Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

MAY, 2010 --- Happy Mother's Day!

Our apologies that there was no newsletter for the month of April, 2010

Our May meeting will be Thursday, May 27th @ 7pm at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church. Roy Paz will be our guest speaker on personal safety to include fraud, as well as to hear about neighborhood concerns.

The use of our web site has dropped dramatically for the past 3 months. We would like to be able to use this site as our main method of getting information (current safety issues/trends, updates, etc) out to you. In the current economic situation, we can all make use of free concerts, reduced cost recreational programs, etc., and we try to post events that would appeal to the vast majority of residents in this neighborhood. We also try to post info which would improve our lives in general: recycling links, UF/Hillsborough County Extension Service info, etc. If there is any other information that YOU may have to share, or any topics that you would like to see posted, please e-mail the web site administrator @ Aquarius9721@VERIZON.NET. By the way -- we could use some assistance in maintaining this site.We also remind you to make use of the TampaGov.net web site; there are many services available to city residents on that site which you may find useful, including a dental & vision service for low and moderate income residents. It’s there -- awaiting your discovery!

Prior to the upcoming drought season (and you KNOW it’s coming up) be sure to investigate the county extension office’s web site for their landscaping, rain barrel, water wise and composting workshops. The classes are free, last less than an hour, and you receive a free rain barrel (among other items relevant to the individual workshop). Check out the extension office’s web site, which is conveniently hyperlinked to our web site and is listed under “Community Services”, for dates and times. Also some of these workshops are offered at local libraries and rec centers. Once the watering restrictions are implemented, those classes fill up FAST, months in advance. They’ll also tell you about various county locations where you can pick up truck loads of mulch at a greatly reduced rate.

What topics do you want to talk about or see addressed at the May meeting? E-mail either PauWet@AOL.com or Aquarius9721@VERIZON.NET to get your topic researched and/or on the agenda. Also, post your topic of interest on the “Discussion” page of our web site. You never know who might hold the answer to your question . . . or several alternative answers

Our grid has been pretty quiet (knock on wood!) over the past several months. Ahh . . . but in a few weeks school will be out for the summer (senioritis has already set in) and an idle mind is the devil’s workshop! This is when the criminal mischief and break-ins increase, because bored kids CAN mean big time trouble. There are numerous activities available for pre-teens and middle/senior high school teens through the county rec centers, public libraries, etc. Check out those respective web sites and find some low-cost or free activities for the children in your life! Remember the City of Tampa sponsors a Summer Swim League, which sponsors a swim team at local city pools (locally the Del Rio Rays), for ages 6 through 16. Children don’t have to be champion swimmers to join; their swimming skills will improve dramatically simply by the practice. (My kids did it, and made friends that they are still close to today--even though those other kids wound up swimming for and graduating from other local high schools ) It’s a great way to develop a skill -- one that they may not even be aware that they have -- and prep kids for becoming members of their high school swim team. It’s amazing how many kids that aren’t particularly skilled in free style swimming might excel at the back stroke, diving or water polo. Could be worth a scholarship . . .

PLEASE REMEMBER that Floriland/Patbur and Ola are the first impressions folks get of our neighborhood. The litter is beginning to collect in the tall grass again (what the visitors to Chamberlain‘s events must think about our neighborhood pride when they see this!), and it isn’t fair that only the residents of those streets have to continually pick it up. Let’s ALL make a concerted effort to keep all of our streets clean of trash/litter. If any resident are elderly or handicapped and need assistance in maintaining their property (especially the properties that back up to Ola and are out of sight/out of mind due to the privacy fences) please contact this web site or the site administrator. Neighbors are more than willing to help those who need it, but first they have to know that there is a need. Neat, clean neighborhoods are a deterrent to the criminal element -- might sound crazy but it’s true.

See you on the sidewalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .