Madison Park

June 12th Madison Park Homeowner's Minutes

Jun 13, 2006

GARDEN CLUB MEETING
Next Monday, June 19th at the home of Alice Hayes 2138 Shadyview Drive (off Wensley!) Come at 6:30 PM for a tour of a neighbors Garden. Club meeting will start at 7:00 PM.


MINUTES OF MADISON PARK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

June 12, 2006
www.neighborhoodlink.com
Madison Park 28210

Meetings are always the 2nd Monday of each month. Martin Doss, President,
Called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
(Remember doors always open at 7:00 p.m. for 1/2 hour of social time)

Meeting called to order 7:30 PM

40 members present
3 Police Officers


Don't forget to pay your dues. $15. Can be sent to Dee McCandlish, 812
Fairbanks, Dr. 28210 We have 3 Big Events planned the National Night Out Street Party on August 1st, 2006, Fall Picnic in September, and the Christmas Holiday Social in December!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE 27TH ANNUAL CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE COMMUNITY RELATIONS AWARDS PROGRAM ON MAY 19TH, 2006

Debra Campbell attended the Awards Ceremony along with President Martin Doss. We had two officers who won awards.

Officer Patrick Hairston from Westover was a recipient of a runner up award acknowledgement and certificate.

Officer Scott Del Duca from South Division was a winner of an award and $500.00 cash award.

Both of our Officers deserve a round of applause for their help with issues in our community.


CRIME STATISTICS AND ISSUES:

SOUTH DIVISION - Officer Scott Del Duca (from May, 2006)
1. 5300 block of Seacroft ?– Larceny ?– 3 kids took mail from a mailbox. These children have been seen doing this before but haven?’t been caught by the police. If you see them doing this, call 911! This took place while an adjacent neighbor was yelling at them to STOP! 11-15 age bracket
2. 1800 block of Wensley Dr. ?– harassing phone calls
3. 5400 block of Seacroft ?– harassing phone calls

WESTOVER DIVISION - Officer Patrick Hairston (From May, 2006)
1. 4700 block of Gilmore ?– car break-in, stole stereo. Pried open handle of door to gain entry.
2. 2100 block of Seneca ?– car theft (Honda Accord). Car was locked.
3. 4400 block of Halstead ?– Armed Robbery. Two residents were walking home from a bar late at night & were robbed at gunpoint. Other activity has been reported in this area of the neighborhood before. DON?’T WALK AROUND LATE AT NIGHT.
4. 5000 block of Wedgewood ?– Hit & run with property damage to vehicle.
5. 5700 block of Wedgewood ?– Breaking & Entering. Resident was at work. Items were taken from the home.
6. 5400 block of Glenham ?– Breaking & entering. Home was broken into & items were removed.
7. 1900 block of Tyvola - Breaking & entering. Home was broken into & items were removed.


PANDHANDLERS have become more of a problem around us. Officers Hairston & Del Duca acknowledged this & suggested getting a good description of any individual(s) you see hanging out & asking for money. CALL 911. There is a 20-day mandatory sentence if they are caught. It is illegal to pan handle at intersections however if they are doing this on private property you should complain to management and ignore them if approached.

TIP HOTLINE
Westover also now has a number to call to report Drug Dealing? Prostitution? Gang activity? Neighborhood problems? You can give a tip without revealing your identity.
Call 704-432-TALK or 704-432-8255.
IMPORTANT - in an emergency call 911.

TRAFFIC HOTLINE
Westover Division now has a traffic hotline. You can now call in traffic Complaints or Concerns directly to 704-432-TKIT or 704-423-8548. You are requested to leave as much detailed info as possible.

Both of these numbers can be found on our web site under the police heading on the home web page of Madison Park HOA at www.neighborhoodlink.com 28210 Madison Park

TIP TO REMEMBER
If a crime is taking place, call 911 immediately always and take down as much information as possible. Several people have called Marty directly or e-mailed when things have happened such as stolen mail for example. It is important that you let the police know by calling 911 when you see things happening. The quicker the police get to the location, the better chance we have to catch criminals in the act. You can always let Marty know so we can be aware of the things going on in our community, and he can follow up with our community officers. We will also alert the membership of problems when we deem it necessary or at the direction of our police.

Officer Woodlief has worked hard to try and curb the problems with some young black youths in our community on the South Division side, although they live on the Westover Division side. Be Aware of what is going on around you!

There is nothing wrong with calling in to 911 any suspicious people or activity. If you have a gut feeling something is wrong ACT ON IT and pick up the phone. Better safe than sorry.


PRESENTATION:
OFFICER STANK ?– TRAFFIC OFFICER COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST HALF of 2006 for Westover Division

Officer Stank explained that people who don?’t stop at the stop signs are usually your neighbors! Stop your wheels entirely & be an example to others. Others will do what they see you doing.

Speed traps & radar only work for a short time to slow traffic. Then people go back to speeding. This is a big problem.

The red light cameras are done. They won?’t be used now. Officer Stank tried to get school radar flashing lights on Park Rd. to slow traffic and was told no money was available due to red light controversy.

Cars with dark windows can only be 30% dark in North Carolina but traffic officers in our state don?’t have the equipment to test the darkness. This law is not getting enforced because many of these cars are coming from Florida or other southern states where it is legal to have darker tented windows.


