Cheri Village Neighborhood Association, Inc.

CVNA February Meeting Minutes

CVNA FEBRUARY GENERAL MEETING NOTES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010

Although the weather throughout February made travel difficult, and our meeting coincided with Ash Wednesday, there were still approximately 30 attendants at the February meeting, including Legislative Assistant John Torsky.  Thank you for your continued support!!

Street light study – where do they currently exist? Can lamps being paid for by groups of neighbors now be grandfathered in to our program? Roger Kober is heading up this study and will give the results at a meeting in the near future.  Meanwhile, the members and board have agreed that you must be a CVNA member in order to reap the benefits of the lighting:  This will be a reoccurring expense that comes from the CVNA budget, and CVNA will be under contract to pay for the lights and the maintenance charges.

Snow removal – we presented Mr. David Cooke from Senator Avenue with a $50 gas card for his assistance with plowing several areas of Cheri Village, of his own accord, and without expecting thanks or payment.  Thanks again, Mr. Cooke, for plowing driveways and dangerous intersections/roadways!  What a great neighbor!!!

Mr. John Torsky, the councilman’s legislative assistant, informed the board that it is very possible that since school buses use Denise Drive, Cherriville Road, Elise Way, and other parts of our subdivision as JCSP routes, we may be able to have the JCPS school board to have our roads cleared, as they hire contractors to clear other school bus routes.  This is a matter the board will be addressing!

Mr. Torsky also fielded questions about why the city will not plow through our subdivision.  Many of our older residents swear that Denise Drive used to be plowed.  The city, however, says they have not taken any streets off of the official list.

Waste Removal - $13/month for garbage collection, $8/month recycling, $38.25 per season for yard waste, in a 2 year contract with Hometown Hauling, if 75% of Cheri Village comes along.  They will be coming through our subdivision to talk about their pitch, which is a much better deal than WM offered several months ago.

Speed Hump Installation – Greg Dow, from the Department of Public Works and Assets, which oversees the road maintenance and speed hump installations, answered one member’s question of how Denise Drive will be paved after the speed humps are installed.  He stated that the contractor who installs the speed humps specializes in their installation, and adheres to specific engineering height and width requirements.  They are permanent fixtures to the roadway, and are not to be altered in any way once installed, to keep the engineering stats true.  When Public Works and Assets makes the decision to resurface a road with speed hump installation, the team that grades and paves the road does not touch the speed humps.  He assured me that they are built to last a long, long time!

Operation Brightside, Beautification Grant & Community Clean Up – where can we plant flowers in Cheri Village?  If we can come up with a detailed plan to submit by March 31^st, we MAY be eligible for up to $1500 worth of grant money from Operation Brightside.  Put your thinking caps on, and let’s get some free money to do beautiful stuff in Cheri Village! 

Also, Operation Brightside and UPS are holding their Community-Wide Clean Up again on Saturday, March 27^th, from 8 a.m. until noon.  Last November, we organized a small group of neighbors, and cleaned our whole subdivision, with the help of members of Cub Scout Pack 237.

This year, Brian Vogel suggested that maybe we should look at a road just outside our subdivision that needs some love, like part of Old Shep or Manslick, which usually gets hit hard with litter.  The fact is, the more people that turn out to volunteer, the more we can get done!  Please consider lending a hand this year!

Signage - we have talked about signage for Cheri Village the past couple of meetings.  Operation Brightside will not grant money to make a sign, just for the landscaping around one!  And the signs can be VERY expensive:  an iron and mortar sign was quoted at upwards of $2000!  Obviously, we don’t have that kind of money in our budget.  However Vice-President Sam Moore, who works for a cabinet company, is researching whether his company would be willing to donate a stone or granite remnant, which we could have etched.  How cool is that?

NOISE ORDINANCE – As most of you know, I have a special place in my heart for people who play obnoxiously loud and booming music in their vehicles, especially when I am sleeping.  Currently, I am looking for information to stop the person with the dark (black) SUV (poss. Chevy Blazer) from blazing through Cheri Village with his stereo pumpin’.  I have contacted Officer Todd Brimm, the 7^th Division liaison, who notified all the 7^th Div. officers – they are waiting for us to call them when this person rolls through our neighborhood disturbing the peace.  If you have any info, feel free to contact me or MetroCall 311.

WANNA HELP???  How about talking to your neighbors about coming to the meetings and paying the $25 annual fee to join CVNA!  The $25 goes towards lighting, treating the entrances for snow, and other projects (if we can just raise enough money!).  We are also an ACTIVE Neighborhood Block Watch, with a huge network of neighbors watching out for each other.  The 7^th Division police send us weekly maps of crime within our area, and other tips and useful info.  WE NEED YOU!!!  We need fundraising ideas, volunteers to plant flowers, folks to run membership drives, etc.  If you would like more information about anything listed here, please feel free to contact any member of the CVNA officers:

President Pam Kober – pam1159@aol.com, 962 – 7719

Vice President Sam Moore – mooresam43@aol.com

Secretary Kris Steitz – krissteitz@gmail.com, 472 - 2664