Nothing presented below are Stonewood HOA views/facts, only ideas presented or discussed by select neighbors.   Please keep in mind that anyone may sign up and post and add comments, questions etc.   We always welcome your comments!

05-13-2012

The next neighborhood watch meeting will take place on Tuesday May 22, 2012 at 7pm located at the pool after swim practice.   Please BYOC (bring your own chairs) as seating is limited.  Grab a neighbor or more and come on down to win some prizes.   We will be setting up Block Captains per street for the creation of a phone tree list.    We look forward to seeing you there.

04-15-2012
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that crime is on a rise everywhere and Stonewood is no exception.   A number of cars were broken into on Springoak the evening of April 14 and many were reportedly unlocked.    Please lock your doors even if you don't think there is anything valuable.   Stereos and speakers are a hot commodity and quick sales for those perps that need money for unlawful substances.  DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CARS UNLOCKED, WE DO NOT LIVE IN LALA LAND and your only inviting them back to do the same to your neighbors vehicle.   Let's not give them a free ride on our behalf.    Thank you! 

The next neighborhood watch meeting will take place on Sunday April 22, 2012 at 4pm.   Please call 479-7628 for more details.  

 03-25-2012  Easter Egg Hunt 2012

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=1982870748146&set=a.1196471848665.25264.1734541409&type=1&theater

03-09-2012 ADDRESS CORRECTION!

A neighborhood watch group meeting will be taking place Thurs. March 22nd at 8628 starting 6:30p.m.   A few volunteer patrols have been making rounds during peak incident times.  You may have noticed some of the repetitious vehicles driving around.
If you would like to help out, please come to the meeting and further details will be available.

01-07-2012

12-31-2011

Happy New Years!  Good Day Sacramento might air our 2nd annual Polar Plunge taking place at the neighborhood pool on 1/2/2012 at 9:30am.  If not, the polar plunge will take place at 10am.

Check your tv schedule for airing or visit the pool at 9:15am to see it LIVE!!!!!

12-11-2011

Residential Burglaries are on the rise everywhere.  Stonewood has had 3 in the past 9 days thru 12/11/11.   Be very vigilant of unknown individuals in the area and if you leave, try to make a trusting neighbor aware of your absense.   Burglarers know you have new items in your home this time of year and will be finding an empty home to get them.   Door to door salesmen this time of year should be watched very closely as sometimes they are spying on who is home and who isn't.   BE SAFE!!!!!

12-5-2011

Another Special Meeting has been called by the VP to try to get these NEW proposed backyard rules invoked on the entire neighborhood.   Many are not pleased!

One of the committee members has had a problem with a backyard neighbor not cleaning up
their backyard and is why backyard regulations is being sought.   Many feel this is treading heavily on invasion of privacy and one of the few sovereign areas that homeowners can claim some privacy.  

11-29-2011

Election results are in Stonewood neighbors.
A total of 159 ballots were cast.

The new 2012 Board of Directors are:
...
Karen Turner 125 votes
Tim Moss 117 votes
Jeff Lee 95 votes
Jerry Rasmussen 75 votes
Joe Nava 74 votes
Frances Toher 72 votes

Congratulations to everyone for making this a successful election and a great voter turnout. May we prosper in moving Stonewood forward together.

11-25-2011

Stonewood Annual meeting takes place Tuesday Nov. 29, 2011 at the Oakwood School Multi-purpose Room.

All ballots should be turned in by 6pm. for tabulation with results about 7pm.  If you mail it in, please be sure to do so Monday 28th to reach M & C by 5pm Nov. 29.

Please be certain your outer envelope is signed or it will not be counted.

11-22-2011

Would the person or persons responsible for removing Political Signs please stop! If you have different views, we respect that, but taking down signs is UNAMERICAN and NON DEMOCRATIC. Put up your own signs with your views and I guarantee YOU we will NOT REMOVE it.

Thank you,
Jeff Lee

10-16-2011  Update to 9-23-11 by VP.  

If they would simply finish these rules they are working on and let the next board decide if they wish to adopt these rules would be a better step for the neighborhood.    The current board is a lame duck board and there is no way to know if the next board will like these rules they have drawn up.   If the committee that drew up these rules would have been a wider selection than such a select few, maybe these rules would have been better received.   Their reasoning behind only selecting a few committee members was to reduce conflict.   But isn't conflict part of Democracy?

Unfortunately, Toher's response lacks any legal council guidance and no one is going to tell him he's wrong.  If you've ever spoken to him in person, you'll know that every chance he gets, he'll try to tell you how many years he's lived in Stonewood.   Last time we spoke to him at the last board meeting, we actually had to remind him how long he's lived here.   Maybe Alzeimer's is starting to kick in, I 'm not sure.

VP response to 9-23-2011 blog post  below. 

After Wednesday's meeting I was advised by an attendee to review remarks left on a blog which reflects Stonewood HOA #1 information.  I believe this is the same blog you advised me of last year, so I assume you have a major role in updating the information.  I'm addressing this issue because I feel you do not understand the difference between CC&Rs and Operating Rules.  We call this later term "Subdivision Rules" in Stonewood.

Since my entry on the Board in August 2009 I'v tried to the best of my ability to follow the rules and to apply the rules equally to everyone.  Many of our Subdivision Rules have not been enforced since 1999, when we first hired an outside firm to manage our Association.  In June 2008 a comprehensive set of Subdivision Rules adopted in 1993 were summarized down into three pages of rules to allow subjective decision making in the areas of architectural control and monetary penalties.  Do you remember the days when the Association's property manager and a single Board member were the Architectural Control Committee?  Suggesting that I am attempting to do something illegal, in so far as the operation of Stonewood is concerned, is insulting and absolutely not truthful.

The Association's Subdivision Rules have the greatest impact on the daily health, safety, welfare, and architectural appearance of our community.  Despite one Board members insistence that the CC&Rs should have been changed instead, that Board member has failed to bring anything to the subject to support the claim.  Our Governing Documents consist of four separate and unique parts; Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, CC&Rs and Subdivision Rules.  They are all or should be mutually exclusive of each other, but unfortunately, some see items in the CC&Rs and relate to Subdivision Rules and think they are the same, using the same Davis Sterling Act Guidelines; they are not!  Our Subdivision Rules can be and in cases are, more restrictive than the CC&Rs, but they cannot be less restrictive.

The above information should answer the Why of your 9/23/11 blog entry.

As for item 2, the revised Rules cannot be released to the homeowners until they are approved as to content and context, by a majority vote of the Board.  If a majority approves the Rules, they will be mailed out to the homeowners for a 30 day review and response to the Board.  The mailing should occur within 7 to 10 days after approval.  After the 30 day homeowner review period, the Board can adopt the Rules in an open meeting and must give 15 days notice to homeowners relating to implementation.

You were at the 9/27/11 meeting at the pool where I introduced the four other members of the committee, in addition to myself.  There should be no question who they are.

I'm not quite sure how to address issue number 4 other than to provide you with several extracts from the Davis Sterling Act web site that I hope will clarify the difference between CC&Rs and Subdivision Rules and the procedural homeowner involvement in each.

