May General Membership Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes
AHNA General Membership Meeting
Monday May 18, 2009
6:35 Meeting called to order by Makenzie Carpenter. She welcomes everyone.
Announcement
Juliet George introduces the Fort Worth “Sold” on Historic Homes Event on Saturday May 23rd from 9:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. The event is a collaboration between local realtors and historic preservationists, and is free to the public. The Arlington Heights neighborhood will be represented at the event as well as other historic Fort Worth neighborhoods.
Zoning
Next Zoning Committee meeting will be June 3rd. If anyone is interested in attending please contact Dave Marshall. The Zoning Committee is currently working on getting our neighborhood properly zoned to A-5 Single Family. A large part of our neighborhood is currently zoned B Duplex. By changing the zoning in our neighborhood to A-5, we can limit the amount of “McMansions” for multiple families that are built. If you are interested in re-zoning your block, please contact Dave Marshall.
Crime Report
Officer Majors: Burglaries of vehicles are the biggest problem in the neighborhood right now (8 reported last month). The majority of these crimes in our neighborhood have occurred between Clover and Montgomery, and it doesn’t matter if your car is in the driveway or on the street. Most of the burglarized vehicles were left unlocked with possessions taken, in plain sight. So please be sure to lock your cars and don’t leave your purses and laptops in plain sight! And please report any suspicious persons or activity. If you call and report these things, then beat cops will come out and check it out. Having the beat cops in our neighborhood is a good thing!
Other crimes in the neighborhood: 4 burglaries of homes this month. If you see a black male pushing a shopping cart along Camp Bowie, please call Officer Majors. He is stealing planters and other items from businesses.
Q: Was the burglar who was caught last month released?
A: Yes, and he has since be re-arrested for burglary again.
Parking Plan
The Western Heritage Parking Garage is under construction along Montgomery between the Community Arts Center and the Museum of History and Science. This will be a pay to park garage and this fee may encourage visitors to seek free parking along the streets in the eastern part of our neighborhood. In an effort to be proactive on this potential problem, AHNA is organizing a meeting with residents at the eastern portion of our neighborhood who will be affected. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 21st @ 6:30 at Thomas Place Community Center. Please contact Makenzie if you have questions, or can’t attend the meeting but would like to offer input.
New Business
Tonight’s Presentation
Gina Cubbage – Code Compliance
The purpose of Fort Worth Code Compliance is to handle cases that affect Environmental, Health and Nuisance Law Enforcement. Tonight Gina will talk about what cases she can help our neighbors solve.
High Grass and Weeds – If the problem covers 50% of the area and is at least 12” high throughout, Gina can issue a citation. For vacant lots, if this problem persists, Gina can have the city mow the lot and then charge the owner. For mowing alleyways, because of the financial strain on the City right now, mowing alleyways has been pushed to the bottom of the priority list. You can call about it, but it probably won’t be handled very promptly.
Trash & Illegal Dumping – Trash would be defined as “on the owner’s property and in plain sight”. Illegal Dumping would be defined as “trash on public property, but not in plain sight”, such as leaving trash in an alleyway. You can call Gina for both of these, but you can also call 911 if you catch Illegal Dumping in the act. Police will respond quickly because it carries a $2000 fine.
Animal Calls – For animal problems, please call Animal Control. Gina doesn’t handle animal calls. She can forward animal calls to Animal Control, but she has no authority of issue citations on animal violations. In extreme cases, where Gina is available, she can monitor a situation (such as animal abuse) until Animal Control can arrive. There is a new director of Animal Control, Mr. Bennett, and the City is modifying the animal ordinances. If you are interested in reviewing these changes or have questions, the City is holding public meetings that you can attend.
Construction & Permits – Gina can check on permits for construction. Although she cannot stop construction, she can open a case and document the problem as well as forward the case on to the development department. If you have a neighbor who is building something without a permit, please document the problem yourself as well as calling Gina. The more information collected the better! For vacant homes, windows and doors need to be covered and secured so that people cannot get into the house. Right now there is a vacant house on blocks on Dexter Avenue. It will be moved as soon as the ground has dried up from the recent rains. A case has been opened and Gina is monitoring this problem.
Day Cares – Please watch for day care activity and make sure they have the proper licenses. This is especially important as it could affect the safety and welfare of children! Call Gina immediately if you suspect any unlicensed day cares!
Junk Vehicles – If there is a junk vehicle in the neighborhood, please call Gina and she can have it ticketed and removed.
Q: What can we do about intrusive plants from a neighbor’s yard? A: You can chop the part on your property down. If there are any problems that develop with the plant on the neighbors property from the actions you have taken it becomes a civil matter. There is nothing in the code that allows Gina to deal with this problem. It is treated just like a fence falling down between two pieces of property.
Q: How long does it take you to respond to code calls? A: Gina will come inspect the problem 2-3 days after the call. She will then send a certified letter to the owner asking them to fix the problem. She will then re-inspect the problem 30 days later to give the owner enough time to fix the problem. Some problems dealing directly with health, safety and welfare issues are given a greater priority than others, so please be patient with the process. If you are able to document the problem yourself with photos and emails to city officials while Gina is inspecting the case also, that can be a big help! And keep in mind that your call to Gina is treated as Anonymous! So don’t be afraid to call! And of course, you can always call Makenzie Carpenter, our AHHA president, and she can contact Gina as well.
Upcoming Speakers
June – Fort Worth Architect Ames Fender will discuss the work of his grandfather, Wyatt C. Hedrick.
Meeting Adjourned @ 7:45 pm.