November 2004

19^th AVE PARK NEWSLETTER

Our next meeting:

DATE:     Thursday, November 11, 2004

TIME:      7:30 PM

PLACE:   Marriott Hotel    (meeting room, refreshments, and free parking courtesy of the Marriott Hotel)

We welcome all residents of 19^th Ave Park. Please join us and get acquainted with your neighbors.

Election Day is November 2^nd. Please VOTE

We will have several speakers this month. Our topic will be the Hetch Hetchy Water System. Environmental Defense will have a representative to give us a view of the Hetch Hetchy water system. They are a national nonprofit organization representing more than 400,000 members. Environmental Defense is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all people, including future generations. Among these rights are clean air, clean water, healthy food and flourishing ecosystems.    http:// www.environmentaldefense.org

We will also have a speaker from the California Water Department. This is the water department that provides our water. One of the questions we will be asking is how safe is our water and does it contain chloramine?  Bring your other questions to this meeting. Save the date!

STREET CLEANING IS COMING TO 19^th AVE PARK

The Public Works crew is installing sign poles in the neighborhood. Restricting parking hours for street cleaning days will be posted for individual streets. Once the signs are in place, the Police Department will start patrolling the neighborhood. Usually, the police will allow a grace period with warning slips first before issuing citations. Public Works is anticipating the completion of the task before the end of the year.

With Fall here and Winter just around the corner and the leaves falling from our trees, street cleaning will be a great way to keep our curbs clean and free of leaves. The Public Works Department has requested that residents not sweep their lawn leaves into the street, as the sweeper has its limits. Use your recycle bins for your own leaves. Be a good neighbor and help keep our 19^th Ave Park Neighborhood Clean.

19^th Ave Park Homeowner’s Membership

It is time to renew your membership in 19^th Ave Park for the year 2005. 19^th Ave Park HOA depends on member dues to support its functions throughout the year and 19^th Ave Park dues are a bargain- still only $12 a year per household! The membership fee covers costs for printing our newsletter and incidental expenses of running the association. Members receive monthly newsletters keeping them up-to-date on important events in the neighborhood and our community. We have a general meeting at the Marriott Hotel the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. 19^th Ave Park represents residents on important issues that come before the City Council. Please join our neighborhood association and make your voice heard!

19^th Ave Park is working on it’s own Website for our residents.

Thanks are in order for Emmanuel Huna, a Webmaster designer and a resident from Judy Court. Emmanuel and his fiancé, Janelle, are working on designing the 19^th Ave Park website. This will enable our residents to receive the newsletter by email if they wish and to have many links to websites that will be useful to them. Keep an eye out for more information. Many thanks to Emmanuel and Janelle for their involvement with our community.

San Mateo United Homeowners (SMUHA) meeting—Marshall Loring

There was a lively discussion of the many initiatives on the ballot with emphasis on 1A, 65, 70, & 68.   [See Propositions on the Ballot at http://ca.lwv.org/ for non-partisan information provided by the League of Women Voters]  Formal endorsement and financial support of Measure P was approved.

The list of the Transit Development Act grant request projects was discussed at length. A letter of SMUHA support was authorized.  The projects in our area include count down timers for the Concar-Delaware intersection pedestrian signals and improved bike and pedestrian lanes on the 19^th Ave. US-101 overpass.

If you are concerned about the having to pay for parking permits for the spaces on the street in front of your house that are described on the City website [http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/], you can learn more and express your opinions at these City Council Meetings about Residential Parking Permits at City Hall:                                                               Monday, November 1, 2004, 7 pm, Council Chambers - Ordinance for Introduction - Residential Parking Permit Program Monday, November 15, 2004, 7 pm, Council Chambers - Ordinance for Adoption - Residential Parking Permit Program

Proposition 1A Information Item:  No matter what you hear, passage of either 1A or 65 will NOT reduce state education funding.  This funding is mandated by the state Constitution and MUST be provided by the state BEFORE any pet projects or other non-mandated expenditures!

Can Affordable Housing Be a Good Neighbor? This and other questions about affordable housing will be covered by Professor Michael Pyatok, author of the book “Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing” at the November 3 Forum at Redwood City. The Forum will be at the Little Fox Theater 2209 Broadway from 6 to 7:30 PM and the cost is $10.00 per person payable at the door. An optional no-host dinner with the presenter and other participants is generally held following the Forum for those wishing to continue the discussion.

On the first Wednesday of each month, the Forum, co-sponsored by the Association of Bay Area Governments (www.abag.org), at Redwood City brings nationally known speakers and presenters to Downtown Redwood City for in-depth dialogs on city design issues.

Eichler Network—P. O. Box 22635 San Francisco, CA 94122

The Eichler Network is a newsletter-magazine that is published quarterly and is dedicated to Eichler homes throughout the Bay Area. If you live in an Eichler home the magazine is free of charge and it is a good reference for items related to Eichler homes. Check out their web site- www.eichlernetwork.com

San Mateo BFI Garbage Service

Don’t forget to arrange an ON-CALL Cleanup, Contact BFI at 592-2411. You get TWO free on-call cleanups each year. So, if you have not used one yet, make use of this service to clear up those unwanted items in your home and back yard. Check out BFI’s web site at www.bfipeninsula.com.

Holiday Decorations in 19^th Ave. Park

Start checking those holiday lights and replacing burned out bulbs, because it’s time for the 19^th Ave Park Beautification Committee to be looking for the homes in our neighborhood with the most colorful holiday display! Proud homeowners will be given an award sign to post on their lawn for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners and will also receive a prize from the 19^th Ave. Park HOA. The Beautification Committee will be going around the neighborhood in December.

Information on the Ivy

Residents living on Connie whose yards backup to Concar should pay attention to the ivy growing through the new fence. Winter rain will encourage the ivy’s growth. Now is a good time to get control of it. Use Roundup products that can be purchased at any garden or hardware store. It is a good herbicide and is safe. Use Roundup on the ivy as directed on the package. It is also a good idea to trim all the ivy away from the new fence, so that it does not grow through the fence. Please help us keep the fence in good condition. This public amenity is a benefit to all of us in 19^th Ave Park. Be a good neighbor and keep the ivy under control. Thank you…

Henry Friedlander, 19^th Ave Park Newsletter Editor