Montefino Village

Waste of money?

The neighborhood association was founded with the hope of improving and/or keeping our neighborhood a good place to live. We don't have any enforcement capabilities, so we must appeal to the city for help. That, we have done in many areas. As with all things, they take time, so we attempt to get a consenus of what the priorities are.

We dealt with trash pickup issues since that was expressed as an issue. We dealt with speeding problems. The city was very cooperative. While the city's answers to our concerns may not be the one we all want, all we can do is try.

We became aware of the grant process that the city has. It is limited in scope and dollars. We thought that a neighborhood identity might help, and it was within the guidelines set by the city. Many worked very hard to gain approval.

While this effort will surely not solve all problems, we felt it was at least in the right direction. One must start somewhere.

I encourage you to attend our monthly meetings which are held every third Tuesday of each month at the LDS church. The LDS church is not involved in any way with our association. They just kindly allow us to use a room for our meetings. We welcome any inputs you might have.

Ed

If you put lipstick on a pig.

There is very little information on the 'meeting minutes' I looked, and found little.

During the course of your Neighborhood Meetings, has anyone brought up the fact that the outside block walls look like crap? They are cracking, some have holes and others have paint that is fading off the walls. Go look at the block wall entrance off of Elliott Rd on Nebraska St. The block wall looks like crap. I would like to know if this has been brought up, because ?‘if?’ the monument signs get put into place, the signs will look rather silly.


I want to bring up something about the grant money. This is in the May 9th publication on this site. The article in question is about the 2006 City of Chandler Traditional Grant Program. If you read it, it shows ways the grant money can be used, and is as follows:

Project Categories:

1. Education Programs
2. Crime Prevention Programs
3. Neighborhood Enhancement (which is what was selected I believe)

There are some fantastic ideas for where the money should go. Things like:

1. Neighborhood Block Cleanups
2. Landscaping Improvements
3. Minor Park Improvements
4. Entry Signs ( we already have the tops to street corners, now our leaders want monuments)
5. Community Garden
6. Benches
7. Tot Areas or Playgrounds
8. Streetscape improvement
9. Community Tool Bank
10. Exterior Painting
11. Traffic calming enhancements
12. Driveway Improvements

These are Great ideas. They really are. In my opinion, once again, the community already has entrance signs. These signs are on top of the street names around the community that were paid for by programs sponsored by the City of Chandler.

Right underneath the project categories is the Selection Process and it states ?“Each Project will be evaluated on the basis of how well it demonstrates the traditional neighborhood grant program purpose of improving neighborhoods by addressing a specific need or concern. The grant committee will use a point system to rate each qualifying application.


Now, let?’s go back to my original question. Let me ask our local Ambassador's or whoever came up with this ridiculous idea
Why are we wasting valuable grant money from the City of Chandler to put up these so called monuments?


Here is the question.

Is there a specific need for our purposed request?

Is there a concern for the purposed concern?

The answer to both is NO.

I asked a question in my first post. The ONLY comment was from Don, and it stated ?“I think it does, because it identifies that we live in a specific neighborhood. These signs are meant to encourage a neighborhood spirit.

Give me a break. If you can not come up with a reason why this purposed project meets a need or concern, it will never pass. The fact is it does not meet a need nor a concern.

Remember the committee agreed that a Monument Sign was #7 on the list of 7 Issues. Of course #3 on the list was Traffic Issues, Speed enforcement. Look at the list above for different projects the grant money can be used for. #11 is Traffic Calming enhancements.

This is just one of many uses the money could be used for. The signs will be a good idea when the overall appearance of the community increases. There are homes with the original wood fence that are in complete disarray, homes with trash out front, weeds, Homes where the owners think it?’s cool to park your car in the front yard.

There are numerous issues that need to be dealt with BEFORE we waste money on a project that does not improve the overall appearance of a neighborhood.

If you put lipstick on a pig, it?’s still a pig.

Isn't the pig nice looking, tho?

All the issues you raise have been raised at our meetings, sometimes heatedly. Again, we don't have any enforcement capabilities. We must, and do, talk to the city. Again, they have been very cooperative taking time to attend our meetings and answer our questions. Of course, we hear the same old, same old - they are limited by budgets.

What we hope to do and what seems to be working, is to get their attention. Judith and others attend city meetings where they can express our concerns. While the signage might seem to be a waste of money, it was the best we could do with what we were offered. I like the signage, but what do I know, right? The alternative was nothing.

We considered many alternatives, and they were all not within the specified dollar amount allowed. My idea was to make improvements in Hoopes Park, but maybe they would cut the grass more often for what was in the budget. Gee, live within a budget? Whoever heard of such a thing?

We have made the city more aware of who we are and what we expect from them. The signage just made them more aware, so maybe it wasn't a waste at all. Time will tell, but as I am sure you know, the squeeky wheel gets oiled. That is all we are attempting to do - get attention to our needs.

You seem to be a person with many good ideas. How does one get their ideas to fruition? It isn't by the method you have chosen. Maybe getting involved won't work either, but its far better than other choices.

Presently, we are a small group of people with limited ideas and capabilities. We only have one goal - to make our neighborhood a place where we want to live. We welcome with enthusiasm any help we can get. Your help would be greatly appeciated.

Ed

lipstick on pigs

I totally agree with j.v. The neighborhood has many more important issues to deal with besides signs saying where we live. The neighborhood is in array, weeds, non landscaped yards, fences falling apart. Why put up a sign of pride, when things aren't in the best condition. Lets clean up and get things in order before we make it stick out like a sore thumb.

By annonymous