Richard Toher,
Vice president
Stonewood HOA #1

09-23-2011

The Board of Directors has called a Special Meeting for Tuesday Sept. 27, 2011 @ the pool
to discuss Sub-division rules re-write.   We urge everyone to attend to discuss everyone's
concerns in re-writing rules.   Let's all get answers as to how this is possible without a
vote of CC&R's from homeowners before sub-division rules are adopted.

1. Why now?

2. What are the rules and when will they be enforcing them?
3. Who was on the committee that wrote these rules?
4. Aren't CC&R adoption from homeowners required before rules are established like our by-laws say?

08-24-2011  NEW SUBDIVISION RULES mistake!

Apparently at the August 13 meeting, Mr. Toher (VP) presented a proposal to adopt new subdivision rules for Stonewood 1.   Most people would have no clue that presents a problem without knowledge of how HOA governing docs work.    Subdivision rules are specific guidelines taken from an associations CC&R's.   Say an association CC&R specifies certain type of animals a homeowner can have.    The Subdivision rules can then specify how many of each can be kept.    

An HOA board is able to approve the Subdivision rules without homeowner approval as long as it is not out of concept with the homeowner approved CC&R's.   There lies the intial problem with this approach they are attempting to proceed on.    The Stonewood homeowners have not approved any new CC&R's and it takes a majority vote from the homeowners to approve new CC&R's.

If they attempt to adopt these new subdivision rules without a CC&R vote & APPROVAL from the homeowners, then any approved subdivision rules are NULL and VOID and UNENFORCEABLE.

A vote of the board this week should bring closure to this incorrect procedure Mr. Toher is attempting to do.

06-08-2011

To hear more, visit us on FACEBOOK under 'STONEWOODHOA'

06-06-2011  HOA trying to make up for lost time

We reported to M & C a landscaping violation on 6/1/11 that a neighbor witnessed.   A previous owner from a 6 month old foreclosure returned to his previous residence and removed all the river rock from his residence.   The police were called and all they could do was stand by and watch the guy load the rocks into his truck.   Now the residence is an eyesore to the community with a barren landscape.

You can call it coincidence but we return home from vacation to endure two(2) landscaping violations ourselves. (Revenge, Harassment?)   It states that we have wood stored on our sideyard of our house and that we need to remove the basketball  hoop  there too.   We will post the picture for you to see how ridiculous these are and if your not up to par on the CC&R's, they cannot make you remove a permanent basketball hoop that has been there over 20 years and where is the wood?  All we see is decrative bark, which is not cheap?

 You drive around the block and you'll see the many basketball hoops on neighbors driveways, so did everyone get a violation on this?  There has not been a single person who responded about getting a similar notice.   We find it interesting that you drive down Oakleaf where the President and Vice President live and you'll find two portable basketball hoops in the street/sidewalk directly across from their homes and not put away.   INTERESTING how the fingerpointing gets tossed around you, but not at your own neighbors!

Extremely diappointing that they are starting this OLD yard nazi regime again.  If you are going to clean up the neighborhood, then it needs to be performed uniformly and NOT unilaterally  to prevent harassment allegations.

05-19-2011   Latest update!

This weekend May 21-22 is the neighborhood Yard Sale throughout Stonewood No. 1.   I'm not sure the time frames but it's usually 8am until your butt hurts from sitting out waiting for everyone to come buy your stuff.   In other news, the pool opening is Memorial Day from what pool swim team mothers are saying.    The HOA has been doing some upgrades to the pool area so it should be off to a great swimming season.

Some neighbors have had a bad week with break-ins and attempted break-ins within Stonewood.   One Monday morning at 9:30am two vehicles were broken into at Oakwood School.   One inside the parking lot and the other on the street in front.   It all happened within three minutes and personal belongings were grabbed in the heist.     Monday evening even went on to involve an attempted break-in at a house near the pool area.    A would-be burglar jumped the fence and proceeded to cut a bedroom screen before the resident heard the noise and spotted the intruder who then fled.  

Wednesday led to another smash and grab of a vehicle on Stonewood just 2 blocks from the school.   It all happened within 30 seconds when a neighbor heard the shattering glass and saw the suspect who fled away from the scene.    Many have voiced their concerns on our StonewoodHOA Facebook site and many discussions are taking place on possible courses of action.     Security cameras with motion alert features are widely available for only $125 installed if you are interested in protecting your property.   Many times a camera alone is a great deterent in keeping burglars from choosing your house.   Please contact jbl1109@yahoo.com if your interested in a demo or ordering a camera.

05-04-2011  We can all pitch in!

After finding animal feces on our lawn a number of times, we decided to install cameras to find the responsible parties.   Yes, it may be extreme, but who can honestly say they appreciate having to go out and remove it before you or someone steps in it.     It also goes without saying that other animals that are territorial may try to leave their feces/scent to counteract it.   Do you see how a small problem can become a bigger problem if not remedied quickly?   

It didn't take long to identify the party responsible, but how to tell someone to pick up after their animal without sounding like a jerk.    We heard alot of suggestions from just ignoring the situation to bagging it up and setting the bag on fire on their front porch.    We took a middle approach and just bagged up the poo-poo and wrote a kind jesture note to kindly pick up after your animal and included a few poo-poo bags for them since they obviously didn't have any bags.

WELL, did it work?  I do believe our point was made.   Let's hope they keep it up...err pick it up!

HERE's a big SHOUT OUT to picking it up!    THANK YOU and our shoes THANK YOU too!

04-14-2011

After attending the HOA meeting last night, it was clearly visible the disgust that Oakhurst neighbors brought forth last month of the crimes happening on their street.    One gentleman accused the board of spending too much money on the pool and not enough on Security.    The agenda lastnight had nothing but pool business on it, and they spent the majority of the time looking over advertisements for new trash cans for the pool, some ranging as high as $800.  Excuse me, but OSH has some really reasonable ones for a LOT less even though they may only last a year, you can buy alot of those each year and not total $800 for a long time.    Yes, the pool is nice but lets not go overboard and get greedy spending everything on the pool.   Many of us don't even use it.

Then they table an incident that occurred in our neighborhood involving theft and say there is nothing they can do about it.    OK, if the parents of the kid I caught do not pay restitution, then I'm taking the evidence I have to the cops as the boardmembers suggested.

04-13-2011

Homeowners meeting is tonight at Oakwood School.

It's time once again for the Asparagus Festival taking place this weekend at the Weber Point.   Go out and take a Swing at a Hole-in-One at $100,000 Prize and a Mercedes-Benz.   Get there early before all the asparagus ice cream is gone.    This years festival comes a week early due to the Easter holiday.    All your information needed to know for the event is below.

http://www.asparagusfest.com

04-11-2011

The number of newly proposed Police Department cuts is a real concern to Stockton residents and  Stonewood neighbors too!    Over 95 various positions are proposed to be cut in the next fiscal budget.   It already takes 45 minutes to get police to respond to a disturbance call in Stonewood.    How long would it take in a real emergency crisis?

