311is your friend
The newsletter of the Vineyard Estates and Surrounding Subdivisions Neighborhood Association is published four times per year. Past newsletters may be found at http://www.venaabq.org. The primary distribution method is through E-mail and the website, but non-computer users may request that a paper copy be delivered to their home. Contact Lee Ann Riesen (lafisk@swcp.com, 280-5792) for any newletter related business.
Back to the top.Our first general membership meeting of the year occurred on Thursday evening, February 19, at Covenant United Methodist Church.
Sergeant Rex Greene from the North East Area Command Impact Team spoke on the topic Don't be a victim
. He told us that car theft and home burglaries are on the rise, and the NEA Command has only about 20 officers on duty for their large area at any point in time. (On Friday nights they have more.)
Some perpetrators when caught have claimed that they are resorting to criminal activity because of the poor economy and to feed their family.
Many of the perpetrators are methamphetamine addicts. They drive around during the day looking for cars they can rob. They will steal anything of value out of the car, so it is important not to leave cell phones, laptops, etc in your car even for a minute.
Do not keep the title to your car in your car. The thief can take the title to MVD and make your car their own for a $25 fee.
Home burglaries are happening mostly during the day. When someone happens to be home it becomes a home invasion. The most effective strategy to reduce burglary and vandalism is nosy neighbors
. Organize your block with the help of APD with a neighborhood watch program. Here is the link:
http://www.cabq.gov/police/prevention/neighborhoodwatch.html
He also suggested replacing the screws in the lock plates on your exterior doors with 3 inch screws. This makes it very difficult to kick in a door. Also, put alarm company stickers in your front windows.
For your vehicle, get the windshield etched with your VIN number. The police department does this regularly for free. It makes it more of a hassle for the thief to turn your vehicle into money, so they may pass your vehicle by. The next time APD will be etching VIN numbers is Saturday February 28, from 10 until 2, at KMart on Carlise just south of I-40.
Visit http://www.safecityabq.org, which is APDs community web site. Here you can report crimes that do not require a police officer to come out, that is crimes where there is no evidence to gather and no perpetrator to apprehend.
Our second speaker was Marlene Hall, Front Store Manager at Pharmaca. She described the novel approach to health that we would experience when walking in the door to her pharmacy. You will always be greeted, and someone will ask if you would like help. If you have a health issue, their approach is very holistic. You have the benefit of advice from pharmacists, nutritionists, herbalists, ayurvedic practitioners, and others who can fill out the plan you are on with your doctors with supplements and other items that will work to compensate for the side effects of medications and to complement the medications in achieving your goals.
Dogs are welcome to enter Pharmaca with their owners. Ms. Hall described the pharmacy as being like a European pharmacy in this way, and in the attention given to each customer.
She handed out gift bags containing samples of the type of high quality personal care products and supplements that they carry. She also said that Pharmaca is committed to community outreach, and that she would be happy to create a gift basket for your community group's silent auction or raffle.
Resident Austin Dehoogh, D.C. introduced himself and explained that he is a new chiropractor at Gonstead Family Chiropractic at 8001 Menaul. The business web site is http://www.gonstead-nm.com and his email address is draustin@gonstead-nm.com.
We talked about forming Architectural Control Committees in each subdivision. When each subdivision was built, the developer established an ACC usually composed of himself and a few builders or family members. Each homeowner receives a Protective Covenant when they buy their home. These covenants are on our web site if you have misplaced yours. The covenants describe the method by which the homeowners can create their own ACC. None of the subdivisions that we are aware of have created an ACC.
This became an issue when a gentleman in Vineyard I painted his house bright pink, in violation of the protective covenants. Because there is not an ACC in Vineyard I elected according to the provisions in the protective covenant, he does not have to repaint his house. To avoid a situation like this in the future, we will be contacting each subdivision one at time to set up an ACC. Please consider volunteering to be on your subdivision's Architecture Control Committee when we contact you. We will provide you with all the materials you need to make good decisions, and will back you up in any way we can.
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Northeast Area Command, 8201 Osuna Rd. NE |
Ventura Plaza is the shopping center planned for the south west corner of Paseo del Norte and Ventura. You can see the plans for this center at our website (http://www.venaabq.org) at the construction notes
link.
The Walgreens will begin construction within the next week or two. The design should blend in with our environment, with rock veneer and with stucco colors similar to Ventura Place (the Trader Joe's center). There will be no signage facing the neighborhoods to the south and east. The north and west signage will be limited to two foot high letters as required by the La Cueva sector plan. It will be 14,800 square feet, which is about the size of Trader Joe's. This is smaller than a Walgreen's store which sells liquor, so we can expect that they will not be applying for a liquor license. They will have a drive up prescription window.
The developer has also received a permit from the state to add a right turn lane on eastbound Paseo del Norte for traffic turning south on Ventura. This is a real plus for our area.
The Walgreens should be completed by July. The remaining pieces of the development (the Mountain America Credit Union and the three retail buildings) are on hold for now pending a pick up in the economy.
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Hope Episcopal Church (http://www.hopeepiscopal.org) has completed construction on their church and are holding services in their new home. They will not be building their administrative building and the healing center for a while. The two office buildings in Hope Plaza are under construction. The building to the east should be completed in June, and the west building should be completed by August. At some point in this timeframe, the entrance and parking along Alameda will be completed and we should see all traffic into the center entering from Alameda rather than Signal.
We will talk with the owners and developers about putting a gate across the entrance from Signal, to reduce traffic for those neighborhoods. This entrance will not be needed until the healing center is built, which is likely some years in the future.
