Madison Park

Minutes of May 10, 2004

May 18, 2004

Minutes of May 10, 2004
Madison Park Homeowners Association
http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/

The meeting was called to order at 7:37 pm with 37 attendees. Also present were four police officers and an officer from Animal Control.

Officer Lloyd of animal control spoke first. He mentioned that if anyone finds a stray pregnant cat to please alert Animal Control prior to the birth of the kittens if the resident intends to turn the cat and kittens over to animal control. Animal Control cannot take kittens. He also stressed that dog owners should never leave even the best behaved dog alone with children or grandchildren. The officer also stated that there had been 6 calls in the Londonderry Rd area for dogs barking excessively. He noted that he thought the situation with this dog owner had been addressed on the 9th of May.

Officer Lloyd said he had had 2-3 calls on raccoons. Martin Doss noted that he was aware of at least 3 raccoons on his road, Londonderry.

704-336-7786 is the number to call for barking dogs. Please provide as much detail as possible such as time of day and so forth. Animal Control takes calls until 1:00 am and starts back up at 6:00 am. The officer requested that strange dogs be reported or dogs tied up without water. He noted that the health of any dog left unattended and tied up outside without water could be at very serious and imminent risk.

Officer Monroe of the South Division spoke next. His division patrols Madison Park on the south side of Tyvola. He had 5 incidents to report for April. Two calls were on Wedgewood Dr: A harassing phone call from an ex-boyfriend and a credit card fraud. Larceny of a CD occurred on Londonderry Rd. The vehicle was left unlocked. Tyvola Road had a hit and run in a parking lot. Chedworth Drive on the 9th of May had a call that some one was attempting to break into a home. The police arrived but could not get anyone to come to the door or answer the phone. The police returned on the 10th to take a report.

Officer Monroe stated that Gang Activity continues with regard to graffiti (although he noted that that activity appeared to be on the decrease in our area). He also mentioned an incident of Gang members showing off their vehicles by driving through our neighborhoods. Martin Doss had witnessed and discussed with the officer that a parade of cars drove down Londonderry Road the evening of Saturday, May 8th at 7:45 PM. The cars all had their headlights on and ran the stop sign on Londonderry Road at Chedworth. When the cars passed Martin?’s Home he noticed that the drivers and passengers were all male, Hispanic and several were wearing bandanas. They did not bother anyone. But, when they got to Tyvola Rd., they raced their engines and one of the cars began to bounce. All of a sudden three of the cars pulled out onto Tyvola Road at once nearly causing an accident. The other half of the cars exited next as a group. Officer Monroe believes the activity was that of gang members from other neighborhoods cruising through other gangs?’ territories showing off their vehicles and possibly looking to try and pick up girls of rival gangs.

Officer Hairston of the Westover Davison spoke next. He had invited two other officers, Officer Williams and Officer Collins.

Officer Hairston said there had been 23 incidents in his Division which patrols the north side of Tyvola Rd. -- 11 of which affected Madison Park. There were 5 larcenies on Abbey Place. 5200 Murray Hill and 1433 Senaca Place both reported break-ins. Officer Hairston did not have details on all of the incidents this month because of the late availability of April?’s data for retrieval and analysis before the meeting.

Officer Hairston stated that he rode around Madison Park with Charles Hodges, codes enforcement inspector, and noted that 5626 Murrayhill had been cited for High Grass and 440 Woodlawn Road for limbs, junk and junk cars. Both had been given 30 days to correct the problems. Officer Hairston noted there were other properties in our areas being cited for grass, junk and cars parked on lawns but did not have specifics. Members can report problems such as high grass, cars on lawns and trash in yards directly to the city at 704-336-7600 or use the city?’s Website at www.charmeck.nc.us/home.htm. If members prefer they can email Martydoss@aol.com with specifics of a problem and he will forward the issue via email or call it in for the members on behalf of the Madison Park Neighborhood Association. That way the Association can keep a detailed record of problem houses and insure that the matter is addressed in a timely and systematized manner.

