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.
Looking for the meeting notes for the Septemebr GNWatch meeting? You will find them here: Click!
I have some information regarding the National Night Out and how to sign-up with the City of San Antonio as well as with The GNWatch so you can get some giveaways for your very own NNO Block Party on 7 October. Check it out here.
Close to forty folks ventured out from their air conditioned homes, away from important television viewing and Internet surfing, and braved the elements of a setting sun, a very warm breeze and the potential for the dreaded Texas-sized mosquitoes that have taken over our fair city, all to meet with friends and neighbors, enjoy some hot dogs and chili, fruits, chips and lots of great deserts. 
And in taking this brave alternative to a normal Tuesday evening in San Antonio, they helped in a greater cause shared by other participating citizens all over the country to, as McGruff the crime dog might say, take a bite out of crime.
We were spared rain and the brutal heat that is usually common this time of year and for the most part, even the mosquitoes tried to be civil towards us. this combination of good luck made the setting for our group to sit around and enjoy chatting with neighbors who we always seem to wave hello to but never really get a chance to talk with.
Thanks to Mrs. Betty Hood, the Great Northwest National Night Out coordinator, we received several gift certificates to area merchants that were raffled off. These merchants included Flowers Plus, Simply the Best Pro Cuts, Chick-fil-a, Red Lobster, Marie Callenders, Sportsman's Warehouse, IMAX, Crumpets Restaurant, and McDonald's Hal-John Inc. Additionally, my favorite grocer ever, HEB provided lots of pastries and cakes and such. Finally, as you may know, Target is the national sponsor for the National Night Out program. We had a really nice banner provided by Target and we got a special visit from Yvonne Rios who provided the kids with pinwheels and activity books.
Other prominent guests to our party included Mr. Lee Besing and Ms. Sigrid Long, both Directors on the Board of the GNW Community Improvement Association, and Mr. Jose Morlett, the acting community manager for GNWCIA. 
Mr. Morlett was accompanied by members of his staff and the Passages Newspaper.
We were especially pleased to have visits from Chief Roger Burton and several of his officers on the GNW Security Force, San Antonio Police Department, Constables office, and San Antonio's Code Compliance department.
We never did have a specific agenda of events such as games (watermelon spitting contest?), or speeches from the local dignitaries who visited, but some of the younger children were happy to assist with our makeshift raffle for the door prizes. Others enjoyed the use of colored chalk on the driveway, so as to practice their future tagging skills (just kidding).
Perhaps next year, we can bust out some of those padded outfits and do front yard sumo wrestling. Given my girth and the number of hot dogs I ate last night, I doubt I'll have to wear one of the fat suits.
In the end, I think everyone was pretty pleased with how things turned out. We held a party last year but did not bother to go through the registration process. I'd say that the added bonus of the police visits and of course, all the goodies provided for the party made it that much better. So, mark your calenders now because we are ready to do it again next year.
Here are a few more pictures to take a gander at.
More members from the Constables office swing by looking for potential suspects!
Against my better judgment, we have placed the official National Night Out banner thing in front of our house this evening so as to remind the neighbors of tomorrow evening's big event. It seemed pretty windy and even a threat of rain in the air.
On the off chance (thinking positive) that it does rain, the GNW Lodge will be open for all the neighborhood block parties to gather in there.
Let's hope that isn't needed.
My wife and I attended the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association executive meeting tonight. The difference between this meeting and the other meetings is, no comments are allowed from the residents attending. Clearly, this was not a problem as my wife and I were the only residents in the audience, and I'm much better at the non-verbals then most people and don't require the need to make loud comments!
Okay, a bunch of boring stuff... unless you live here and want to see how a small group of people are spending your money! Seriously, I confess that I have made comments about a few people being obsessive about the association and its runnings, but now, I have to say that I'm appalled at the lack of interest. At least the people I may have prematurely labeled as obsessive were interested.
But, if you can't make it to see in person, don't worry, I'll tell you about it.
First, lots of interesting discussion with the treasurer report. I specifically want to make mention of the fact that one Director, Mr. Guy Pucci, seems to get what is what with the finances and asks really valid questions. I don't get that he is asking questions just to appear concerned, I see his probing as well thought out and germane to the the details of the financial report being discussed.
