Mistletoe Heights Neighborhood Association Meeting
February 16, 2016 @ 7:00 – 8:30pm
Host: The Tysons Residence 1351 Mistletoe Drive
Attendees
Officers: Josh Lindsay, Chad Jung, Jeri Jo Blackmon, Mary Peipert, Valerie Ewing
Neighbors: 29
Special Guest Speakers:
Sidney Keith (West Division): 817-944-1038 email: sidney.keith@fortworthtexas.gov
Josh Caprio (Hospital District): 817-856-8609 email: joshua.caprio@fortworthtexas.gov
7:15 pm: Meeting started with Josh Lindsay, MHA President, introducing special guest speakers Sidney Keith and Josh Caprio; NPOs (Neighborhood Police Officers) for our area. Officer Keith spoke first and stated that he is the designated NPO for the “West Division” which is the area west of Forest Park Blvd (FPB) and Officer Caprio is the designated NPO for the “Hospital District” which is east of FPB. The NPO is there for the neighborhood and you can contact them if you have concerns about stop sign problems, barking dogs, code violations, security surveys for your home, etc. Officer Caprio spoke next and he specified that his area is FPB to 8th Ave and Rosedale to Park Place. He stated our neighborhood has the lowest crime trend of his entire area. Contact information is provided above however Officer Keith indicated he preferred email while Officer Caprio preferred to be called on his mobile number.
Q&A for the Officers:
What if you’re going out of town? You can notify the NPO for your area. The beat officers will drive by your house plus the information gets mentioned daily at roll call.
What about panhandlers/homeless? Call it in if you’re seeing increased traffic or activity to report their presence.
What is the difference between 911 vs nonemergency number? When you call either 911 or the nonemergency number it goes to the same place. The only difference is the nonemergency number is more time consuming due to voice prompts. At this point Officers Keith and Caprio left the meeting.
7:35pm: Call to Order by Josh Lindsay. Motion made to accept the minutes from the neighborhood meeting held November 17, 2015 with motion seconded and approved.
7:38pm: Josh congratulated Elizabeth Northern, Mistletoe Height’s resident, for placing in the top third of the Olympic marathon trials in LA! And also on her continued follow up of the sidewalk placement on Jerome. Installation of new sidewalks along Jerome has begun starting at Rosedale near Newby Park.
7:39pm: Treasury Report by Jeri Jo Blackmon. Everyone present received a copy of the Income & Expenses with data comparing the previous year to this one. Of note, the income from advertising is down 42% this year and water expenses for Newby Park have increased 26%.
7:41pm: Newsletter News by Mary Ellen Peipert. The newsletter will be published every other month with the next one going out in April. Deadline for materials is March 15.
7:43pm: Robert Comacho with a Berm update: The curve at Rosedale and Mistletoe Drive is undergoing change with additional space provided for plants including 4 new trees in the area. Per Josh, they are planting 218 Boston Ivy Plants to climb the wall and 250 Mexican feather grass plants.
7:48pm: Security Chief of Red Horse Protection, Inc, Derrek Sainz, entered the Tysons home and introduced himself by briefly stating his company is paid to patrol the Berkeley neighborhood and they are available for our neighborhood as well. Then he thanked us for our time and left.
7:50pm: Old Business
Garden Tour update: Josh Lindsay invited Melanie Smith to speak about this event taking place in our neighborhood in May. This is the 13th year of the Garden Tour. Tickets are $20 in advance. A sunset dinner will be offered for Friday May 13 (time TBD). Expect increased traffic on Sunday May 15th from noon to 6pm so take extra precautions with children playing outside. There might be lemonade stands that afternoon at strategic areas supervised by adults but run by the neighborhood children with proceeds going towards Mistletoe Heights. Melanie Smith indicated that volunteers are needed for the garden tour to be present at the tables or in a garden to caution people about steps, etc. If you are interested in helping out, please call Melanie at 817-923-8191.
7:55pm: Historic Fort Worth, Archives Tour by Josh Lindsay: The facility is located at McFarland House on 1110 Penn Street. If Mistletoe Heights wanted to store historical documents, each home would have its own folder and the neighborhood would have its own folder. Documents are stored in a climate controlled location and there is no limit on stuff as there is plenty of space. If you have old documents or photos but unwilling to part with the originals then they will make a copy and keep the copy. If you are interested in touring the facility, they gladly accept appointments: 817-332-5875. Jim and Mary Ellen Peipert volunteered to be a drop off point for documents and they will also deliver them to HFW.
Question: How can we make the neighborhood aware of this resource? One suggestion is put an article in the newsletter to notify people of this option, another suggested combining the actions of cleaning our garages for the upcoming garage sale and making a document drive for materials to go into the archives.
8:05pm: Neighborhood garage sale is April 2.
8:06pm: Lily B Fundraiser by Kate Lovelady and Susan Pressley. The Federal Government provides Lily B with $55,000 annually because they are Title I. Title I designation is based on the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunches. Our local school board provides an additional $44,000. Due to our neighborhood’s increasing affluence, there are fewer children applying for aid potentially causing Lily B. to lose their Title 1 funding, which makes up over half their budget. Kate and Susan requested Mistletoe Heights Association to donate $500 to the Lily B Elementary PTA with the goal to participate in this fundraiser annually to show its support. Motion made to contribute $501.00 with motion seconded and approved.
8:15pm: March 26th is the Easter Egg Hunt
Final Moments: everyone present introduced themselves.
8:25pm: Meeting adjourned.