Twin Lakes South Neighborhood Org.

June 2006

Jun 30, 2006

Twin Lakes South Neighborhood Organization
Meeting Minutes
June 20, 2006
7:00 -8:30 PM
by Dan A. Smith

I. Tricia M. Surinak, resident
A. Welcomes everyone to our third monthly meeting.

II. Marty Faulk, president of North Andrews Neighborhood Association (NANA)
A. Emphasizes the importance of neighborhood organizations. The benefits that have resulted due to NANA include getting Broward County to give them immediate hurricane relief after Wilma, deterring crime, applying for grants to enhance common areas including a million dollar renovation to their recreation center and expanding their neighborhood park, and more.
?“Work within the system to improve your neighborhood,?” ?“A neighborhood organization is important, because it gives your voice weight,?” ?“Nothing a neighborhood organization does can hurt you or your home,?” and ?“Oakland Park government is helpful; partner with them.?”
B. Membership: 200 members for 10,000 residents (2%). All members are busy, but make time to volunteer and contribute to NANA. Members pay $10 annually.
C. Funds. They have $6,000 in their bank account. They raise money through selling ads in their newsletter and member dues, as well as miscellaneous fundraisers.
D. Volunteer Program. As the communications director and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) volunteer, he encourages people to participate. If we have five (5) people interested, Marty will train them for free to become Amateur Radio operators for our neighborhood. Contact Ken Martin, North Andrews Gardens resident and chair of the Volunteer Program at (954) 497-4100 or Marty at (954) 632-1667 for more information.
1. Hurricanes: Document power outages by noting the metal plate tag number on the pole, helps to facilitate quicker repair. Log onto www.oaklandparkfl.org and sign-up for Code Red.
E. Sewers. They?’ve recently gone through the process of having sewers installed. NANA decided not to take on the issue of sewers and let Broward County assume the responsibility. The process was ?“painful?” and ?“inconvenient?” (loud trucks working in the morning, broken sprinklers, dust, etc.), but they were ?“able to laugh together?” when it was all done. He said the end result is a much-improved quality of life.

III. Lt. Al Hubric, BSO officer (954) 561-6126, al_hubric@sheriff.org
A. The benefit of a neighborhood organization is knowing your neighbors and knowing who should and should not be in your neighborhood.
B. Handed out the burglary report for our area for May and June showing a string of burglaries, which occurred during the day. The common thread was that they were stealing new flat screen TVs. BSO caught them by a neighbor calling 911 and reporting that a burglary was in progress, because they knew that their neighbor was not home and not having their roof repaired. BSO responded and found a bogus roofing company on the side of a truck full of stolen flat screen TVs. BSO suspects the victims?’ addresses were obtained when paying for their new flat screens at Brands Mart and writing their addresses on the paperwork.
C. Call 911 if you think a crime is occurring. Give your neighborhood the reputation of calling the police all the time. Gave example of Century 21 Village being next to one of the most crime ridden and dangerous areas of town, but never had a problem with crime, because the criminals knew that someone would call 911.

IV. Mayor Steve Arnst, Oakland Park
A. A neighborhood organization is important in getting to know your neighbors and deterring crime. Don?’t let someone into your home without checking their company ID and/or calling the parent company (FPL, Bellsouth, etc.) to confirm that the company sent someone out to your house. Record the license plate number and car details of suspicious cars in neighborhood. House alarms are encouraged.
B. The neighborhood organization can investigate options for the streetlights. Needed to make a decision.
C. Sewers will be installed in 2009. It is important for water quality.
D. Residents?’ lawn fertilizers are responsible for algae in the lake.
E. Trash transfer station is available 4x?’s per month at Reese Road and I-595 in Davie. Take your driver?’s license and water bill. The Broward County Trash Transfer Station on Powerline Road is only available to dispose of hazardous waste.
G. Every year, Oakland Park makes $25,000 available to neighborhoods wanting to apply for the Neighborhood Identification Entranceway Enhancement grants of up to $5,000 each. Employees of Oakland Park will also help us write Broward County grants for our neighborhood.
H. Develop a hurricane plan for the neighborhood and distribute to every resident. Prepare for a minimum of 72 hours of self-sufficiency following a storm. If you have generator, run outside, not in a garage or carport and get a CO2 detector for your house.

V. Gail Naas, Communications
A. Visit our free website at www.neighborhoodlink.com/op/twinlakes and register. It is free and contains information pertaining to our neighborhood. If your register, you can post garage sales on our community calendar, classified ads, add a personal or family webpage, and participate in discussions. If you do not sign-up, you can read all of the information, but may not post anything to the website. This is our main mode of communication, so check it a couple of times a month.
B. Will be creating a newsletter in the future.
C. Batteries Plus Store on Commercial Blvd. sells a battery powered back up, which you can recharge with your car. It works like a generator for up to 8 hours and costs less than $200.

