Pasadena Golf Club Estates Civic Group, Inc.

THE WORD - September 2001 September 2001

Sep 26, 2001

News of Pasadena Golf Club Estates
THE WORD
September 2001

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GENERAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 25TH

LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOUR HOME FROM HURRICANES
We are extremely fortunate to have as a guest speaker Nanette McElman, PE who is a Professional Engineer in environmental engineering. She works at the Institute of Business and Home Safety as the Building Code Manager and she develops code change proposals to strengthen model building codes with respect to natural disasters. She is responsible for the development of IBHS publications dealing with the public understanding of building codes.

Her talk will cover what hurricanes can do to our homes from a physical and structural point of view and what we can do to help protect our property. She will share with us ways that we can fortify our residence so that we won?’t be as vulnerable when the next storm or hurricane hits our area.

This should be an excellent program particularly with the recent storms we have had and the prediction of future hurricanes. Please join us.

Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Mark your calendars!!!)
Social: 6:30 p.m. (Refreshments)
Program: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Pasadena Yacht & Country Club Harborside Room

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN! By Celeste Noren
Calling all Ghosts, Goblins & Witches, All Hallows Eve is nearly upon us! In celebration of our newest little neighborhood friends, the PGCCE would like to host a fun and safe Halloween to all that roam the night looking for tricks & treats!

We will be having contests for the most haunted of houses and the scariest of costume. Get creative & meet your neighbors! We will have different prizes for age groups and categories: Children, Adults and Pets, Most Frightful, Most Creative and Funniest costumes. The festivities will be held Wednesday, October 31st at the Noren Haunted Mansion at 1339 Augusta Lane South ?– Refreshments & Treats will be served. Look for the special neighborhood flyer coming soon for more details. If you are interested in becoming a street leader to ensure our littlest neighbors have a safe & happy evening, please contact Celeste Noren at (727) 346-0081 or email: celeste. noren@sybase.com

An Early Reminder!!!! Just to let you all know that this year?’s Christmas Party will be on Wednesday, December 19th. As in the past it will be at the Pasadena Yacht and Country Club. We have a committee working on all the details, so mark your calendars now for a fun event!

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BEAUTIFUL HOME OF THE MONTH By Karen Dunbar, Beautification Chairperson
This month, the award goes to James Allen and Larry Bjorkman, at 6614 Blue Heron Drive. Jim, a retired Interior Designer and Larry, a retired High School Teacher, decided to escape the Northern winters of the Chicago suburbs and relocate to Florida in July of 1999. Considering future needs, they chose Pinellas County, St. Pete area because it has a public transportation system. They chose the house because of the circular driveway and also recognized it?’s great potential for remodeling. Before moving in, the interior got a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting. Remodeling started by replacing the rear porch with a 750 sq. ft. Dining/Family/Computer room addition. New windows, front door, air conditioning, electrical system and kitchen completed the major interior projects.

Exterior projects included a new driveway and decorative curbing. Jim and Larry both enjoy landscaping, so they tackled removing several undesirable trees, replacing them with Holly trees, Hibiscus, Snow Bushes, Golden Dew-drop, and Indian Hawthorne as well as annual flowers. They also built an arbor and fountain in the back yard. Please take time to admire their talents and contribution to beautifying the neighborhood.

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YOUR COUNTY TAXES AND MILLAGE ?– PINELLAS COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONER MEETINGS AUGUST 21ST & 28TH
The Board of County Commissioner approved the budgets for Pinellas County at their August 28th meeting. The South Pasadena Fire District millage rate for the FY 2002 was reduced from 3.002 to 2.1860.

The county approved a .25 mil increase for the municipal service tax unit, the tax for the unincorporated area, from 1.606 to 1.856. Last year the county reduced this millage rate assuming they would receive an electric franchise fee from taxing the unincorporated area?’s power bills. Florida Power refused to add the franchise fee, and the county had to revise their budgeting and funding for the FY 2001 year. They have now increased it to its prior millage.

At the August 21st County Commission meeting Bill and Sally Israel requested the County Commission review their system of setting the fire district budgeting. The Board of County Commissioners indicated that the fire department system of allocating budgeting would be reviewed in the fall. The fact that our millage was reduced this year did not get us a lot of sympathy, but hopefully a complete review of their system may help in the future.

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WELCOME MAT
New residents Gerry and Aletta Dreller of 2207 Horan Way S. have lived in St. Petersburg more than twenty years. Gerry is originally from Groton, Connecticut, and Aletta is from Wayne, New Jersey. The Drellers have an apricot poodle named MB, which stands for Mama?’s Boy. Gerry is an academic advisor for the Arts and Science Departments of the University of South Florida, and Aletta has worked in both education and administration. Previously they owned a retirement home. The Drellers have two sons;, one is an architectural historian in San Francisco, and the other is stage manager for the House of Blues in New Orleans. Aletta?’s hobby is basket weaving, and she is presently taking a basket weaving course. The Drellers enjoy taking walks along the water with MB, and they are enjoying the PGCE and Gulfport area. We welcome these new residents!

Welcome to Gerry and Dena Fitzpatrick of 6583 Fairway View Boulevard who recently moved here from Franklin, Massachusetts. Gerry is a retired accountant, and Dena was an elementary teacher. Their son Gregory is a seventh grader at Holy Name in Gulfport. Gregory enjoys music and plays the sax and drums. They have two cats, Mudd and Ophelia. The Fitzpatrick?’s like to bicycle, and they love the beach, and swimming. They are enjoying the PGCE area and are busy getting settled in their new home. Please welcome these new residents! If you are a new resident and have not been welcomed in our newsletter, please call Sally Israel at 343-1652 or Nancy Campbell at 341-0002.

