The Bellevue Terrace Neighborhood Association

BTNA May 2005 Newsletter

Apr 24, 2005

Hello neighbors, it?’s only a third of the way thru the year and we have accomplished many of our planned projects. Traffic Abatement was a success and we will be putting speed tables (not bumps) on Irving, Courtland, and Greenbrier (from Tuttle to Brink). We do not know what will be done with Lockwood Ridge yet because it is part of the Flood Plan and we are trying to serpentine the street instead of adding speed tables. We will keep everyone updated as more information becomes available.

The City has installed the NO PARKING IN RIGHT OF WAY signs on the west side of Lockwood Ridge Road next to the park. Many of the people who walk along Lockwood felt that it was needed for safety reasons.

We have some good news and some bad news about our neighborhood.

First the bad news:

On Sunday, April 17th at approximately 11:00pm, someone set 7 fires in the woods at the park. There was extensive damage done to the park vegetation but luckily the fire department contained the 7 fires before theyt spread to the nearby houses. If anyone has any information as to who may have set the fire, please call Mickey at 366-5276, Terry at 330-0236 or Chip at 953-4172 and we will take it from there. You can remain anonymous if you wish to do so. It really upsets us that someone could do this to our neighborhood.

Several of our neighbors have had to call the police department many times to report various incidents of vandalism in the park and berm areas. The police and our neighborhood watch volunteers will be monitoring these areas very closely from now on and the city will prosecute those caught by utilizing the maximum penalties possible. For example, there was a problem at the park on Tuesday, April 12th, where as several boys were throwing Styrofoam all over the ground by the south end of the dry retention area. They were caught in the act and it was requested that they clean up the mess that they had made. They eventually filled 6 trash bags with the Styrofoam. The police made a report on the event including the names of the boys in case of further problems. This might sound like a trivial problem but Styrofoam is not environmentally friendly and overtime can add pollution to the air as well as the water supply. It is also subject to the littering laws which can be up to a $500 fine.

The berm has been destroyed again by the kids digging out ?‘tracks?’ to ride their bikes up the hill. Well guess what? It is going to cost YOU the tax payers to repair this again.

The bridge between the two lakes was also destroyed recently by several youngsters.

The police department has several good leads on the above issues as to who the perpetrators are and they are starting an investigation into the matters for prosecution. Something to keep in mind is that Sarasota has an ordinance on the books that if in fact the destruction was done by children, the city can legally ?‘bill?’ the respective parents of those children for the cost of the repairs as well as the investigation and any ensuing court costs.

Parents - please stop your children from destroying the park and berm areas. One of the main reasons we have fought so hard to get the park & berm areas developed is so our kids would have a clean, safe place to play. If we let them destroy it, it kind of defeats the purpose of having it ?– Don?’t you think?

There have been several near misses between children playing and speeding vehicles on Lockwood Ridge Road.
Please inform your children to be aware that we have a problem with speeding cars on Lockwood Ridge Road and for their safety they need to be alert.

I know everyone is tired of hearing it but All of us have to pay for the damage being done by some of the kids in our neighborhood. Offenders will now be turned over to the police for prosecution and the parents of the perpetrators will have to deal with the costs of repairs and legal fees.

Now some good news:

Thanks to Betty Town for a great job on the Garage Sale we had on Saturday, April 16th. It was a great success for the 14 families that had a sale. It?’s hard to imagine that out of 339 homes in this association that we only had 14 houses participating. Betty had over 70 phone calls wanting to know where Bellevue Terrace was, and she made over $500.00 just on her stuff. Good job for the neighborhood Betty, We thank you.

Judging by the turnout for the runoff election, few people are aware that we have one new commissioner - Ken Shelin and Lou Ann Palmer was re-elected for another term. Hope that Ken Shelin keeps the many promises that he gave us in his campaign.

The County and City are in discussions on the parking spaces for the park on Lockwood Ridge Road. We need to know input from ALL OUR NEIGHBORS as to if you would like parking or not. We really shouldn?’t need it because we think it won?’t be visited by many people from outside our neighborhood.
Please email me (Mickey) at MMOUSE3020@aol.com or call me at 366-5276 with your vote for or against the parking spaces at the park. If you don?’t let me know by email or phone I will consider it a YES vote and go from there.

Hope to see more of you at the meeting on May 10th. Meetings are always at my house now so many of you are close enough to walk.

Mickey Emberton, President BTNA