An HOA member, Anne Stuck, then wanted to know if she were out walking with her cell phone and experienced a medical emergency if her cell phone would direct medics to her location. The answer is most cell phones do not currently have global positioning capabilities. Officer Monroe noted, however, that some of the newest and more expensive models do have such capabilities.

The officer noted that Valley Stream had a larceny from an auto and one suspect was caught with K9 assistance.

The officer noted problems with scooters. Riders must be 16 and wear helmets.

A member wanted to know what a citizen?’s right was to protect property if you witness for example someone breaking in your car. The answer was there is ?“No Right to Protect Property?” citizens should obtain as much information of suspect, e.g., description, method and direction of departure and dial 911.

Officer Williams from the Traffic Division of the Westover Division spoke next. He noted that in a single 18 hour period last month 188 citations were issued under the ?“Speed a Little, Loose A Lot?” state traffic safety program just along Woodlawn Ave itself. One of the other roads targeted during the same campaign was South Blvd.

Photo Radar is coming in June to 14 Charlotte Roads. These Roads are all being posted with signs stating ?“Photo Enforced.?” The new cameras can photographically record a speeder every ?½ second. Each citation will be reviewed by 3 people prior to being sent out for collection. The tickets and photo will record date, time, location, your speed and the posted speed. Citizens can appeal by following procedures on the citation. If you were not the driver, you can sign an affidavit and give the name and address of the person driving your car. The fine is $50 and is a civil affair. It is not a criminal proceeding and will not generate chargeable points against your license. The vendor and the school system will receive portions of every ticket collected. The relative shares of the revenues will change (with the major portion going to the school system) after 1000 tickets are written each week.

It was noted that it takes an officer 15-20 minutes to write a ticket. The new camera tickets will not result in points on your insurance. Failure to pay a ticket will result in possible civil action (e.g., a summons to small claims court) with possible increases above $50 for failure to pay plus a levy for court costs.

The speed at which a ticket will be photo enforced will be set depending on weather and road conditions. But, it will not be set exactly at the posted speed limit. There will be a slight M.P.H. tolerance dialed into the equipment by the officer on duty.

The program is scheduled to end June 2006. The program?’s goal is: Zero tickets, Zero Crashes by the end of the initial trial. If the program is successful it could be expanded to more roads. Members were questioning whether the camera vans could be allocated for use on other problem roads such as Tyvola Road (which was referred to by a member as Tyvola Raceway). The answer was NO. Only the 14 roads chosen by the state legislature are subject to the trial. These roads were chosen based on the frequency of accidents where speeding was the primary cause.

Members wanted to know if Red Light Cameras could also record speeding violations. The answer is YES. This is already being done in Europe but not in the US. Signal lights in Charlotte cycle so as to discourage excessive speed.

The police will have 3 photo enforcement vans which will move around the 14 roads generating tickets for speeding. They are expected to be monitored 24 hours a day at first.

A member wanted to know if officers had to drive the speed limit in their squad cars. The answer is yes unless using siren and flashing lights on their cars.

A member wanted to know why the Officers were wearing black bands over their badges. The reason was in honor and recognition of Police Memorial Week.

Another member wanted to know if the feedback detail was available for the speed radar trailer that was recently deployed on Murrayhill Road. The Member noted the trailer had been used 3 times over the past year but no feedback was given to the community. It turns out that that specific trailer was unable to record data due to a bad data cable. Officer Collins said there had been 3 wrecks on Murrayhill Road after midnight recently. The officers had been asked to watch the area for speeding.

The Traffic Hotline for the Westover Division is 704-432-8548. Residents can call to report problems. Please give your name, problem and a phone number for follow-up.

Another Member wanted to know what residents could do to help the traffic officers. She asked if petitioning for speed humps would help. The officer and other members noted that speed humps don?’t always do the job intended. Many drivers speed up after crossing the humps.

The officer stated he has restricted areas when positioning the radar trailer. For example, he noted that he can?’t place it directly across from driveways. One member stated she thought the last placement on Murrayhill was not very good because it was in a construction zone. The officer said that many people speed in these zones. The officer said that if a member didn?’t mind the trailer next to their driveway they could contact him and that would help him with placement.

