And seriously only in America could you sue someone or an entity over freaking WEEDS.  Give me a break.  The sick part is some lawyer will take it and happily take your money knowing there is no way it'll ever have a snow ball's chance in you know where to win in court, but he/she will happily get rich over Castlegate.

Seriously suing over weeds.  They want to build a freeway through the subdivision, make THOUSANDS of families homeless, gas is so expensive some have had to quit their jobs because they couldn't afford to get there, people are losing their homes for various reasons, grocery bills are going up because of gas prices, airlines are cutting flights and possibly some may go bankrupt, and somebody wants to sue over WEEDS??????????    Honestly, that's just plain sad IMO.

Blogs and email lists are free, so they wouldn't cause our dues to go up.  Newsletters are also free if they're posted on this site (or sent out via an email list).  I clicked the link on this website to the Newsletters and the most recent was from like 14 months ago!  Yes, lots of communication going on.  And how is everyone supposed to know about this website?  I can't find anything from the HOA telling me it existed; I found out from a friend after I had already lived in the neighborhood for over a year.

As for the HOA not returning calls, I'm far from the only one with that problem.  Maybe they return yours because you're a board member's wife?  I don't know, but next time they don't return my call, I'll leave your name and you can relay the message to me.  Haha.  I do go to Board meetings; I just (like a lot of folks) want more of an update in between them.  I was so sad not knowing about the dumpsters (thet were NOT widely promoted on here [and looking back at that post, even one of the few people on that post noted that "only the 8 people reading this will know" and I didn't know about this site at that time, either).  That was a huge let down to me, and to many others who were present at the HOA meeting who expressed an interest in helping out.

As for the weeds, honestly, I personally don't give a crap about them.  Pardon me for that sentiment, but I don't.  If they were next door to me, I would take them down myself.  I have compassion for the people who are very bothered by the weeds and wish there was an easy solution.  I know it's not possibly to make every single person in the neighborhood happy, but I think better communication would be a great start.

The board members try to keep the community up to date with this website.  We have advertised it at ALMOST every board meeting, which not many people seeem to attend, we have advertised it in at least two of the news letters that have gone out, in fact I think if you look back at the news letter on the website, it is probly on there.....and by the way, it was advertised in a newsletter that was sent out in the mail to EVERYONE....so, If you have any suggestions on how to get the word out about the site, (other than mail or meeting because we have done both more than once), please let me know.  I would like to get the word out as much as you would.

Just an FYI when I have called Kachina or e-mailed Kachina nobody there knows who I am...ESPECIALLY with an e-mail that doesn't contain my name, address, or anything else they simply responded back with an e-mail.  Many people could (and do) have my last name in a subdivision with over a thousand families, so I highly doubt that's the reason my calls are returned.  However I DO give a time limit and let them know that if I am not contacted by the end of the day I will be calling back the following day so I would appreciate a return phone call.  I have yet to have an issue.

And if there were e-mail blogs or whatever else what makes you think people will want to use it anymore than they have used this site?  If more people utilized this site, there may be more of a want to do newsletters, post things, etc.

And the HOA isn't the only one with poor communication.  The blockwatch stinks too.  From something I was looking at it looked like they had a kids day with bike helmets, bike safety, fingerprinting the kids, etc, I NEVER KNEW A DARN THING ABOUT IT.  So really, every organization could use to improve their communication methods, the problem is finding the one method that works for the majority of people and using it, getting the word out, etc.  People can always find something to complain about it's just human nature.