Here's the true budget cuts that the city is proposing.  

http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/stockton-crime/2011/03/15/proposed-pd-cuts/

A local neighbor expressed his desire to take arms due to the crime levels and incidents happening around the area.    All we can say is that we had no idea what was going on in our neighborhood until we installed night vision cameras.    Let's just say we would all be surprised what comes out at night.

Our next blog post will explore how well our speed bumps are measuring up.

03-23-2011

As we suspected and indicated below, a residential burglary occured 3/23 on the 9000 block of Valleyview.    Let's all call M&C management and get on the neighborhood watch program before another neighbor becomes victimized.

03-20-2011

There was a residential burglary that occured the past Friday night on the 1400 B of Candlewood Way.    Residential Burglaries are on the rise east of Stonewood so its important to stay vigilant and report anything suspicious.    Don't ignore anything that may be unusual, it could be a crime in progress and your neighbors will definately thank you.   YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

http://www.stocktongov.com/police/pages/NW.cfm

03-09-2011

A group of Oakhurst residents came to the HOA meeting Wednesday concerned over incidents happening on their street.   They had 8 incidents on 14 homes they claimed and requested security be reinstated.    There have only been 2 incidents reported to the SPD there in the past week.   
It is happening everywhere and not just on their street they were told.

Several neighbors were given information on the night vision cameras available and suggested to start a neighborhood watch program.    One lady suggested the watch is good, but she's not staying up all night to watch her neighbors house.   That is where these audio/video & motion detect night vision cameras come in handy to alert via phone or email that motion has been detected.   Just aim these at your vehicles or property at night and you have a silent alarm to let you know someone is around.

If anyone would like a camera demo, please call Jeff at 209-479-1612

02-21-2011 Happy Presidents Day!

For those wishing to get a Foscam camera, there are a few authorized resellers offering lower prices.   You have to visit foscam.com and look for qualified resellers, if not you may end up with a clone or knockoff that are floating on Amazon and Ebay.   Here is a auth. reseller selling them for only $85.39 last check.

http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Camera-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1298311876&sr=8-1

We just purchased a couple more.

02-11-2011

There have been no reported incidents in the neighborhood this past week.   According to the wife's school kids at Kennedy, they are all stealing from each other in the area across from Lower Sacramento Road.   Hopefully, we can establish a strong neighborhood watch before they get tired of stealing the same stuff over and over and venture into Stonewood.   Keep the vigilant watch on the streets around here and report all suspicous activity regardless if police can do anything in time or not.    All police reports are looked at later when police services are assigned to high crime areas.

We added a new Groupon section to the Page Link section if you have never visited the site before.   They offer area discount coupons to businesses in the Stockton area or whereever you may be traveling to.    Check it out!

02-09-2011  Congratulations to the new officers and their positions

Please visit the Our Information Page on the officers and their positions.  We have a new President now for the neighborhood.   Richard Toher has graciously volunteered to relinguish the presidency title to focus more on updating the governing documents.   A newsletter will go out in the next couple weeks with more info on returning lifeguard signups.   There will be a neighborhood garage sale/Home Garden show on May 21, 22 so mark your calendars.   M & C has contacted the Stockton Police about setting up a neighborhood watch program within Stonewood, please contact M & C to voice your desires in volunteering for joining and establishing a meeting to get it going.    Without neighbors showing interest, it probably won't happen.   We need at least 5 neighbors on each block to show interest.   Talk to your neighbors and get it started TODAY!

A number of neighbors have requested more information on the security camera approach to watching the neighborhood for suspicious activity.   Our offer still holds to assist anyone who purchases the camera(s) to help set it up.   Contact us via the link above.

02-04-2011 Upcoming Homeowners Meeting, Feb 9th.

If it's at all possible, the HOA should change the title to Homeowners Meeting instead of Board of Directors meeting.   Let's be honest, homeowners do not want to go to a boring board meeting.    If you changed the title to be more inviting and liven the meeting up with snacks and drinks you might see a better turn out.    It is hard to run a neighborhood as the boardmembers have said when you only have maybe 1/2 a percent participation rate.     If something is wrong especially at the pool, you will see a big drove of people at the boardmeeting.    Neighborhood Watch is on the agenda this next week, so now is the time to get involved.   I'll bring the popcorn if you'll come and bring your neighbors too!

 01-25-2011 1st Annual Stonewood 1 Polar Bear plunge

A polar bear plunge is an event held during the winter where participants enter a body of water despite the low temperature. In the United States polar bear plunges are usually held to raise money for a charitable organization, while in Canada they are associated with New Year's Day.  

The Stonewood Strokers Swim Team started this tradition on Jan. 1 this year by pledging to jump into the frigid neighborhood pool.   According to M & C Management, it has been a common tradition with other neighborhood pools for years.     After a chilling good time by the neighborhood kids and swim team, they have vowed to make this an annual tradition.   

Most kids took it up a notch and swam the length of the pool instead of the normal width of the pool.     It was a balmy 40 degrees outside that morning, so you can imagine jumping into bone-chilling water that takes your breath away.   I know it takes my breath away just thinking about this.   Congratulations to everyone that participated in this 1st Annual Polar Plunge and to Shirley Hansen for providing the pics here.   If polar plunges are not your tea, they will be cooking it up a notch with some BBQ's later in the year.

<< Click on image for more Photos >>

01-23-2011

I've had the pleasure to learn that a number of neighbors have taken advantage of getting the Foscam FI8918W cameras $116, that was mentioned and now have them implemented within the Stonewood neighborhood.   They have their own IP address which can be and are secured by its own security login.   Below is an image that was extracted from a motion detected clip running on a Windows PC, but can also be used with a MAC.

 
Whose watching your house when your not?
Foscam.us (coupon code='holiday) = 10% off

01-13-10

2011 Board of Directors

Richard Toher
Jim Johnson
Shirley Hansen
George Hong
John McKay
Tim Moss

Positions to be decided at Feb. 9th meeting!

During open forum while ballots were being counted, there was discussion to create a security committee and possibly reinforce a neighborhood watch program within stonewood and on individual streets.   With so many new neighbors, its important to stay in touch and report suspicious activity when homeowners are absent.   For more info, contact M& C or any boardmember to make yourself available to support/promote a watch program.   We can't do it without neighbor interaction.

12-22-10  New Foscam FI8918W Security camera that pans around the neighborhood.   If you refresh the page, you'll get the latest image from the camera.

12-21-10

There was only 1 incident for the period of 11-21 to 12-6 and that happened to be a vehicle accident on Dec. 5 on the corner of Oakleaf and Valleyoak at 12:29pm.  We have noticed a spike of residential burglaries (23) in the surrounding area outside of Stonewood for the same period as above.   

Our residential burglaries within Stonewood did spike after the christmas holidays last year, so we encourage everyone to be vigilant and do not hesitate to contact 911 with any suspicious activity.

Bad guys DO NOT like to be videotaped, get protected TODAY!

Wireless IP security cameras have really come down in price.  Foscam.us has a Pan/Tilt/IR IP camera on sale now for $115, just use promotional code "holiday" for the 10% discount.   
BUY your piece of SECURITY now while they are on sale.