One member wanted to know if residents could get a radar gun. The officer said they did not have a gun to loan. (Apparently this resident did have access to a police radar gun while residing in another neighborhood.) The officer said he might be able to come out to a problem area and use the radar gun with some neighbors if requested.

Another member, Judy Brattan, wanted to know if money earmarked for the Murrayhill Sidewalk project could be transferred to the Police Dept. budget. The money is from bonds and most likely would not go to the police department regardless of the neighbors making such a request. The officer said residents could contact city counsel but he doubted that any money could be transferred from cancelled sidewalk projects to the police department.

The officers were thanked for their attendance and the information they provided with a round of applause.

Carol Clarke, a new member, was asked to give a short update on the Light Rail meeting she had attended regarding Art for the Light Rail Stations. [The light rail system is scheduled to be in service by October 2006.] Tyvola Road Station is to become a part of an ?“Enhanced Zoning?” intersection. It will be friendlier for users. The meetings were conducted to enable the artists to meet neighbors in order to get direct input on our neighborhoods so that their art would reflect the community?’s history, diversity and character. Many of our members want to insure that the Art Work is reflective of our entire community. The Tyvola Station will be elevated and located ?½ block from Tyvola Road. SCIP is the acronym of the South Corridor Infrastructure Program.

[It was learned the day after the HOA meeting that the next open house meeting for the two stations nearest Madison Park, namely, Woodlawn Road and Tyvola Road will be May 20th, 2004 at Woodlawn Baptist Church Gymnasium. The Church is located at 4622 Nations Crossing Road. The time of the open house is 6-8pm.]

Carol Milford noted that South Boulevard is owned by the state and not the city. That is the reason many things such as sidewalks and sheltered bus stops have not been completed. South Blvd. must be deeded over to the city in order for improvements to begin. Tyvola Road will be the first station outside of Uptown Charlotte with parking areas. New bike routes and sidewalks are all part of the process of directing traffic toward the light rail system. Bus service from the light rail station to South Park Mall will be provided.

Carol, citing a study of light rail systems, noted that anyone living within ?½ mile of the rail line could expect to have a significant increase in their property values.

Carol was thanked for her update.

Ted Peters, our President, then noted that Madison Park had its first home sell for over 200,000 dollars ?– Scott and Suzanne Andrews former home on Ebb Place. (A second home on Seneca Place also sold at 210,000 dollars).

Ted Peters President then discussed and divided the attendees into 3 groups to discuss the Vision for Madison Park. Madison Park HOA since being reconstituted will celebrate with its 4th anniversary picnic this fall.

Ted Peters mentioned the depth of education in the operations of the city within the current Board and the development of their Leadership as a growing strength of the Association. He then focused the group on our vision and mission statements. Afterwards, he narrowed the focus of the discussion to 3 topics.

#1 Proactive Planning
Crime Watch program
Light Rail
New Neighbors Info/Welcome package aka Madison Park Welcome Wagon
Street Lights
List of Recommended Services (?“Maddie?’s List)

#2 Beautification
Planted median for Seneca Place (?)
Garden Club formation (possible contests)
Problem Houses
A Park for Madison Park (?) (Possible land under main power lines, or maybe even a small corner of land perhaps donated from one of our area churches in our neighborhood)

#3 Social
Fall picnic
Spring Event (?)
Holiday Social in December
Newsletter with improved communications
Summer Party (July 4th etc.)

Attendees were asked to spend about 10 minutes due to the length of the meeting running long to discuss topics in groups.

These sheets and info were collected and will be discussed in more detail at a future meeting.

The Treasurer report was given by Dee McCandlish. Year to date, the HOA has 39 dues paying members which already exceeds the membership roles for all of 2003. The dues are 10.00 for the calendar year. All bills were paid and $624.98 was our current balance.

