September 1998 Newsletter

CANDIDATES TO DEBATE IN PINERY

     How can you be part of the solution? Cast an informed vote for local, state and federal candidates in November! We have arranged for you to get the information you need to make informed choices without even leaving The Pinery. Candidates for County Commissioner, Colorado Senate District 30, Colorado House District 64 and Congressional District 5, in which The Pinery is located, will present their platforms and answer your questions to them at our September 9th General Meeting.

     Think for a moment about how the decisions made by local and state officials affect your quality of life! Growth is a given in Douglas County, but how it is managed will have an impact on things as important as the air you breathe, how long it takes to travel from home to work each day, what kinds of commercial or other activities will be allowed in your neighborhood, and how your county property and state income taxes are spent and prioritized.
These are very complicated issues and it will take creative and perceptive people in pivotal spots to find solutions. It is easy to feel that it is not as important to vote in a years between presidential elections, but in many ways these "off-year" elections can have profound impacts on your day to day quality of life. COME TO MEET THE CANDIDATES ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH 7:30 P.M., COMMUNITY ROOM, PINERY FIRE STATION

Another Successful Pinery Pedal!

     Blue skies and a sunny Colorado morning set the backdrop for the Eighth Annual Pinery Pedal and Picnic on Saturday, August 22. With no worry of floods or lightening strikes, families throughout the neighborhood wheeled into the Pinery Park in record numbers for our colorful, community-wide event. More than 200 bike riders (nearly double last year's count!) and almost 500 picnickers gathered to ride, play, feast and anticipate the prize drawings.

Neighborhood Speed Watch Program Is Now In Effect

     The Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) has joined with The Pinery Homeowners' Association to launch the first (ever) Neighborhood Speed Watch Program in Douglas County. The PHA has been selected as the pilot organization as we were the first neighborhood association that asked for this type of program. From our request and through the efforts of the Sheriff's Office, Douglas County Engineering and the Douglas County Drive Smart Program, this new program will also be available to other communities after our initial pilot program is completed.

     Volunteers have been solicited from the Pinery community to staff this program and have been trained by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Twenty men and women have been assigned to 3A person teams to set up observation points on Pinery roadways and conduct traffic monitoring. These teams will be using state of the art radar equipment furnished by the DCSO to record license numbers, speeds, descriptions of vehicles and other data which will be used in identifying vehicles speeding on our roadways. The teams will either be next to the roadways or in vehicles parked legally adjacent to the roadways.

     The information collected during our Neighborhood Speed Watch activities will be analyzed by the DCSO and the names of the registered owners of the speeding vehicles will be given to the PHA. Letters, notifying the owners of the vehicles observed speeding, will be sent out with copies of these letters going to the DCSO for use in setting up enforcement formats and schedules. Our volunteers will also provide the DCSO with a traffic survey analysis that they will also use.

     It is the hope of all agencies and the PHA that through this cooperative effort we can help better control speed within our community and make our neighborhoods safer places in which to live and play. Any resident who feels that their neighborhood needs this observation program can all the PHA office and describe the problems and times of occurrence so that we can focus our resources in this area. The PHA wants to make a difference and we simply ask everyone to cooperate with our volunteers and the program. We are truly grateful to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and all of the other agencies that will be helping as this program matures.

New Sign Up At Back Entry

     A new PHA notice board has been installed at the corner of Betts Ranch Road and Sunridge Hollow Road. This new signboard will be posted with information and dates affecting our Pinery residents. The PHA is pleased to provide this amenity for our residents who use the Betts Ranch entrance for their travels. The new sign is modest in design and will be painted to blend into the surrounding environment.

     Please let us know if you find this sign informative and whether you consider it an asset.

Fall Cleanup & Adopt-A-Road Scheduled October 3

     The twice yearly community cleanup and Adopt-A-Road program is alive and well! Volunteers (and we hope this includes you) will meet at the Pinery Fire Station at 9 Am. Saturday, October 3rd before dispersing to their various areas. We suggest that you bring work gloves and a hat for sun protection.

     So that we can have some idea of how much help we can count on, please call or leave a message with the PHA office, 841-8572. We can use each and every one who can spare an hour or two!

Reflective Trick-or-Treat Bags for Young Spooks

     Shorter days, longer nights and sunny, crisp days signal that Halloween is right around the corner! PHA wants to make it an exceptionally safe and happy holiday for all young spooks, hobgoblins and ghosts trick-or-treating on Pinery streets. We have ordered a limited quantity of reflective trick or treat bags which will be available in the PHA office (lower level of the Pinery Fire Station) during the month of October. It goes without saying that all children should be accompanied by an adult as they collect their Halloween handouts, but the reflective bags will make them very visible in the headlights of passing vehicles. If you would like to have Trick-or-Treat bags for your kids, please pick them up at the PHA office between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. any weekday.

