Madison Park

Sept. 12, 2005 Monthly Madison Park Homeowner's Meeting Minutes

Sep 15, 2005

MINUTES OF MADISON PARK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

September 12, 2005
www.neighborhoodlink.com
Madison Park
28210

Meetings 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 of social
time)

In Attendance this month were
44 members
3 firemen
2 police officers and 1 Sergeant from Westover Station
1 dog :)




PICNIC - This coming Saturday, September 17th starting at 12:00 Noon. At
Park Road Park's largest shelter. Candy Bridges with Parks and Rec is
putting together some games. Our neighborhood association will provide
grilled hot dogs, drinks & furnish condiments. All attendees, except our
fire fighters, police and ambulance people, are asked to bring a side dish
or dessert. Paper products are being provided by the Parks and Rec Dept.
Invite your neighbors.

CRIME STATISTICS AND ISSUES:

Westover Division - Officer Hairston (From August, 2005)

1. 4732 Gilmore Dr. - Breaking and Entering
2. 5048 Murrayhill - Larceny, stolen motorcycle
3. 4918 Murrayhill - Vehicle Theft, 2002 Nissan
4. 4913 Seacroft - Vehicle theft, 1992 Cutlass
5. 5123 Glenham - Theft from vehicle
6. 512 E. Woodlawn - Damage to property, 1989 Dodge - rear door busted
7. 727 Gentry Place - theft from vehicle, stole wheelchair from car
8. 5308 Wedgewood Dr. - theft from vehicle
9. 5001 Wedgewood - Theft from vehicle, took leaf blower from trailer
10. 4422 Longwood - Breaking and Entering
11. 4865 Oglethorpe Pl - theft from vehicle
12. 4873 Oglethorpe Pl - theft from vehicle
13. 4869 Oglethorpe Pl - theft from vehicle, stole CD's, money & a knife
14. 5100 Furman Pl - theft from vehicle

Officer Hairston warned us that MOST OF THESE CARS WERE UNLOCKED!! Keep
your cars locked even if they are sitting in your driveway close to your
home.

South Division - Officer Del Duca did not attend. Officer Monroe has
moved on to a different area in the police dept. We thank Officer Monroe
for always working with us on our issues.

HURRICANE RELIEF
John Olsakovsky, our MPHOA Vice-President, has been helping at the
Coliseum with evacuees from the hurricane area. He said they DO NOT need
baby food. There are very few infants. Marty found out there are 25 new
students from the hurricane area at Pinewood Elementary. They are in need
of socks, underwear (all must be new), books, coloring books with crayons,
board games, etc. You can also help by calling the Red Cross at
704-378-4641 to get scheduled or visit redcrosshelps.org on the Internet to
make a donation.


CERT - CHARLOTTE EMERGENCY RESPONCE TEAM
This is a new program to train individuals in neighborhoods to help with
communication and other needed activities in the event of an emergency. We
could be a model neighborhood if we can get 20 people to register for this
training. This training will come to us and it will consist of 3 sessions,
approximately 4 hours each. It will cover different kinds of emergencies.
No dates have been assigned yet. We need to get at least 20 people who are
interested. Either call Marty at 704-519-0677 or e-mail him at
Martydoss@aol.com with your registration request.


QUEENS COLLEGE SPORTS COMPLEX
No more trees will be cut for this 1st phase. The soccer and adaptive
fields are being built now. The soccer field is their 1st priority which
will be sod and in play within the next 3 weeks.
Ted Peters explained that Queens has tried hard to build a strong,
positive relationship with the nearby neighborhoods. He said that storm
drains were redirected away from the neighborhood and toward Tyvola Rd.
drains because of our concern.


FIRE DEPARTMENT PRESENTATION by MIKE GERIN & MATT HONAKER (Work C Shift at
Station #12 on Inman Dr.)
Station #12 is the 2nd busiest in the city. If anyone in Madison Park
needs any services by calling 911, these fire fighters are the first to
respond. Response time is within 5 minutes. Each fireman is also a
trained EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and can administer glucose or
stabilize someone until an ambulance arrives. They are trained in swift
water rescue. Every ladder truck is equipped with the Jaws of Life
equipment to free a victim from an auto crash or collapsed building.

COOKING is the most common, #1 cause of house fires. Fires need fuel,
heat & oxygen to spread. Baking soda or a lid will smother a small fire.
Baking soda expands and takes oxygen away. Do not throw flour on it. This
will make matters worse. IF IT DOESN'T GO OUT QUICKLY, CALL 911!!!

FIRE EXTINGUISHERS only last 5 years. They are not made to be refilled
any more. They used to be refillable. Throw them away after 5 years and
replace them with new ones. EVERY 30 SECONDS A FIRE DOUBLES. Anything
bigger than a small trash can fire - call 911.