FREE installation from Jeff Lee to anyone that purchases one.

12-11-10

Stonewood Elections are coming up on January 14, 2011.   There are only 5 candidates for 6 board positions, so we are under the impression that write-in candidates will be accepted providing such individuals are qualified to run for the board.      If any candidates/write-ins would like to be known at this point, please let us know and we'll get your name out for a write-in candidate.

10-08-10

It's been awhile since we last posted here so hopefully some neighbors are still paying attention to the neighborhood.     As many of you know, our good buddy Bill Drake past away last month, so it leaves a very small board to maintain quorum.    January is right around the corner for elections and the last newsletter had a nomination form for candidates to fill out and send in before Nov. 14 deadline.   If you didn't get it, please contact M&C or President Richard Toher to get a new copy.

As listed in the November newsletter regarding barking dogs, we had a barking dog complaint letter aimed at us in late October while we were away.   We're not saying our dogs don't bark, but the letter listed a time and day while we were away and our dogs were crated at the time.   Dogs are barking consistently in the neighborhood as that is what they do when their is a disturbance. 

Did you realize that rats are consistantly running along fences in the neighborhood and most dogs will bark when they see them run along the fences?    We threw some slices of bread on the side of the house away from dogs, cats etc. and realized that rats, mice are around.    If you don't have a high population of outside cats running around, you may have a high count of rats around where you live.     We sat out some peanut butter baited TomCAT Traps available at Orchard Supply Hardware a few weeks ago and mananged to trap 3 good size rats in 10 days.    We are still encountering some missing peanut butter bait from time to time so mice may be present too.

If your dogs are barking, they may be just doing their job and not barking just to be barking!

Jeff Lee

P.S.>  We are still looking for neighbors with wireless home network (att,etc.) that are interested in sitting up a neighborhood surveillance system, please email me if you can help.  

09-03-10 Stonewood Survey on Security

As many may know, a safety committee has been formed to look at Stonewood's safety measures in the neighborhood.    Our neighborhood is considered a safe one compared to some surrounding neighborhoods, but incidents still occur.    Please give us your feedback on security measures within Stonewood.    Your feedback is appreciated.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB229QLRVANSD

08-23-10 Door to door cons

Neighbors have been reporting some door-to-door alarm salesmen in the neighborhood.   A young individual has been stating to be with an alarm company but not presenting any identification or brochures showing whom they represent.   This raises concerns whether they are who they say they are or just a con gathering information for further criminal purposes.   We recommend you not provide personal information to any door salesman and ask for identification.     It is best to request information and research the company and contracts prior to making any committments or inviting them in, which can be difficult to cancel or getting them out once they are in.

Here is a great article that can give you some do's and don'ts with door salesmen.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/08/alarm_sales.html

08-11-10 Taking security precautions

Even our youth in the neighborhood are getting jumped, etc.   A neighbor reported his son was attacked.    I like the lady who walks the neighborhood swinging the golf club around, looks like a great defensible weapon.    But how long until ruthless individuals see that as a challenge to rob anyone walking, running our neighborhood.     Here's a little something you can carry with you encase you become victimized.    Use at your own risk, no guarantees and only use it in an emergency.    It would work on animals too.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1749688/how_to_make_pepper_spray.html?cat=47

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Come to the HOA meeting tonight and discuss Security issues in the neighborhood.

We need some better options for security than $24,000/yr drive throughs.

08-08-10 Robbery reported today in Stockton Record

Residential robbery: Three men were sitting in a garage at about 9:50 p.m. Friday in the 8900 block of Valleyoak Drive when someone walked in with a handgun and demanded cash, police said. Two of the victims hid their money, but the third turned his over. The robber ran away. He was described as black, about 28 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He wore a black baseball hat and black leather jacket.

08-03-10

The Stockton PD Crime reports shows a second business Burglary occuring on Jul. 16 at approximately the same time as the Jul. 12 business burglary.   Duplicate or a repeat burglary?   It's curious what business this is as it's not likely the pool which is not open at 8a.m.

07-28-10

Latest Stockton PD Crime reports shows an Auto Burglary and a Business Burglary occurring in Stonewood on Jul. 11 & 12.   

We were also apprised of an auto burglary on Woodmont Way last week, but the neighbor did not report it.   A CD player and japanese CD's were taken in the heist while the car was in the driveway.   Oddly enough, the car was always parked on the street prior to this and was just recently moved into the driveway.    Youngsters were seen hanging around the area the day before but unbeknownst who may have broken into the vehicle.   We suspect the thieves will be pleasantly surprised when they begin to listen to the stolen CD's and most likely throw them out or try to pawn them off maybe.

07-26-10

Reporting incidents or violations of CC&R's are NOT being ignored for those wondering.   Sometimes the chain of command takes time to trickle down to those that make a difference.
We all know M & C managment does not just oversee our operations ONLY, so for them to identify all our violations according to our CC&R's won't ALWAYS be exactly to our expectations.     Although this could an excuse to sever ties with a management company, we wish to remind people that overmanaging was not a perfect combination either for our community in the past.

It takes everyone's help in communicating problems, concerns and comments to keep the community flowing in the right direction.    If you need to contact someone, do not hesitate to contact M & C at 209-644-4921 or visit the contact page on this site.

07-25-10 

The latest newsletter was sent out this week and it is again indicating committee formation by limiting who may serve on those committees.   These qualification requirements contradict the Davis-Stirling Act in limiting only Members, no spouses on same committee and only members in Good Standing and something related to litigation issues for past 12 months.

If they are so eager to bring our community together and want association members involvement, then why are they unlawfully setting qualifications that are limiting in nature.   If we recall, Mr. Drake was the party at fault or at least had a hand in the election outcome in a suit last year, so he should have been banned ---- WAS HE?

http://www.davis-stirling.com/Committees/tabid/1708/Default.aspx   See 'Who May Serve on Committees'

Some concerned letters sent to the board regarding these issues are still posted on this site in the 03-XX-10 timeframe below

07-24-10

We appologize for lack of updates as we've been dealing with insurance claims and issues after our sustained garage fire on 7/5.    Restoration is moving quickly and framing was completed on 7/23 with the rest of the work being completed next week with new garage door and final roofing.

The below link are some photos from Day 1 to current timeframe.    The house restoration has been quick moving, but getting any fair value settlement with vehicles has been a real hassle.   We were a former insurance agent with the company handling the claims.    We didn't expect any special treatment/settlement because of our previous employment, but we're definately not going to go away without a fair settlement from them.    Did we mention the attorney in the family?

SATURN values dropped dramatically when they went out of business is one of the hangups, should a car owner be penalized in value because of unforeseen circumstances?   FIRE, Saturn closure?