Debra Campbell suggested possibly cutting off the minutes that she emails out each month. Her idea was to send them only to members who are current on paying dues and attending meetings. She currently sends out the detailed minutes to around 165 on the HOA e-mail list. This idea was not welcomed by most in attendance. It was thought not to be very costly or time consuming to e-mail. Some felt that the more people who are aware of the meetings the better off we are as an association. The association would like as many people as possible to attend the meetings on the second Monday of each month. The Board does understand that some members don?’t wish to come out to an evening meeting and prefer to participate or follow the Association Activities through reading the minutes and echoing their concerns online.

Martin Doss pointed out that we had agreed back in December to add the 10 dollar cost for dues to the website. There is a form for joining the HOA; but, it doesn?’t mention that the dues are 10 dollars a year. The website needs to be updated to include the 10 dollar annual fee. Members or anyone wishing to join the association can pay dues at the next meeting they attend if they wish or mail the 10 dollars via check (payable to Madison Park HOA) to Dee McCandlish, Treasurer, at 812 Fairbanks Road Charlotte, NC 28210.

General topics of interest or concerns were then addressed by the group as follows:
One member Ann Stuck wanted to get the Garden Club started for our HOA. Plans are to have a Garden Club soon. Member, Candace Armstrong, a Master Gardener from our area will make a presentation at our June meeting. Several members and potential new members have discussed an interest in starting the Garden Club. We hope, in the near future, to have the club going and possibly even have contests for Outstanding Gardens of Madison Park for both Vegetable and Flower Gardens.

Another member wanted to work on new memberships. She wanted to possibly have a committee to work on getting new members to join or starting a welcoming committee for new neighbors. The idea of possibly having membership cards was mentioned. Another idea is maybe having stickers for new members (or members that pay their dues) of our logo made up. The stickers could be used as bumper stickers to promote our neighborhood to others. Another idea would be to use them on front storm doors of homes of our members.

The Murrayhill Sidewalk project came up again. There is talk of several members who want to protest the size of the sidewalk and start a petition drive. There is a link on the website (http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/) with some information on the sidewalk project and a mention of the petition drive. Many of the Murrayhill Road neighbors are not pleased with the idea of taking so much of their front yards to build a sidewalk. The sidewalks are currently planned to have a grass median, between curb and sidewalk, followed by 5 foot-wide concrete sidewalks. This would push the walks up to 8 feet from the curb. Members aligned with Judy Brattan want the sidewalks downsized or not built at all. However, other members felt certain that the sidewalk will be built. Most of our neighborhood is scheduled for sidewalks at some point in the future. Much of the building of sidewalks and bike paths is in conjunction with making pedestrian traffic flow easily to the light rail system. The association, in keeping with its stated mission of facilitating communication, will assist the Murrayhill neighbors with their petition drive and appoint a member of the Board to work as an ex-officio member of any committee constituted by the Murrayhill neighbors.

Candy Bridges, representing the Parks and Recreation Dept., then spoke briefly saying that the Ground Breaking for the Queens University Sports Complex at Marion Diehl Park had been delayed until the fall. She noted that a community meeting was coming up and that some changes to the project had been made since the original concept had been presented. Ted Peters then noted that Lamar Gunter is our representative to the Queens University Sports Complex Advisory Council. Lamar Gunter had an updated sketch of the project available for those interested in the project.

Several new members were present.

Heidi Dopp from Drexmore Avenue attended. She works with another member?’s husband and found out about the HOA meetings through him.

Doug Hale from Milford Road saw the new signs and attended for the first time.

Jennifer and Gavin Dennis from Murrayhill Road saw the signs and attended for the first time.

Also attending for the first time was Teresa Benders of Wedgwood Drive. (She joined the association the following day after attending for the first time).

Drew Brown also joined the HOA today over the internet but was unable to attend tonight?’s meeting. She lives on Murrayhill Road. She saw the new yard signs as well.

It was noted that all yard signs contracted for and produced in March have been dispersed to members willing to display them. Those members are requested to display the signs beginning the Thursday prior to our second Monday monthly meetings.

The Meeting was adjourned.