The Chief likes community service work so if you need help testing or
installing batteries in smoke detectors, call the station at 704-523-3732.
They will also come out & check your carbon monoxide detector. You can
drive by the station to have your infant car seat installed correctly and
be taught how to do this. The station is located on Inman Dr. which is
directly across South Blvd. from the new Home Depot. The station also
recycles cans for the Burned Children's Fund. They invited us to stop in
for a tour of the station.


ADOPT A STREET PICKUP
Saturday, September 24 - We need volunteers to help pick up trash on our
stretch of Tyvola Rd. CDOT is going to put up no littering signs at
Marty's request. This stretch of road seems to be a garbage dump. If you
would like to help, meet at 9:00 a.m. in the Marion Diehl parking lot.
Wear gloves. Trash bags will be provided. It should not take too long to
pick up trash on this section of Tyvola.


NEIGHBOR HELPING NEIGHBOR PROGRAM
Our Shut-In Program has been renamed "Neighbor Helping Neighbor Program"
because this seems to be what's happening. Neighbors are helping each
other when someone becomes ill and can't get to yard work or other chores.
Our program still exists so if you know of any one who needs occasional
help with yard work or issues of this type who is willing to let us help or
wants help, let us know. We have volunteers who can help out from time to
time with up-keep issues or yard work. Even though we have never had any
takers on this service before, it has been requested that we let people
know it is still available.

Some residents simply don't want help and even fight Codes and Zoning when
they try to enforce violations. Many of the worse offenders in Madison
Park are renters. They force the city to cut the grass, don't take trash
to the curb and so forth to simply push every violation to the max. This
information concerning help is permanently on our web site.


HOUSING AND CODES
There are currently two housing related cases from our community that are open. These are homes on Farmbrook that need attention. Inspectors have left door tags seeking entry to inspect the homes for a top to bottom inspection. Martin was alerted that failure to allow entry will result in a warrant being issued to gain entry. He was told that one of the properties had made a threat to the city!

If you have a housing issue with a home in our area you will need to follow one of the following processes to have the matter addressed.

#1 5 adults 18 years of age or older can sign a petition and send it to Codes as a housing issue about a problem
#2 Police, Fire Department can alert zoning to a suspected violation or problem
#3 The inspectors can observe on their own and open cases. Those that have been attending meetings might recall our past inspector Charles Hodges. He used to drive the neighborhood every couple of weeks and take care of problems often without the need for residents or Madison Park Homeowner's to have to make a call to report.

Remember the resident once entry and inspection takes place gets 30 days to correct the matter. Most of the time they can be granted 30 extra days if they need it. We have had success stories with housing issues. Example the home on Keystone Court some of you remember, which was a rental was corrected . This takes time so 60-90 days for correction is not out of the question.

Zoning problems. The car lot at 2132 Tyvola Road appears to have closed down. This after the resident received a citation. The police visited the location several times to help with the problem. Residents can Thank "Lisa Roberts" for staying on this issue. The other problem unfortunately has not been resolved at 5201 Londonderry Road. This resident has used up their 30 days to Cease and have not stopped the recycling business. They will now face fines and possible court action. The neighboring home across Tyvola 1813 Tyvola continues to have various issues including recycling from time to time!

On Code Violations remember that anyone can call these in to 311 to make a complaint on a code Violation. (I am happy to report this process is 100% improved over the past. The calls are answered quickly. You can follow-up on your complaint to see what happened on the Charlotte Meck. Web site. You can reach the site from our link at www.neighborhoodlink.com. Click on neighborhoods then appearance and improvement to reach the page on the Charlotte Meck site.) You are NOT REQUIRED to leave your name or number so if the operator request it at 311. Just decline if you don't want to give the information. Be prepared to give specifics on any code problems you are having. High Grass, trash, roll outs left at curb, junk vehicles, and cars parking in the yard are all just some examples of things you can call in to 311. If this involves a vehicle be prepared to give model type, exact addresses, time of day if it is drivable that problem is happening, color of vehicle. They will ask you if the vehicle moves Reason Junk Vehicles are handled differently. Residents can have one junk under a car cover at the rear of the home.


ASSOCIATION DUES
Dee McCandlish, our treasurer, will accept dues which are $10 for 2005 and
will increase to $15 for 2006. If you pay 2006 dues before January, you
get a discount of $5.00 which makes them $10.00. You can mail or drop off
your money to Dee at 812 Fairbanks Dr., Charlotte, NC 28210. Include your
name, address, phone number and e-mail address.

A hand out provided by Charlotte Meck. Police on fuel conservation was passed out.
Also a hand out on Free Credit Reports (which started 9/1/05 for NC was handed out.)

Copies will be available at the next meeting if you would like either of these on the entry table. You can also go to our web site and the information has been posted at www.neighborhoodlink.com 28210 Madison Park.


We had several first time attendees at the meeting tonight and welcome
them all to the neighborhood association meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted
Recording Secretary
Cheryl Furr