An example of this was when the discussion turned to the fact that the association uses two different computer programs to run the finances. QuickBook and Topps I believe (I have no idea if these names are correct). The problem is, there are some issues that have resulted in one system not being fully used and there has been an effort to get things on track. Mr Pucci asked how much it was costing us a month to maintain one of the programs that is apparently not being used fully. $89.95 a month comes out close to $1,000 a year, and I think Mr. Pucci was right to question the need. Ms. Sigrid Long joined in with a very valid point regarding the fact that perhaps we should see if this monthly fee covers additional training for the people using the program.
When this group of people can focus on real issues of running the organization, I think homeowners would be very proud of their efforts, but as residents, we should show our support by at least coming to one meeting every few months.
A major discussion involved getting some 30 bylaws voted on by the membership. I sat there and took notes of most of the relevant back and forth, but I'll give you my brief summation in a paragraph or less.
The association spent a lot of time and money to compile and discuss some 30 by laws. You cannot appreciate how much money it costs to mail out ballots to 5,000 homes, hire a parliamentarian to keep the fisticuffs to a minimum, and to put on special meetings. I think the number was around $25,000.00. And then, guess what, it didn't get voted on. Okay, so now, one side says we owe it to the membership to explain the proposed bylaws and discuss, then get them voted on. Another camp says, bullshit! They have been presented and discussed ad nauseam. Lets have a single meeting, recap what the bylaws to be voted on are, then vote and be done with it. The board of directors are going to consider their options then come up with a plan.
Can I suggest we avoid a lot of bickering and take advantage of YouTube? Let's have two directors give 30 second video clips on each proposed bylaw. One of the directors would take a "for" position and another director would take an "against" position. The link to these YouTube snippets would be posted on the GNW Homepage and included in the Passages. One month later at a regular meeting, if at least 10 percent of the membership show up to vote, we have a quorum and we vote. If after a month of publicizing it (for free, by word of mouth, mass e-mails and marquee adverts) we don't get 10 percent, too bad, people don't care and we can move on.
NOTE: There is one specific bylaw that must be voted on regardless, due to legal issues.
Okay, some positive things. The board is considering converting a little used hall at the Emerald Valley Pool into an office focused primarily on sports and rec. This is where you could go to sign up for soccer, renew your sticker for your pool pass etc. Also, this would make it more convenient for people in the neighborhoods closer to that pool to see staff.
Some one wrote into the Passages and asked about the possibility of putting in some exercise equipment in the lodges (or in this new office). Can I just say I'm opposed to this. Yes, I'd be all for a nice gym, but really, if the idea is to put in a treadmill and an exercise bike, to me that falls in the category of "buy your own". Now if someone said we could afford to build a nice gym facility with 4 or 5 Lifecycles, 2 or 3 professional quality treadmills, and maybe a piece of Nautilus equipment, fill the room with mirrors and a bank of TV's that can be heard by headphones (so people can enjoy different channels), I'd be for it. My point is, either do it and make it worth using, or don't do it at all just to placate one or two residents who won't use it after 6 months anyway. How do you feel about it? E-mail me. Oh, and if we do this, for God's sake, please wipe down the machines after you use them. Yeeesh.
Another positive note. The board thinking ahead and remembering that it has been raining for the past 2 months had the forethought to plan for the GNW Lodge to be opened as a back-up in case of rain on the National Night Out event, this coming Tuesday, 7 August.
Another thing positive: On 25 September, Jose Morlett will be holding a class on Deed Restrictions. A guest at the meeting will be someone from the city to confirm everything Jose says is illegal, really is illegal*! I'm going to attend just so I can see what's what.
Okay, that about does it. I'll be excited to attend the next meeting where residents can sign up to speak. I'd imagine that there will be discussion of the way to handle voting on bylaws, and this should make it ripe for lots of yelling and screaming from concerned and obsessed residents! Maybe I'll see you there.
*Thanks to Ms Sigrid for pointing out that I made no sense whatsoever when I originally posted this. I did mean to use the term "illegal", but I missed a word or two to make it coherent.
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.
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.
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.
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?