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WINDING THE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH! By Bill Garvey
You are the Neighborhood Watch

Crime in our neighborhood reached a new high this summer. We had 2 garage break-ins on Dolphin Boulevard, reports of suspicious prowlers on Marion Drive and Robin Road, a burglary on Debbie Lane, loud parties on Dixie Lane and drag racing on Royal Palm Drive. Possibly there were others, since not all residents report incidents to Neighborhood Watch when they report them to the police.

Every neighbor is considered to be a member of the Neighborhood Watch and is responsible for notifying the Chairperson, Co-chairperson, Communications Leader, or any of the Committee Assistants after reporting a suspicious activity or crime to the Police. Their telephone numbers are listed in your Neighborhood Directory and in the special insert in this newsletter.

We also have a list of 37 people on the Sheriff's Watch Information System, scattered throughout our development, who will be notified when the Sheriff's Deputies in the Crime prevention Bureau want to get a message to us in a hurry. Those 37 people then call their neighbors to alert them and repeat the message. Their neighbors then call their neighbors and so ad infinitum. The 37 people on the Sheriff's Watch Information System have volunteered to be on that list. It is not an exclusive list and can be added to. We started out with 45, but attrition has reduced the numbers. If you wish to be added to the list please let me know and we'll get you in on the next revision.

This is a chain calling system. It depends on live neighbor communicating with live neighbor. Remember, we are all volunteers in this endeavor. No one stays home waiting for the phone to ring so they can get or repeat a message. That is why it is so important, when you do call someone and get no answer, or get an answering machine, you keep calling another neighbor and another until you get a live person answering the phone. Then you ask them to repeat the message to their neighbors. Don't worry about people being called twice with the same message. If that happens it does no harm and the chances of it happening are slim.

How do you know who to call? Use your neighborhood Directory. It has both alphabetical listings and a street address directory. The street address directory shows who is closest to you to alert people in your immediate vicinity. Use the alpha list to call specific people you want to alert.

Bill Garvey NW Chair. 345-8512

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COMMUNITY UPDATE By Sally Israel

SIX SINGLE FAMILY HOMES PLATTED ON ROYAL PALM
Quality Concepts Inc., the new owner of the five homes to be built on Royal Palm Drive has broken ground on the first of the five homes. Nicole Splittgaber of Quality Concepts told us this home would be a high quality home with the estimated selling price in the neighborhood of $700,000, and it would be about 3600 square feet in size. Quality Concepts plans to complete this home by February 2002. The homes will be gated and part of a project called Pasadena Greens. Another developer or potential resident purchased the lot that will be set back from Royal Palm closer to the road into Pelican Creek Village. That home will not be built for several months.

ROYAL PALM AND ROBIN ROAD DRAINAGE PROJECT
The utility review of the drainage project on Royal Palm and Robin Road revealed a conflict with the county sewer system and the design of the project. They are working with the utility to see whether they will have to modify their design or if the sewer system can be modified to accommodate the design. We were told when the engineers do their original utility checks they do a horizontal check and not a vertical one so they were not aware of this problem. We hope this problem will be resolved shortly and the county can continue with the project on schedule. Their plan was to propose the budget for approval to the Board of County Commissioners in December.

CONSUMER AWARENESS
Dale Madden who lives on Royal Palm employed ?“All Florida Trees?” to trim and remove trees on his property. Partial payment was made after a few hours of their work, and they left the property without finishing the work. He made many calls to the firm and they never returned his calls. The All Florida Trees phone number is 641-4470. The Maddens reported the firm to the County Consumer Affairs and to the Better Business Bureau. The Maddens want other residents to beware of this company. Please be careful and find out if the company you hire has any complaints against it, that is has good references and insurance, and do not pay the firm until the work is completed.

DOLPHIN CULVERT (BRIDGE)
The Highway Department has scheduled the repair of the Dolphin Culvert (Bridge) sea wall for the week of September 18th. Many of you that walk or drive along the bridge have been aware of the wash out holes along the sea wall. We notified the county highway department several weeks ago, and after they evaluated the problem decided it was not critical and delayed the repair for more critical work. They added it to their work load, and it has finally come to the top of their schedule.

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THE PRES SEZ By Nancy Campbell
Well, at first I thought I shouldn?’t say anything about this national tragedy in an article that?’s supposed to be about what?’s happening in the neighborhood.

But then I realized that what happened in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC has in many ways affected all of us regardless of where we live. I pray that none of our neighbors have lost family members or friends in these horrible acts of terrorism. I am reminded on a daily basis how interconnected our live are and how these events have impacted us all in ways large and small.

It is wonderful to see so many people in our community tying to reach out and help by participating in blood drives and making donations to the Red Cross. Every thing we do can make a difference.

Please say a prayer for those lost and injured, and for the brave men and women working so hard to rescue the missing and dead. We will remain strong as a nation as long as we all pull together to overcome this devastating event.

In closing, I encourage you all to attend the September 25th General Meeting on Hurricane Preparedness, it promises to be an informative talk and it?’s a great way to meet your community.

If you are not a member of PGCE, do yourself and your neighborhood a favor and join today, you?’ll be glad you did.

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PASADENA GOLF CLUB ESTATE CIVIC GROUP, INC.

President .....................................Nancy Campbell
President-Elect ............................Sylvia Cooks
Vice President .............................Celeste Noren
Treasurer .....................................Laura Lockhart
Recording Secretary ....................Gladys Spalding
Corresponding Secretary .............Beth Schwebke
Membership ................................ Jean O?’Brien
Newsletter ...................................Nancy Campbell
Community Liaison ....................Sally Israel
Programs .....................................Dave Gibson
Beautification .............................Karen Dunbar
Neighborhood Watch .................. Bill Garvey
Zoning ......................................... Richard Cooks