle changes that have taken place since some of the original families moved into the Great Northwest?

A simple drive down my street will reveal that nobody uses the two car garage for actual car parking anymore. Many of the garages are used as storage or have been converted into to family rooms. Today’s larger SUV’s and trucks simply won’t fit into my garage. We have a deed restriction that will not allow you to park a small travel trailer in your driveway, yet you can park a full-sized passenger van (which is nearly the same size) without concern. From what I gather, this deed restriction was put in place to keep people from having RV’s used as homes. As a guy driving down the street looking at homes, I don’t see an RV trailer as detracting from the neighborhood in the same way I see a boat covered with one of those cheap blue tarps, yet, the boat with the cheap blue tarp is welcome according to our deed restrictions.

Have you had to replace your roof lately? It isn’t cheap. Recent innovations in technique and modern architectural design have made the metal roof design a one-time investment. Unfortunately, this technique isn’t acceptable as part of our deed restrictions. You can approach the architectural control committee, but I understand recent requests for this design have been denied. I’m sure there are not 3,750 of us ready to go out and buy new metal roofs this week, but doesn’t it stand to reason that after 32 years, we could use a little change?

Consider newer environmentally friendly methods of construction. Did you know that unless your home is made of plastic (which would be a violation), you cannot use one of those new recycled plastic out buildings or any of the new fencing materials available – since fences visible to the street must be made of either wood or masonry and outbuildings (storage sheds) must match the design and color of the existing home.

I’m sure there are any number of other things that you can see needing minor tweaking or outright elimination, but the sad fact is, based on the turn out at board meetings I have attended, I don’t see 3,750 of us agreeing on, much less voting on anything.

And this leads to what I believe is a very important point, and quite possibly the point of my message. Those that bother to participate, vote-in a board to act in the best interest of the community as a whole. That elected board and the management the board puts in place, need to prioritize what precious resources we as a community have. To that end, they need to recognize that 3,750 people are not going to take the leadership needed to act in the best interests of the Great Northwest and change or modify restrictions and covenants that, had they been written today, might look dramatically different.

I am not asking the board to act in bad faith by taking action that would go against the certified restrictions, but I am asking them to use their authority to act and to not act as necessary to reflect the real needs of the community.

Today, there is only one single issue that has more of an impact on the residents of the seven neighborhoods that make up the Great Northwest. It is not travel trailers in driveways, it isn’t basketball hoops on sidewalks, and it isn’t trash cans left in the front yard. The single biggest detractor to the value of my home, and your home, and every home in this neighborhood is Graffiti. Make no mistake.

Ask yourself this: If you wanted to purchase the house you live in right this minute, would the fact that your association has tennis courts have more of an impact on your decision to buy or not to buy, than if you drove down Timber Path road and saw an entire city park and an entire church covered by tags left by apparent gang members?

Think about it for a moment, and I’ll sit here and restring my tennis racket while you do it. Oh, that’s right; I don’t have a tennis racket.

Friends, while our security staff is out writing deed restriction violation tickets to residents for a travel trailers in the driveway, our parks are being vandalized and taggers are leaving gang signals along the fences of our main thoroughfare through the Great Northwest. My complaint is not with our staff, it is with the board and the management that won’t put priorities where they need to be.

I fully understand that much of the graffiti (or tagging as it should be properly called) happens on property outside of the association boundaries. But that doesn’t raise my house value or make me any happier about it. And, clearly, the people tagging outside of our association are just as active tagging within our area. So if we can put a stop to it on either side of the jurisdiction line, everyone benefits.

The board is in the process of purchasing security systems for the common areas – this may help. But why not spend a small amount of these funds on purchasing some mobile camera systems that can be moved from place to place to catch these taggers in the areas along the hardest hit portions of our association – along Timber Path and Timberwilde Roads? The board needs to work with residents along the prime target areas and one way or another get all the fences painted a uniform natural color that can be easily painted over with matching paint immediately after it has been tagged.

The board should adjust the duties of all staff personnel to include “painter”. Everyone from security to maintenance to recreation should be able to pitch in to help volunteers paint over the tagged areas as soon as possible. The sooner it is covered, the more likely the taggers will give up.

Seriously, before I see a single ticket given out to a resident for a trailer in the driveway, I want to be able to invite a friend or relative to my home knowing that they won’t have to drive through a path of privacy fences covered in vulgarity and unintelligible gang signs.

Honestly, is that asking too much?

If you'd like to become a member of the GNWatch, or join the A-Team, a group of volunteers to help make the GNW better, please, check out the GNW Web Page, or feel free to e-mail me.

GNWatch Report: My Notes - Great Turnout!

I'll be honest with you - I didn't even take notes so this may be a bit sketchy. Several of my neighbors joined my wife and I along with Block Captains, concerned residents, board directors and folks from other neighborhood associations to listen to a great presentation from the City of San Antonio Parks Police Department.Several people told me they had head counts of 40 or more people not including the assembled police and representative from District 6.
Kudos to Chief Steven Baum and his officers for answering the tough questions from several irate residents who are simply fed up with the ongoing taggers in our area. He didn't have any miracle answers but he gave us what we needed; the truth. The truth is, he has one officer (for our area) that patrols a huge area that includes OP Schnabel and Friedrick Wilderness Parks. When they catch the little taggers (and they do catch them), the court system is not set up to hang the taggers or their parents. I know it is a tough pill to swallow, but if I understand it correctly, we will not be blindfolding taggers and executing them with a cigarette in their mouth and a bullet to their head, as much as many residents would like.So, what can we do? First, we have to take ownership of this problem. I need every resident of San Antonio to purchase a disposable camera and keep it in your car. Put down your cell phone and start watching for taggers. As Chief Baum said, "These taggers are not Houdini". The tagging is taking place, often in broad daylight but we simply aren't tuned into our surroundings as we drive down the street talking on the phone, listening to talk radio and trying to remember if we were on our way to the HEB or to the liquor store!We have to focus on our surroundings, and if we see some little bastard tagging, take pictures and call the police. 207-SAPD is the non-emergency number. Get a description of the kid, the location you are at and call them.But you know all that. We had some great questions and comments and complaints from the crowd. Unfortunately, many of them in my opinion were based on the frustration of the situation. Ask the questions you want - that is why we are all there, but it doesn't help to complain to the police about the lack of action in the courts, right? I talked to Chief Baum and he told me that he gets the frustration and often, he is happy to simply provide a forum to let people vent.So now what? I was happy to see that Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons from District 6 Council member Delicia Herrera made it to the meeting to listen to our concerns and answer questions. I think it would be an awesome idea to call or send e-mail to Ms. Herrera's office and let her know of the appreciation, and of our continued concerns. Squeaky wheel and oil theory.

I'll send some more notes and comments to the Block Captains and the people at the meeting who left me their e-mail addresses but the bottom line is - we had a pretty good meeting to get people thinking about the problem. Now, let's see if we can parlay the excitement into some action.

Wanna learn more about the A-Team? E-mail me. Wanna join the watch? E-mail me!

Reminder: GNWatch Meeting 27 Feb 08

If you get bored and got nothing to do tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 27th of February, why don't you take a little jaunt down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest at 8809 Timberwilde in The Five Oh, and join us at 7:30PM to hear Chief Steven Baum and a few of his folks from the San Antonio Park Police. They'll be telling us what they know about Oscar Perez Memorial Park and the happenings in the world of vandalism and tagging, and what they are doing to address the problem.

I have invited our city council member, Delicia Herrera, but have not heard from her or her staff; but hold out hope that she might send a representative to listen in on the meeting.

If none of that interests you but you need some cookies and coffee, come on down!