Not sure when the next meeting is, since we never hear much from the HOA except that once a year newsletter. I, and a few others on here, have mentioned being behind the idea of a mandatory HOA, I'm all for it, as long as it's affordable (perhaps a little bit more than it is now, which is $25/year, maybe we can do $35/year, etc). This would make sure that there is enough in the budget to keep up neighborhood things. I'm not sure how far the push to go mandatory will go, a LOT of people got burned twice with the gas-lease thing and blame the HOA for lack of action. There are a lot of variables and the story is long, plenty of blame to go around, partly for reasons of the pull-out of the gas lease company, suspiciously a few signatures short of their contracted agreement to put up a decorative cement wall around the neighborhood. Anyway, I digress.
If you are a DIY kind of person, you can probably find some good camera systems at Sam's or Fry's. I was thinking of putting in one from Fry's, it has multiple cameras, it's own storage system and can also output to an available input on your TV set. The system, if I recall correctly, was less than $500 (more like $200-ish), and had night-vision ability. A system at Sam's had 1-2 cameras, and didn't require any wiring (it provided a pin-hole camera as part of a corner/under-the-roof-eave flood light) and worked transmitting the images via the existing electrical wiring in your house (like some computer networking works), it only required a receiver to be plugged in somewhere in your house hear the TV to pick up the signal).
If you're not a DIY person, perhaps someone here who lives in the neighborhood does security work and can cut you a deal, or they can mention a reputable company for the work. Our neighborhood is large enough to have a diverse group of good-people who have all sorts of background, some providing services to homeowners and are happy to do good & economical work for our fellow neighbors (everything from plumbing, landscaping, to dog-sitting services).
I would recommend attending the HOA meetings because Fort Worth has an NPO (Neighborhood Police Officer), Officer Choyce, who provides updates on crime (nearly NIL in our neighborhood due to how observant we are), crime prevention tips, and also emails out a weekly report of activity in the surrounding area. He is NPO for a region so he is not dedicated to a particular HOA area, but several. He will also answer specific questions you might have too, a good Police-Community partnership I think. Our neighborhood is one of the best ones to live in due to the observant nature of our fellow neighbors, as well as recommending we call if any suspicious activity is noticed (and showing us what to observe on perps, so info can be provided).
Sorry for the long reply, but hope it helps.
