Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

August 2011

August 2011

Why is it that nobody has responded?

We are very open to suggestions as to ways to better serve the neighborhood. We thought we had accomplished quite a bit by landing an appearance by our new City Councilwoman at our September NHW meeting for you to talk to.  We thought that having a representative available from city government actually (finally!!) paying attention to our little area of town and to us, would be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how far behind the city has left Forest Hills. Because our storm drainage is either outdated, or overloaded, or perhaps even collapsing from not being properly maintained, we have streets that flood so severely that when it rains the water travels half way from the street to the front of the houses. And a lot of those houses are up an incline! But when we asked for input on issues near and dear to all of us . . . nobody responded. Yet, there is power in numbers.

We have school traffic out of control, with parents parking down side streets on private property and blocking driveways. We have parents speeding throughout the school zone, daily – the same parents over and over again.  We have traffic running the crosswalk light, crosswalks not marked to where they are easily identified, old-fashioned streetlights that don’t cast light for safety. But when we asked for input on issues near and dear to all of us . . . nobody responded. Yet, there is power in numbers.

Public pools which we pay for through our taxes are now charging a pretty steep price to use. If they continue to have low use, pretty soon the city will close them down. We wanted to have a campaign to get the city aquatics and rec depts. to review their user fees and lower them to a more reasonable rate for us folks on limited income to use. But when we asked for input on issues near and dear to all of us . . . nobody responded. Yet, there is power in numbers.

There is power in numbers. And when the city hears from more than one or two concerned citizens at a time, they listen. We need to demonstrate to city council that we really have noticed that our area of town has been ignored in recent years, while the areas of town with the higher income &/or tax base gets all the perks. And we need to demand that city council treat all areas of the city the same, regardless of the balance in our bank accounts. And we need to command that our kids be kept just as safe as anybody else’s kids who happen to live in the more affluent neighborhoods. We need to remind them that we voted  them into office to serve us, and that we are closely watching how well they perform this duty. This new city council is listening, at the moment. So let’s give them some things to listen to. Yes, the budget is lean, and we won’t get everything that we ask for ----  but we need to impress them with our understanding and compassion of the situations at hand, and impress them with how much we care about our community, as well as how tired we are of being ignored.

Because if they get the impression that we don’t care . . . . they won’t, either. They take their cues from us. It’s time that we establish our expectations of them, so that we can then hold them accountable.

So please . . . respond to our posts on these and other issues. Contact your lock leader, the grid coordinator, or the web administrator about any and all issues that need to be addressed in order to make our neighborhood safer. Because our next meeting is less than a month away, and we need this information  as soon as possible.

Criminal activity

So far this summer the criminal activity in our grid has not increased very much. We attribute that fact to all of us watching out for suspicious people and criminals, and reporting them whenever we see them. This is the way to keep our homes and families safe, so please  - - - - keep it up. We do still have a few problems with speeders up and down several streets; remember to phone in repeat offenders who are speeding on your street. The life you save may be your own . . . or a family member’s.

School Days . . . School Days . . . Good Old Golden Rule Days

School starts back August 23^rd. Please drive carefully and watch for students and their parents . . . especially since many new students do not always cross at the appropriate intersections or even use the sidewalks s they should. And a lot of the parents do not adhere to the speed limits posted for school zones (something that needs to be addressed).

See you on the sidewalk . . . .