DEBRA CAMPBELL - CRIME WATCH UPDATE
We are still trying to get additional people to be street captains for some streets. They will need to request participation for the crime watch program from other residents on these streets. Debra asked if it was OK to contact an HOA member who lives on or near one of these streets to ask for their help. Members present agreed. Even if we get Crime Watch signs up on our streets, these signs won?’t make the crime go away. We must get to know our neighbors and then keep your eyes open for unusual activity. Only when the criminals learn by us reporting suspicious activity to 911 will they choose to victimize other areas of town!

TREASURY REPORT was given by Debra Campbell for Dee McCandlish
We have $325.49 in the bank. $15 for membership dues is a very good deal! Other associations charge more. We need more participation from our residents. Debra proposed writing a letter asking residents who have not paid to support the specific activities for which our neighborhood spends its money. Debra was able to get another member to help draft this letter.


WELCOME to our new members & attendees!


President Martin Doss
PRESENTATION TO MARION DIEHL COUNCIL
Prior to the meeting Marty made his presentation to the Marion Diehl Council with his ideas for bike lanes, moving the old entrance of Marion Diehl and adding a possible traffic light in the future at Farmbrook instead of the new entrance to the Queens Sports Complex. This would help our neighborhood gain safer methods to reach the Park and the future Greenway. This would also give our community a traffic light that would make it easier to turn into our community on the South Side of Tyvola. Currently we have one light and can never turn at it when heading West on Tyvola at Wedgewood. Also we are restricted heading East in the am and pm rush hour. A light at Farmbrook could benefit the neighborhoods of Madison Park, Montclaire, and the Senior Center at Marion Diehl, the Queens Sports Complex and the Future Greenway! The Greenway Council heard Marty?’s suggestions on May 1st, 2006 and reported they liked them. They encouraged Marty to make his presentation to the Marion Diehl Council.


NATIONAL NIGHT OUT BANNERS and T-SHIRT ORDER
The banners for National Night Out arrived on June 9th. Hopefully a couple of neighborhoods will purchase a couple of the banners from Madison Park. We were required to buy a case of 5 costing $130. Officer Kimbell with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police, the coordinator for the Charlotte National Night Event, said she might have buyers for two of the banners. If anyone knows of a community that is participating that would like to purchase a banner from us please have them contact Martin Doss at Martydoss@aol.com or call 7045190677.

We also must purchase the T-shirts for the volunteers to wear the night of the event. All volunteers to date have said they will purchase their own t-shirts.
If you plan on volunteering or would just like a t-shirt to wear that night to our Street Party the cost is 6.89 each. XXL are available for 7.89. Please make a check payable at once to Madison Park HOA and get it to our treasurer Dee McCandlish. The order will be placed on Monday 19th of June. Put the size you desire on the check in the memo section. The T-shirts will help make volunteer members and event staff visible to everyone that attends!

Candy Bridges with Parks and Recreation said they would support us again to help make this a very special neighborhood event.

PARK MANAGER RELOCATION
Alan Beaver our current South District Parks and Recreation Manager will be relocated on July 1st. The Director of Parks and Recreation, Wayne Weston, desires the Managers to rotate every 3 years. We wish Mr. Beaver well in his new area. He will be missed by Madison Park.

Mr. John McClelland will be the new manager for the South. He is currently working in Central Three District at Freedom Park.

UPDATES ON PAST ISSUES AND BUSINESS

The residents that required Fence Installation help due to the South Blvd. phase II storm water project finally had them installed. Information about this storm water project is on our Madison Park website.

The sidewalk on Tyvola across from Smith Language Academy has been cleared. This took a little longer than expected. CDOT and City Codes could not decide who should enforce this problem. Doreen Szymanski finally reported that this was an issue for City Codes. The problem was resolved Memorial Day weekend.


OPEN DISCUSSION/ISSUES/CONCERNS

QUEENS COLLEGE SPORTS COMPLEX
Lamar Gunter reported that we have a new contact person for this ongoing development. Mallory Benz will be providing information on the progress to Lamar so he can update us at each meeting. According to Mallory, the following improvements are in progress:
- currently completing lighting on the fields
- preparing to install parking lot lights
- in the process of hiring an architect to begin design on the field house. Construction of the field house is tentatively scheduled for late winter/early spring with all construction completed on the field house by spring/summer 2008.


PARK ROAD PARK LAKE REHAB
Candy Bridges reported that starting in August, the plan is to drain, clean and refill the lake again.


BATTALION 2/8 MARINES from Camp LeJeune need unfitted helmets for their duty in Iraq. These marines desperately need this equipment and the Marine Corps?’ funding has now been depleted for it. Congress can provide more money but that will take time which our Marines getting ready to deploy don?’t have.

Each helmet kit cost $71.00. See www.operation-helmet.org for more details. You can mail your donation of any amount to:
Operation Helmet
PO Box 79174
Charlotte, NC 28271-7059

All donations are desperately needed and appreciated. With the upgraded gear many lives will be saved that otherwise would be in jeopardy.

Our meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,
Cheryl Furr


JULY MEETING SPEAKER
Gang of One the Rev. Frances Cook, Director will be our guest speaker on July 10th, 2006.