GOOD NEIGHBORING.

     The Neighborhood Resource Center of Metropolitan Denver is dedicated to strengthening neighborhoods which creates stronger communities. Their research suggests that getting to know your neighbors can have a powerful impact on your life. When neighbors interact, kids stay in school, crime declines and residents report improved health. In the next few newsletters, we will be sharing some of their thoughts with you.

     How do you start the process? It may seem difficult to simply jump in and introduce yourself to strangers. Here are a few examples of ice breakers that have worked for others.

• Bring a neighbor's newspaper up to their door and introduce yourself.
• Comment on a neighbor's garden or landscaping. Ask for tips.
• If you experience a break-in or have learned about a problem in the area, give your neighbors a heads up.
• Shovel snow and do yard work at the same time as your neighbor.
• Make you first meeting a friendly one, rather than a complaint about the barking dog, over grown yard or loud music.
• Invite everyone on the block over for dessert.

     Acknowledge the awkwardness of the situation. "We've lived on the same street for five years, and I decided it was time to introduce myself..."

     WELCOMING A NEW NEIGHBOR: It says a lot about a neighborhood when people don't just peek out their windows at the moving vans, but they actually walk over to say hello. Each year about 20% of American families move to a new home. It is comforting to newcomers to know they are welcome. It would be especially neighborly if you had something in hand to offer such as a load of zucchini bread with some vegetables from your garden, a map of neighbors on your street, a handmade certificate to redeem for a weekend brunch at your house, redeemable when they get settled, a vase of flowers from your garden, or a list of parents on the street whose kids are in the same school. If you are the new neighbor, introduce yourself, Taking the first step can get you started off on the right foot.

Pinery Songbird Sanctuary Update:

     Our bird sanctuary project continues to take shape! Thank you so much to all the residents who visited us at the Pinery Pedal! Our tentative schedule is to dig out knapweed on September 20 and spread compost on October 3 and 4. Landscape and irrigation design will be done over the winter, planting in the spring. We need volunteers for the September and October workdays.

New Leash Law In Effect

      The following information is passed along to all Pinery residents from a recent news article in the Douglas County News Press. New wording applied to a present Douglas County ordinance requires dog owners to provide "control over dogs" with "restraint of the dog by means of a leash or similar tether no more than 30 feet in length". The new resolution also states that the dog must be under the control of a person able to restrain the dog. The fine for allowing a dog to run loose without restraint is $50 for the first incident and $75 for any further incidents.

     Another amendment to this county wide ordinance is better language to protect pets from the elements. Not providing food and shelter "in the normal standard of care" for pets will also bring a fine now. Abandonment of a pet without food and water for a period of 24 hours is also a violation. These new amendments to the past animal control ordinance were passed on August 4th and became immediately effective. People walking their dogs now must be guided by this new set of rules at all times.

     The Pinery Homeowners' Association also asks all pet owners to, "pick up the waste your pet deposits on private, park or lake area property!" This problem is the single most reported problem to our community in relation to pets and their owners. Every pet owner is asked to be considerate of others' property and property where owners must walk and children play.

     We have received a number of complaints about dogs barking during night or very early morning hours, or for prolonged periods during the day. We suggest that you talk with the owner to see if the problem can be resolved. If that has not been successful, you can call Douglas County Sheriff's Office Animal Control, 660-7529, and ask them to intervene.

RV News

     For the convenience of our Storage Lot Lessees, we maintain trash receptacles at the entrance to each lot. Because the cans are inside the secured lots and, to hold down expense, we have no trash pickup contracted for them. The RV Lot Manager empties them regularly (by incorporating it with their personal household pickup) to ensure that we don't have a problem with blowing trash.

     It is our intent that these receptacles be used only for non-hazardous, lightweight trash and litter. So far this year, we've had a large, canvas RV tarp and an RV battery left at the receptacles. Disposal of these items is the responsibility of the lessee. We want to continue to provide this convenience, but if inappropriate items are left regularly, we will need to remove the receptacles. Please help us by properly disposing of hazardous, large or heavy items elsewhere.

Volunteers Corner

     Thanks again to those wonderful volunteers who turned out for the spring cleanup and Adopt-A-Road Program in May.

     We hope that more of you will be able to join us for the fall cleanup scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd. We will meet in the parking lot of the Pinery Fire Station, N. Pinery Parkway and Hillcrest Way at 9 a.m. For your own comfort, you will want gloves, sunscreen, and possibly a hat. Look for us along Betts Ranch Road, Lakeshore Drive and at the North Entryway.

     Please remember too, when driving any of our roads, that trash you leave behind will not disappear unless someone picks it up. Our roadsides are littered with cigarette butts, fast food containers, soft drink and beer cans, as well as other carelessly tossed items that someone let fly. Be considerate of the environment as well as those special people who care enough to volunteer time for this community!