The wife is threatening to never park in the garage again after this, but is car theft,burglary any better.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=314556&id=1734541409#!/album.php?aid=17435&id=1734541409

07-10-10

Due to our displacement from our home, updates to this site will be sporadic for the next 60 days.   It is quite difficult to update from a slow laptop from our hotel room and to stay updated with news around the neighborhood when your not living in the neighborhood.    We also do not have printers, scanners or faxes to update newsletters,etc.  which is most likely understandable by our most caring neighbors.    The Stonewood HOA Facebook page updates will most likely be updated more often as it is the easier method to update with.    We wished more people used Facebook, but it appears to be a younger generation and newer communication system that some prefer not to try or understand.    We will try to accomodate everyone the best we can, but unforeseen circumstances can and do occur.   

Thanks again for the outpouring of support from the most wonderful neighbors in the world and thanks for everyone being up on the night of the 4th for calling 911 in our time of need.   They say 5 calls came in to 911 with neighbors hearing my wife yelling call 911 over 2 blocks away beyond the pool area.    Our AT&T phoneline was severed early on in the fire and our cellphones were abandoned in our rush to safety.

Please sign up with Facebook if you have not already and join the Stonewood HOA site for more current updates.

Videos and updates regarding finding of code upgrades from our rebuild can be found on Facebook!

07-06-10

We try to bring the latest news to the neighborhood, so for some that don't know instead of reporting news, we became the news this past Monday morning 12:15am by incurring an electrical fire inside our garage that caused extensive damage to the garage.   The garage firewall prevented the extensive fire from entering the residence living area, but not without engulfing the entire home with smoke.   We are a former agent with Farmers and was on the phone with claims before the fire department left the scene.   By 7am Monday a Representative with Eagle Construction, dispatched by  Farmers, had his entire crew on scene beginning the restoration process.    

Our rental neighbor next door noticed the strong smoke smell and came over to alert us of the garage fire and we were able to to escape quickly and secure our twin daughters and animals safely.   Many area neighbors helped us with petcare, childcare and hospitality so we wish to send our greatest appreciation in our time of need.   Our cars were also a total loss and were fully covered along with the house.    The Fire Department has done their investigation and as mentioned determined it was electrical, but noted it was the hottest fire they had ever encountered and the concrete floor was glowing red when they entered and it melted their boots.    A small plastic container for RC models full of nitro petroleum had melted and was highly flammable which was most likely the reason it was so hot.

We are being well taken care of with hotel costs, car rental expense and food expense coverage while work is done on the home.    They claim 3 months to complete the work but is a standard timeframe to not give residents a false hope with a faster turnaround.    An early start on the restoration process will definately expediate the process and is already 2 weeks ahead of a normal claim process.   

Thanks to everyone for everything!  Some pics are below for curious people to see.

Jeff Lee

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295134&l=98cf0f5550&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295135&l=656797d0f0&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295155&l=ca0b486e73&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295738&l=c96535be1b&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295745&l=e2dc879bb3&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295746&l=ef9f22769d&id=1734541409
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295910&l=8093bb8b32&id=173454140
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=295923&l=e14dd1b1bc&id=1734541409

07-02-10   Busy weekend Downtown

Downtown Stockton Certified Farmers Market DeCarli Square Friday, July 9  11 am - 3 pm   Art Walk DeCarli Square & Cinema Plaza Friday, July 9 5 pm - 9 pm   2nd Friday & Beer Garden DeCarli Square & Cinema Plaza Friday, July 9 5 pm - 9 pm Read The Downtowner     Map of Downtown   Get Directions   Parking   Meeting Places and Rentals   Locals-Only Specials   Downtown Business Directory   Calendar of Events       Join Our Mailing List

July 2,  2010     Over 30 teams from all over the Western United States will compete for a California State Championship. Eighteen hours before judging, meats are slowly smoked and basted throughout the night. Gates open on July 3 at 11 am and the public can observe and interact with the cooks, and then sample their creations.  A classic car show will feature over 50 cars. Classic rock and blues bands will perform throughout the event. More   Bring the BBQ home with these recipes: The big debate in BBQ styles across the country is to dry rub your pig or to slather it 'em with sauce.Take your pick! Peppered Pig Rub: Mix all ingredients and store in an air tight container until you rub all over your tastiest pig. 2 cups paprika, 3/4 cup lemon pepper, 1/4 cup coarse ground black pepper, 1/4 cup white pepper, 1/4 cup onion salt, 1/4 cup granulated garlic, 1/4 cup chili powder, and 3/4 cup brown sugar.   Left Coast BBQ Sauce: Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan. Add 2 minced cloves of garlic and sauté until brown. Add 1 cup ketchup, ¼ cup water, ¼ cup vinegar, ¼ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cayenne. Reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes until thickened. Sauce up your oinker.   Tasting begins at $1: Taste $1, $3, and $6 portions from local restaurants and BBQ competitors. See a list of participating vendors here. Taste of San Joaquin and BBQ Championships! Celebrate Independence Weekend in Downtown Stockton Saturday, July 3, 11 am - 7:30 pm

06-24-10 Freely published Stonewood Tidbit News/website

Ever since our push for a better Stonewood board, we have strived for a better connected community with this website and it's link to Facebook.   We have never asked or forced anyone to sign up (optional) or requested any funds to keep this site going.   Now that M & C Communities has launched their website, the lingering question surmounts to, should we keep this site up?   Since we have received few responses over the last 12 months to the many topics we have presented, it's likely we would NOT receive many complaints if we slowly slipped away.   Most people probably just consider our comments or push for better transparency as an HOA as RADICAL.   If you like the openness here and care to see it continue then please let us know or we'll let M & C Communities gather all your personal data and target your private information.   Thank you,   Jeff Lee

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06-23-10  Crime map from Stockton Police website for Stonewood updated through June 7, 2010

http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/Stonewood_One/pages/351354

2010 Breakdown

7 Residential Burglaries
6 Auto Burglaries
10 Vehicle Accidents
5 Stolen Vehicles
1 Grand Theft

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With the recent addition of speedbumps with signs indicating 15 mph, how does this affect the previous 25 mph signs that are still posted on our streets?  Would people get cited if they go 25?

06-18-10  Installation videos of Speedbumps

Crews installed speedbumps throughout the neighborhood today.   We nearly got rearended today on Ponce Deleon today turning onto Ravenwood home.    The car behind us was speeding up coming off the speedbump and barely noticed us turning with signal onto our street.    Definately a hump too close to an intersection in our estimates.   It's only a matter of time until there will be an accident due to these ineffective humps.    Residents are already complaining of the constant bump,bump, bump noise associated with these, saying it's worse than rap music outside.

See videos we took today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loNFZT8ehE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN4pidccS3w

Highly ineffective in our opinion, but the majority got their bumps/lumps/humps or whatever they call these goofy hills.

06-17-10

Crews were out today putting speed hump signs and marking the locations for the humps to be added either Friday or Monday.

06-10-10  Safe and Sane fireworks

On May 4, 2010, the city of Stockton has approved the sale and use of Safe and Sane fireworks within the city limits of Stockton.     There will be a task force created to handle the cases of illegal fireworks.     You can read more about this on the city website and if your a non-profit the application is available too and is based on the lottery of who gets chosen to sell fireworks.

