English Turn

English Turn Civic Improvement Association Newsletter Nov.2004

Dec 02, 2004

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH, 2004 - THIS IS A MEMBERS ONLY MEETING!! The Annual General Membership Meeting will be held at the Buddhist Temple on Hwy. 406. Elections will be held at this meeting. There are 4 board member openings to be filled. Frances Sewell, Verlaine Hirsch, and Sarah Ripp are up for reelection, and nominations will be taken from the floor and by mail. In order to be elected you must be there to accept or have a letter of acceptance signed and sent to the Attention of the Secretary, at the P.O. Box, by November 23rd. To be able to nominate, be nominated or vote in this election you must be an accepted member of the E.T.C.I.A. To be an accepted member, the Board of Directors must review your application for membership. ONLY those having a valid physical address or Square and Lot site will be eligible for membership. Only one vote per household. (We have had some people from other areas attempt to vote and that will not be allowed. So please provide the above information.) Proxies will only be accepted on an official E.T.C.I.A. proxy form. You can obtain one of these by contacting President Frances Sewell by phone, mail, or fax. You will then be mailed a proxy form in your name. Only this original form with the association logo and property owner/resident name will be valid. Copies will not be accepted. Original proxies may be mailed to the P.O. Box by Nov. 29th or may be brought to the meeting with any member. Make sure you have filled in the members name to whom you are giving your proxy .


ACTIVITIES OF THE LAST TWO YEARS:

This has been a busy two years and we would like to give a brief summary of what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done.

DRAINAGE : We have worked closely with the Sewerage and Water board over these two years concerning the drainage in our area. After inviting them to speak at several meetings and having the residents tell of the water they were getting on their property, the S&WB dredged out several of the main canals that are used to drain our area. We believe this will help alleviate some of our drainage problems. Now we are working with the Street Department to dig and clear the ditches in order for the water to drain into the main canals. They have begun this project, but it has not yet been completed.

STREETS: We are now looking forward to doing something about our horrible streets! This has always been a problem in our area. We have met with John Shires, Director of the Dept. of Public Works (Street Dept.), on numerous occasions, and even had him speak at our meetings. However, no improvements have been made. Taxes have increased, a Bond Issue has passed, yet not one street in our community has been fixed or even put on the map for future projects. On May 19th, 2003, Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, in a meeting held at Woldenburg Village, made a promise that at least one street with a 5 inch asphalt finish would be done in our area. She stated that it would begin in November or December of that year. As, of this date, nothing has been done. We are asking each member of our association to write a complaint letter to John Shires, Director of the Public Works Dept. Please send your letter to our P.O. Box so that we can include it in a package we are compiling concerning our streets. The deplorable condition of our streets greatly depreciates property values and we need to do something about it. Please join us in this effort.

ROUND-A-BOUT: We invited the DOTD to two of our meetings to show us a presentation of the round-a-bout they are planning for the intersection of State Hwy. 406 and the Intracoastal Canal bridge. The engineers gave a computer generated demonstration of how it would work. Everyone present seemed to agree that it was an excellent solution for the accident prone intersection. The funding for this is available and completion of this project is slated for the next fiscal year. These engineers truly did an awesome job. We could not have asked for a better idea.

DEVELOPMENT: We have seen a new land developer come into our area, Mr. Nathan Watson of The Arbors, and have attended meetings to learn of his plans and methods of development. His ideas appear good on paper and it definitely is a new way of doing things. We hope that this will prove to be successful and a new model for a more environmentally friendly way to look at subdivisions.

ALGIERS POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(APAC): APAC has been a wonderful project to be involved in. We have our neighborhood Watch signs up (thanks to Gerard Robertson for putting them up) and have been in touch with the police on a number of issues. We have been able to get the police involved before criminal activities could escalate. Kudos to all of you who have been watchful and reported suspicious activity!

TOWN HALL MEETINGS: We held a town hall meeting at Lakewood Country Club on October 25th at which we had 62 people attend. Our honored guests were Chief Judge Calvin Johnson, Judge Hearn Taylor, and District Attorney Eddie Jordan. Police Chief Eddie Compass was invited and sent Deputy Chief Nichols in his place. We also had the top three candidates for Juvenile Judge and candidate for Sheriff Warren Riley. It was an educational and informative meeting where we discussed crime and the New Orleans Bond Issue. We also held a meeting with Janet Howard of the Bureau for Governmental Research (BGR) at Woldenburg Village on October 27th, 2004, at which she discussed the New Orleans Bond Issue. This meeting was attended by our residents as well as residents of the English Turn Gated Community and other interested persons. We would like to have more of these meetings in the future. If you know of a citywide issue that you believe deserves a Town Hall Meeting, let us know.

HWY. 406 BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS:
The neutral ground has been planted and is being maintained by the E.T.C.I.A. in partnership with the English Turn P.O.A. and The Arbors. We have also planted our wildflowers along side of the road and have more wildflowers and red clover left to spread. Some of the neighborhood schools have expressed an interest in getting involved with this project and we welcome the help. This is the gateway to our community, English Turn and The Arbors and we will be looking forward to seeing it bloom in the spring.

CLEAN UP DAY: We have joined forces with the Great American Clean Up and the Mayor?’s Clean Sweep programs and have had some very successful clean up days in the past. Thanks to Board Member Dorothy Johnson for organizing and bringing out our neighbors on Hwy. 406 and thanks to all of our residents, English Turn Community Members, and Nathan Watson of The Arbors for pitching in.

As mentioned earlier this has been a very busy two years in working hard our problems, none of which were self serving, but community problems being addressed.



We thank you for allowing us to represent and serve you and we hope you will allow us to continue with these important issues and projects. If you have any suggestions or issues that need attention, please advise us of them. Thank You.


YOUR BOARD MEMBERS:

Frances Sewell - President
Phone - (504) 393-0390
Fax- - (504) 394-2037
E-mail - FrancesSewell@earthlink.net

Verlaine Hirsch - Vice President
Phone - (504) 393-9248
E-Mail - velaine1939@cox.net

Sarah Ripp - Treasurer
Phone - (504) 392-5626
E-Mail - rjrjrus@msn.com

Emelda Green - Secretary
Phone - (504) 394-4061

Don Moreau - Sgt.-at-Arms

Board Members at Large:
Laverne Wetwiski
Dorothy Johnson
Chester Williams


Written Communication should be sent to:

E.T.C.I.A.
P.O. Box 6906
New Orleans, LA. 70174

Check out our website at:
neighborhoodlink.com/neworleans/english