VI. Rebecca Petrone, Lake, DOT signs, and poles (954) 772-6386
A. OP has been cutting back the trees and treating the lake. This has eleviated the homeless problem. The City will also maintain the area around the lake.
B. NW 43rd Street had a leaning pole, which was replaced yesterday. If you know of a bad pole, contact Rebecca with its location.
C. If you know of a DOT street sign that is incorrect, contact Rebecca with its location.

VII. Mayor Steve Arnst
A. Brazilian Pepper tree (aka Florida Holly tree) is a non-native, invasive tree, which grows around the lake. We may want to have them removed.
B. The quarterly storm water assessment pays for the drains that need to be cleaned out twice a year with a Vacor truck. The City is purchasing another Vacor truck and adding crew.

VIII. Anne Ogren, NW 41st Street Canal and Apartment?’s trash
A. The canal is managed by Broward County and it is on a list to be dredged and cleaned.
B. Working on the overflowing trash and illegal dumping issues with the apartments. Their trash bin is serviced by Oakland Park. (Mayor Arnst recommends calling code enforcement).
C. Wants to see volunteers pick-up water and ice after a hurricane for our neighborhood.

IX. Tricia M. Surinak, COP, grants, Volunteer Program, Miscellaneous (954) 258-5245 or tsurinak@hotmail.com
A. Go to our website and link to the Broward Sheriff?’s Office Citizen Observer Patrol (COP) link. The next training is in July. To become a COP volunteer, you must be 18 years of age, have a valid driver?’s license, attend a four (4) hour training (one night) and commit to patrolling the neighborhood a minimum of 3 hours a month, at your choosing. Ask a neighbor or spouse to attend the training with you. Contact Deputy Tony Ramano at (954) 321-4105 for more information. Also, contact Tricia if you?’ve completed the training, so we can create a list of COP volunteers in the neighborhood. BSO provides the car, gas, radio, and uniform to us at no charge.
B. We submitted a proposal for the Broward Beautiful grant to replace the trees that were damaged from Wilma to the two right-of-ways between Prospect Road and NW 44th Street. We applied for 7 Gumbo Limbo trees, 8 Crepe Myrtles, and lots of Butterfly Weed to be installed. We were limited in choosing native trees that added to the lost tree canopy. The City of Oakland Park has issued us a letter committing to long-term maintenance of the area, as well as paying for the water meter and monthly water bill. Oakland Park and Broward County have granted permission to landscape the area.
Other grants that we can apply for include $500 to plant a butterfly garden on a common area. Also, the NIEE grant, which Mayor Arnst mentioned, for $5,000. Neither grant is matching and we can apply for them at any time. TLS common areas include the two right-of-ways and the area connecting our neighborhood to Royal Palm Park.
C. Miscellaneous items: If you have an idea for naming the Art Park proposed for the Oakland Park downtown area, contact Commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue at (954) 298-8899 or suzanneboisvenue@yahoo.com.
Nathalia Hodge and her husband live on NW 12th Terrace and own a graphic design company. They have offered to create a design for our neighborhood for free.
The next trainings for the Volunteer Program are July 12 and 26 and August 9 and 23 and September 6, all at 7PM. You can attend all or some of the trainings. You will become FEMA certified, which means you can access ice and water for our neighborhood. Due to the fraud and abuse of FEMA money and supplies from last year?’s hurricanes, FEMA is only allowing volunteers who have completed FEMA certification to touch their relief supplies. If we want people to bring us ice and water to our neighborhood, we need to have FEMA certified volunteers in our neighborhood. Also, if there is a stay-at-home order issued, only FEMA certified volunteers will be allowed to leave their homes. Contact Ken Martin for more information at (954) 772-1264 or atkl5524@bellsouth.net. You can also earn your FEMA certification on-line at www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/nims_training.shtm This is an one to one and a half hour course. If you earn your FEMA certification, contact Tricia so she can create a list of certified volunteers in our neighborhood.

X. Joyce Roderick, Lights
A. Currently, there is no plan in place for our neighborhood for lights. We need to decide what we want for lights. A survey is forthcoming from Oakland Park to find out what people in our neighborhood prefer. Utilize the website to voice your opinion and get accurate information.

* TLS NO next meeting is Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 7PM at Fire Station 87, unless another location is announced. Periodically check the website. Bring a neighbor to our next meeting!