06-08-10  Preventative Security measures

We are up to 27 incidents this year within the Stonewood neighborhood as of May 24 reported by the Stockton Police crime maps.    Keeping an eye out on our streets and our neighbors property is more important today than ever.    Taking extra steps before we are victimized can be very beneficial in helping prevent crimes around you.     This does not have to be an expensive endeavor with today's technology if you know what to look for.    A very good security camera can record activity around your home and neighborhood and all be recorded to your computer or a dedicated recording device.

D-Link has a very nice wired/wireless camera that comes with Security software for $79.99 that can be mounted just about anywhere around your home and allows upto 32 cameras to be interconnected.

Fry's Electronics has these cameras for $99.99 with a $20 rebate.   Check them out here.

At this price, can you afford not to keep your property safe?    Heck, you can even contact us here if you need assistance installing them.

06-06-10   Volunteers for Committees

In the April newsletter, it was mentioned that the association was still in need of more volunteers for the various committees to be established.    There has been no more mention of their proceedings in this matter since the May board meeting was overwhelmingly dedicated to pool issues.

If you have not volunteered yet, please do so immediately, so we may press the issue with the board as to when and how people are going to be notified about this.     The longer they take the more difficult it will be to modify any election rules before our next elections.

05-28-10   Foreclosure break-ins

There has been reports of a few kids going into backyards of foreclosures and snooping around.   A couple dark-complexion kids on bikes were seen entering the backyard of a foreclosure on Candlewood yesterday.    A call to the RE agent revealed that someone had left the residence garage door open last week.     It is unknown what these individuals are seeking, but copper theft from foreclosed residences has been an issue in certain communities.   

It is a city ordinance that vacant properties list in front who to contact in an emergency.    If you have a foreclosure near you, we suggest you acquire a contact number for the property and keep it handy.   If there is no contact number or you see anything suspicious, call the police or code enforcement @ 937-8815.

The lawns at these foreclosures are definately a give away that they are vacant. ;-(

05-21-10

M & C Management has finally gotten the generic Stonewood No. 1 Website up and running.    It's identical to the Stonewood Estates website for links and information.    Will they be utilizing the site for better transparency for the neighborhood?   Prior meeting agendas have been non-existent!

05-07-10

Today! Opening Day of the Downtown Stockton Certified Farmers Market

More Info.   located across on the corner of Center & Channel streets

05-04-10   Stonewood Speedbump update!

Some 40+ percent of the assoc. responded to the vote and of that 78% are for the traffic calming measures.

Only the people who submitted a vote are counted and a simple majority (50% + 1) passes the plan.

We will keep you posted on when the project may be started.   Stay tuned here.

---------------------------------------

Manipulating numbers to push speedbumps through.

If you really do the math correctly, only about 25% of neighborhood residents were in favor of the speedbumps enough to turn in their ballots for the plan.     Maybe some were not in favor of the plan as it was layed out?  Too bad!  The mayor of Stockton, Ann Johnston lives in our neighborhood and we were doomed to get speedbumps no matter what, according to a city public works employee who relayed this info to us months ago.

 There are 607 resident properties here in Stonewood.   For simplicity, let's say 40% of residents turned in their ballots for the proposed plan, thus that gives roughly 243 total votes.    If 78% of those votes are for speedbumps, that means only 190 people were in favor of the plan or less than 25% of the 607 residents.   

Many residents knew the city was going to do whatever they wanted whether they voted for the speedbumps or not which is why the low volume of votes.    Compare that return rate of 40% to the recent 74% return rate to the 2010 Census and it's quite ridiculous such a low return was achieved.

Several older residents said they were moving out in fear that a speedbump on their street will only give reckless drivers a launch pad to jump and lose control of their cars into their yards and homes.     We'll all soon find out when city crews move in and install the bumps.   God help us!

05-03-10

There was a special board meeting on 04-30-10 at the management office according to the posting we saw on the pool today.     It looks like they were going over the common area pool details and maybe access keys to residents?   The only problem we see is that April 30, 2010 was a Friday and not a Tuesday...opps!

We wonder who is going to be in charge of monitoring the cameras at the pool?      

04-29-10

According to the April Newsletter, Committee volunteers are still needed.   We encourage everyone to make time to contact the management company and GET INVOLVED.    We are glad they are still open to expanding the size of the committees to accomodate WILLING people that were neglected in the first round.    Some hot and debated letters were flying their way after a number of people were rejected from the governing documents committee.  Will round 2 be a fair process?  We hope so!

Get out Saturday and Sunday and visit your neighbors garage sales.   See you all then.

~Jeff

04-28-10

See the above March Newsletter link for details about the annual garage sale.

The April newsletter and 2009 Stonewood Financials are now online.

04-26-10

There has been little input from M & C in the way of posted Agendas and Newsletters sent out lately.   Apparently the go get em attitude upfront from them has lost it's MOJO!    Where's the internet website they were going to put up for this community?   When's the pool going to open and have they filled all the lifeguard positions?   How is the neighborhood garage sale going to be advertised or is it, for this coming weekend?

Maybe a boardmember can relay to the masses what is happening?  It is hard to get neighborhood involvement when you don't inform people of what is happening.     Anyone agree?

04-22-10

Read The Downtowner     Map of Downtown   Get Directions   Parking   Meeting Places and Rentals   Locals-Only Specials   Downtown Business Directory   Calendar of Events      Join Our Mailing List         April 22,  2010   Celebrate Night Life Uno de Mayo CRAWL Saturday, May 1 5 pm - Midnight 10 Downtown Bars & Restaurants   You spoke, we listened. The formula for Pub CRAWL-ing has been perfected.  Photo opp with a Zonkey    More trolleys are running on a quicker schedule, more bars in downtown have joined the CRAWL including two that opened in the last two months, ticket prices stayed low and rooms are available at a discounted rate at the Lexington Plaza Waterfront Hotel. The Uno de Mayo CRAWL promises the smoothest to date. Plus, we have a "Zonkey!"   Have you bought your tickets yet?  More   Aye, Yi, Yi, How far can you CRAWL?     D O W N T O W N  S T O C K T O N  A L L I A N C E Cort Tower, 343 East Main Street, First Floor, Stockton, CA 95202 English 209.464.5246, Spanish 209.888.8637  Directions    Parking (PDF)

04-20-10   Another Vehicle hits the Wall @ Ponce/Davis Rd.

There was another vehicle into the wall today at Ponce DeLeon and Davis Road about 4pm.  As you may know, this is like the 4th incident at the intersection this year.    It is obviously a very difficult intersection to manuever in the mornings and late afternoons.   If you have a choice, use Lower Sacramento or Goldenoak @ Davis to exit the neighborhood.

04-19-10   Detour in Stonewood!

City crews patched the roadway on Ponce DeLeon in front of the pool today. Residents found Ponce DeLeon closed from Stonewood to Glenbriar with a detour over to Oakhurst Way. Road should be reopened by 4p.m.

04-18-10 Stay connected by sharing with your neighbors.