Signal Avenue from Carrington to Ventura is to be closed and turned into a walking path. We will find out the time frame and plan for this. An issue for VENA is the barrier on Greenarbor, which prevents traffic through Vineyard I, II and III from Barstow to Ventura. There has been some talk of removing the barrier when Signal is closed, but we would object to that. The historical purpose of the barrier was reduce traffic through those neighborhoods until Alameda is improved to four lanes all the way to Eubank.
The plan for both Hope Plaza and Hope Episcopal can be found on our website at http://www.venaabq.org.
Back to the top.9100 Holly is the small triangle north of Albertson's. The plan for the shopping center is on our website. It will include four retail stores and one office. The leasing agent said that they are hoping to get a restaurant there. However the project is on hold due to the slow economy. There is much vacant retail space along Paseo del Norte. When the already-built retail between I-25 and Ventura is full and bustling with shoppers, then 9100 Holly will begin construction.
Back to the top.Recognized neighborhood associations like VENA exist so that the City has an organization to contact when development is commencing in an area, or when changes are sought in existing plans. By City ordinance, we are to be contacted on any issue within or close to our boundaries that may affect our quality of life. (The legal language says that any potentially aggrieved parties
must be brought into the process.)
On December 24, the developer of Tierra Morena receive a private administrative ruling from the City permitting him to change his plan to omit the trees that were to line the high wall bounding his development along Signal. This is without question a decision that should have required neighborhood notification.
A Carrington resident who is also a real estate lawyer has been following these developments and has filed a complaint and a request for an appeal before the City Council. VENA will support his appeal. We will let you know when the appeal will be heard.
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Tierra Morena |
Three new board members were nominated at the September general membership meeting. Michelle Garza from Vineyard Court Estates, Richard Bothwell from Vineyard I, and Donna Daniello from Carrington were nominated in September and were elected to the board at following board meetings. We now have 12 board members, but no representation from Desert Ridge Place, Desert Vista, Los Vigils, Ocotillo, Tierra Morena, Villa Firenze, Vineyards IV, IVA, IVB, or V, Vintner Court, or Wilshire Estates. If you live in one of these subdivisions, please consider nominating yourself or a neighbor serve on the board at our May general meeting.
Hank Happ was elected Secretary, Tony Huffman was elected Vice President and Treasurer, and Lee Ann Riesen was elected President. We are happy that all of our board members from the previous year stayed on.
You can view the list of current board members at our website http://www.venaabq.org at the neighborhood association
link.
Our association meets 11 times per year, January through November. Three or four of the meetings are general membership meetings. The remaining meetings are board meetings. We wanted to let you know that the general membership is also welcome at our board meetings.
We meet on a Thursday night at 7, in the Library at Covenant United Methodist Church. This is across the hall from the Sanctuary where we hold the general meetings. We have a standing agenda item early in the evening for visitors, so if you would like to speak at that time we would love to hear from you.
Our next meeting is Thursday, March 26 at 7 PM. We will also be posting our meeting schedule on our website (http://www.venaabq.org).
Back to the top.If you have not yet joined your neighborhood association, we would like to encourage you to do so. The membership year begins in August and ends at the end of July. The cost of membership is $20. Most of this membership fee is used to pay for mailing postcards or fliers to all residents (members and non-members) notifying them of our meetings. Money left over usually is spent on beautification projects. We also make $50 contributions to subdivisions that plan a block party, and we make a contribution to the church that hosts our meetings.
There are almost 800 homes within our boundaries, and over 10% of the homes have joined the neighborhood association. This may not sound like much, but it is very high participation for a voluntary neighborhood association. In spite of that, we would still like to get more people involved, both as members of the association and as board members. Please contact anyone on the board if you would consider representing your subdivision on the board of directors.
A membership application can be found in the paper copy of this newsletter, and also on our web site at http://www.venaabq.org.
Back to the top.We continue to be astonished at the dog poop that is left by our homes, on our sidewalks, and in Vineyard Park. The sidewalk south of Carmel east of Ventura is consistently visited, daily it seems, by at least one dog.
This is a difficult problem to solve, because the dog owner must be caught in the act. If you witness this happening, call 242-COPS because it is against the law. It would help if you speak to the dog owner as well.
The board will be discussing options including purchasing signs and working with the police.
Back to the top.In our board meetings we have been discussing different ways of notifying residents of upcoming general membership meetings. We have a few signs we can set up, but not nearly enough for our 20 subdivisions. We concluded that we would order new signs, and board member Mike Gibson kindly offered to have his organization pay for it. (The Associated Contractors of New Mexico has a small budget for community outreach.)
Board member Richard Bothwell brought up the intriguing idea of a robo call system, which would call residents during the day and let them know about the upcoming meeting and what would be on the agenda. We could also use a system like this when something occurs that should immediately be broadcast to everyone, such as a police matter. The robo call would be in addition to a sign that shows up somewhere near your home the week before the general meeting.
We would appreciate feedback from people about how they would feel about getting a phone call, or a message on their voice mail, during the day. You could expect perhaps six or seven messages per year.
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311is your friend
The City of Albuquerque has established a phone number for all citizen inquiries. It is 311
. The 311 staff is highly trained in the workings of the City government, and they pride themselves on answering your call before the third ring, and getting you an answer to your concern. Since 311
was established, the other City departments have been able to be out in the City doing their jobs instead of answering phone calls from citizens. It has proven to be a very efficient system for the City and a helpful system for residents.
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