Need to stay in touch with your neighbor?   Get them to join the Stonewood HOA Facebook page.
Helping neighbors stay connected in todays fastpace world.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=162826128326&ref=mf#!/group.php?gid=162826128326&v=info&ref=mf

04-17-10  74% - 2010 Census survey return rate for Stonewood Tract

Doorbells may be ringing in a few weeks as Census workers take to the streets to complete the 2010 census surveys.    Their job here won't be as difficult as other areas with the National rate at 71% this year.  In 2000, the Stonewood residents return rate was an astonishing 80% compared to a 72% National average.    After all forms sent in from friday's deadline are counted, the bureau will draw up lists of addresses to visit in person - at an estimated cost of $57 per visit.

To see other area participation rates, visit http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/

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It's stunning how the residential robberies after the holidays came to a screeching halt when a Stonewood resident got involved and reported a burglary in progress back in January.   The march monthly map below shows a big void in the district map of robberies where Stonewood lies.    A security patrol alone cannot do as great a job as observant neighbors.  

A few auto burglaries have occurred in the morning hours lately so please keep your eyes and ears peeled and call 911 right away.

Map below shows 40 residential robberies for the Bear Creek district for March. 

04-15-10  Upcoming Events in Downtown Stockton area

Uno De Mayo Crawl
Farmers Market
Asparagus Festival

http://downtownstockton.org/pdf/Downtowner_apr2010_web.pdf

04-11-10   Stay current with Stonewood weather - LIVE

04-09-10  VOTE 'NO' on the Traffic calming plan.

Let's see, if I were concerned with speeding vehicles in my neighborhood wouldn't I put more humps/bumps around the school?  Many residents in favor of the program say it's for the kids to protect them, but not a single speedbump on Woodcreek where the buses and parents enter into the neighborhood.  If I were a parent entering from Lower Sac, we would simply zoom down Oakleaf, drop off a child at the school and exit Woodcreek or back down Oakleaf unabated by speedbumps.

NOT A GREAT PLAN IN OUR ESTIMATES.   Keep in mind, people will find the path of least resistance.

How long will it take people to figure out to avoid the Ponce DeLeon speed humps, you simply take Graywood Circle and Briarwood Way?

We encourage people to think this through before simply approving a NON-FUNCTIONAL PLAN.

Why can't the city repave our PATCHED neighborhood streets instead of adding useless bumps?

04-08-10

The lawns in the neighborhood are really starting to look good with the exception of a few, mainly those that are for sale and we'll list them below.    There was some police presence on Valley Oak today around 11:30am but didn't appear to be anything serious.   The police statistics are always 2 weeks delayed on the Stockton Crime map site so if it's a crime it'll be posted in a few weeks.

The next homeowners meeting is this next Tuesday, so the agenda should be posted tomorrow given the 5 days notice requirement.   Will there be any changes to the governing document committee formation or will they continue to ignore the neighborhood pleas to allow more owners involvement?

YARDS that need attention:  If one of these are yours or your neighbors, please HELP!

8803 Stonewood
8821 Stonewood
1316 Candlewood
1316 Ponce De Leon

04-01-10  Do your part, Make the call!

http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/Stonewood_One/pages/351101

All robberies are on a rise all around us, report suspicious activity!

These are just the residential robberies in the Bear Creek Division from 3-1 to 3-17.

03-31-10   Taking care of your lawns!

Now that spring is here, it's time to get those lawns back into shape.  I didn't realize so many dog owner's walked their dog's down our streets until I turned off my water all winter.   Why water when it's so cold, wet and rainy right?   Well, about January I noticed a yellow streak along the edge of my grass along the sidewalk where obviously dogs had urinated all winter.   I was unaware there was a consistent problem until I set up a webcam to watch the morning dog walkers going by.   One by one they would stop their dogs and let their animals urinate over the last dogs scent.   A rigorous watering pattern seems to have slowed the pattern down, but having a neighbor that lets their dog out loose still can lead to a bigger problem.

We acquired some scotts products to spruce up the lawn, Scotts EZSEED to cover the yellow spots and Scotts Turf Builder Plus 2 with weed control for any dandelions popping up.   Works great and highly recommended to those with spotting lawns.   You can even get a $5.00 off coupon for EZ Seed by clicking here.

We noticed two homes in the area that could really use some lawn care,
1316 Candlewood
1432 Goldenoak

03-27-10   Local business robbed!

Taken from the Stockton Record dated 3/26:

Robbery: Two masked men robbed the 76 Food Mart, 8606 Thornton Road, about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday 3/24. Police said a man armed with a shotgun held a cashier, while the other man emptied the cash registers and took cartons of cigarettes. The two then ran east on Ponce de Leon Avenue. There they confronted a driver, firing at her car as they fled. They were not described in detail.

The last identical robbery at the station was Jan. 5, 2010 @ 8:57p.m.

03-23-10  Delta Hawkeye still zooming through Stonewood.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2392950137&ref=ts&gid=162826128326#!/video/video.php?v=1104638192881&oid=162826128326

Where are the statistic reports showing their effectiveness?  A complete sham! 

03-22-10   Election law changes without legal advice?

We still urge everyone to VOTE 'NO' on any CC&R changes until further notice.   If you recall their blatant attempt in January '09 to cancel elections and try to suppress the opposition by revising the Election Laws to their advantage.   They also failed to give prior notice to the membership of these changes and is why they were deemed unlawful by a Superior Judge.

Just as our 3/14 cartoon depicts, they pick their own rules and until they choose a fair committee, we have the power as homeowners to shoot everything down.

By-law revisions 01/09  Check the dates on the attempted by-law changes, a last minute deal!

03-16-10

03-15-10 

There are a few select neighbors that are oblivious to the state laws governing associations, some even saying we don't recognize state laws, just our CC&R's and Bylaws.    Then there are those that just ignore it all because they don't understand it.   An HOA ignorant of the laws and being responsible for the governing of a community can lead to trouble because lawsuits involve lawyers and judges who follow STATE LAWS.  The Davis-Stirling Act is such that if your CC&R's/By-laws are not periodically updated, you can find yourself out of compliance with state laws and face liability suits.   Read Davis-Stirling changes over the years.

It is obvious that this Stonewood non-compliance with the Davis-Stirling Act didn't happen overnight, but the Davis-Stirling Act didn't either.    If the Stonewood board is eager to get in compliance, they best get people and lawyers that can do this right.   There was no mention of a lawyer present on this governing document committee that Toher established.  WHY?   Mr. Toher spent many a hours visiting this website studying the Stonewood CC&R's/By-laws because there was no other resources that provided them.    Does spending hours reading and studying the CC&R's and By-laws make you an expert on them?   I highly doubt it.    Does it make you an expert on revising them?   I highly doubt it.    He elaborates quite a bit about things we post on this site that he was not aware of.

Just to shoot something out there that may bring light to peoples minds.   The Davis-Stirling Act allows DAY CARE CENTERS in HOA's even though they are commercial businesses that are banned here in Stonewood.    We recall a young lady addressing the board not too many months ago about being called to an Executive Session for running a Day Care.  That will need to be addressed properly or the community could once again face liability.  There was a lady on Ravenwood that was ran out of the neighborhood for running a daycare, she ended up moving because it was her way of living.

So the lingering question here is, will the board revise these CC&R's to code or will they try to be selective in their changes?  If you ban daycare centers then you face liability and if you add it to the governing documents allowing them, we're sure a majority homeowners will be against it.

Read more about Day Care Centers here and Group Care homes here.

03-14-10

03-13-10  DAVIS STIRLING ACT READS: Who May Serve on Committees.

Unless the governing documents provide otherwise, there are no restrictions on who may serve on committees. That means committees may consist of persons who are not members of the association.

According to Mr. Toher, he rejected anyone deposed from the 2009 election lawsuit, however Mr. Drake who was deposed is exemplified because he got a majority vote in the last election.  

A number of homeowners have come forward to say they were excluded from this committee.

SHAME on YOU Mr. Toher, you are not serving  your constituents properly.

The Board is also changing the meeting dates to Tuesday apparently to accomodate a single boardmember with conflicts.   We are pretty sure this relates to Mr. Drake, who has excused himself from every executive session since nomination in December.    These tuesday meetings coincide with City Hall and Lodi Unified meetings that limits many homeowners.    And the June 8 tuesday which they did not consider is the June Primary Election date.

If Mr. Drake has conflicts, should he not have excused himself from serving as that is a prerequisite for running for the board?   It appears the board is oblivious on trivial matters in the functioning of our community.

Please keep in mind that not the entire board views are the same, only aforementioned boardmembers are being criticized in these matters.

03-13-10  ANONYMOUS EMAIL SENT BY A CONCERNED NEIGHBOR

As a concerned citizen I have some major concerns about the newly formed committee to revise the CC&R's. 
1.  There are over 600 members in this community, why were only 5 members selectively chosen to be on this committee.  That is less than 1% of the membership.  Additionally 3 of those committee members are board members.  This committee should be much larger, at least 20 members with all board members and the hoa's attorney present at all meetings.  In business you never want to have small committees as it is looked upon as being an elitist entity.

2.  Since this is such a crucial/pivotal issue, at the 2 preceding board meetings (Jan and Feb)it should have been discussed why we need to revise the cc&r's and why it was important for people to sign up for this committee.  The duties and other obligations should have been discussed.  The Board should have told the members how important it was
for them to volunteer their time and services.  A small blurb in the newsletter asking people to sign up for committees and a brief comment in the meeting is not sufficient.

3.  Mr. Drake is currently a member on this committee but  wasn't he the one who violated the cc&r's last year and forced other members to seek legal action to rectify the situation. He has also tried to fine people for issues that were not addressed in the CC&R's. I find it very disconcerting that someone who has had so many legal problems in the past and who has problem following the governing documents is now in charge of revising them.

4.  My biggest concern is that this committee is not representative of the community as a whole.  This association is very diverse with many ethnicities, age ranges and socio-economic groups.  Is the committee to revise the governing documents a fair representation of this neighborhood.  Are their any African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics on the committee?  What is the age range of the committee, do we have representation at all generational levels?  Do we have people from all the socio-economic groups represented?  If we do not is this a fair committee?  We are going to have to live with these documents for the next 40 years, is it fair to have Mr. Drake and other retired individuals revise these documents when they are only going to have to live with them for 10 or so years? 

I had high hopes for this new board and new policies but find that we are once again slipping into the past and we are doomed to repeat the past transgressions.  Once again we have committees that are formed using a few select members and committees are secretive and allowed to yield power over the majority.  Please stand up and let's start over again before it's too late.

A concerned association member who fears that if I sign my name to this letter,  punitive actions (fines ) will be levied upon me by the board.

03-12-10  LETTER FROM THE HOA PRESIDENT - WE ARE NOT BIAS JUST CHOOSE OURSELVES FIRST!

03-12-10  HOA Governing document (group) DEBATE!

Should 3 board members and a single member be the only people appointed to the revision committee for our CC&R's?   This is not a very diverse selection after the board indicated it was looking for members to help.  We know of two other members who applied and were not selected most likely due to Mr. Drake already selected to this committee.    Is this really a committee or is it just a group? 

Here is a letter we received from a concerned neighbor:

QUOTE:
The board announced the members of the HOA CC&R change committee.   Rick Toher, Julie Degrade, Bill Drake and Sten Bell.  I believe this committee is going to be steered toward revising the CC&R to their favor i.e. B. Drake and party.  The first priority is to modify the CC&R to be in compliant with the court order, which is to modify the election process/portion to be consistent with the California Civil Code before the next election.  We already had an election without it being modified.  I do not think B. Drake should be involved with this committee since he was named/part of the lawsuit.  Also, S. Bell should not be involved due to the fact of his association with Mrs. Bell who was one of the election inspector.  Seems bias?
 
I think you should write a letter to the board informing them of the situation and get them back on tract to avoid another lawsuit.  Coming from you may put a fire under them.  Then they can modify the complete CC&R later.
UNQUOTE:

We have contacted the HOA President about their non-diverse selection process and indicated our goal of getting "NO VOTES" for any CC&R changes and a possible removal of Mr. Drake from the board.

03-10-10

Please vote "NO" on any CC&R changes for Stonewood.   Mr. Drake is on this committee and he is the one that has disregarded our original CC&R's by issuing illegal fines to people in the past.   Why should someone that has disregarded our CC&R rules in the past be on this committee?    Odds are he is going to try to make unlawful changes that are not in the best interest of this community.

For those that didn't hear, our illicit dog barking fine was dismissed by the current board.   Mr. Drake who indicated originally that a complaint letter had been sent in, later indicated to the current board that there was no actual complaint letter.   

We applied for being on the governing doc committee and were rejected.   Something about they already have 5 members on the committee, but they may appoint 6.   Why is this a limited selection process, sounds bias?

We implore you to help us "REJECT" any changes to our CC&R's until a proper committee with reputable members is established.   Why should Mr. Drake be on the Stonewood Speedbump and governing document committee when he has shown he has ulterior motives?   

03-02-10  Mayor Ann Johnston responds on Speedbumps

Hi 
   The city is actually installing these types of friendly bumps in selected neighborhoods these days---no more the full street width bumps to slow down traffic.  You can observe them in the Lincoln Village area behind Lincoln Center if you want to experience how they work in real life in the city.  Thanks for your interest, and know that the new bumps have a long waiting list of neighborhoods wanting them, and to obtain them, there needs to be majority vote of the neighbors to have them installed.  You can contact Public Works to get all the information you need to explore this issue. 
    Thanks for your interest in improving our neighborhoods!

Ann Johnston, Mayor
City of Stockton
(209) 937-8499
(209) 937-8568 (fax)
mayor@ci.stockton.ca.us

Note: We looked for these behind Lincoln Center and were unable to find them!

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Ann:

How about implementing these Eco-friendly bumps in Stonewood instead of penalizing all the neighbors for
problems of a select few?   Some neighbors have ailments that don't do well over traditional humps!

http://treasurenature.com/eco-friendly-vehicle-speed-bumps/