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September 2011
Newsletter
BVHA serves all Bay Village Homeowners of record. Bay Village Homeowners are residents 55+ and/or those who own rental property. Renters also enjoy the Village tranquility and can work to improve the quality of our neighborhoods: Renters must be 55+. Watchfulness of neighbors is very effective. The more we come together to solve problems, the more united and strong our voices will be in maintaining our senior housing status. It takes perseverance. Seniors are one of the largest voting groups in the City. We have a voice! Attend Council meetings when called upon. Attend meetings with the Santa Cruz County Supervisor, our advocate in organizing so that we remain a senior community and enjoy our homes in Bay Village. Board of Directors
Bay Village Homeowners Association P.O. Box 986, Watsonville, CA 95077 Leave a message (831) 457-6646 (you will be contacted within 48 hrs) Via email: contact@bayvillagewatsonville.com 7 pm Annual Meeting
Location of Meeting:
Pajaro Village Clubhouse 739 Bronte Ave. A Message From the Board of Directors At the first of this year, the Board discussed and voted to send our renters the newsletter. The Board felt that by doing this, you would be aware of what is going on, and what is expected of you as members of our community. I thought you might be interested in knowing that only 24 owners have not paid their yearly assessment. Not too bad considering that we have 600 houses in Bay Village. I am hoping that those 24 owners will pay by October 15th so that we will not have to put a lien on their property for a mere $33.60! To get a lien taken off a property, the cost is over $200.00, as we have to get our attorney to do a lot of paperwork. Therefore, let’s get busy and pay up so that we can say that we are 100% for 2011!
Betty Fiorilla I would like to thank all of the Bay Village residents who took the time to attend the Redistricting Meeting that was held at City Hall. I had submitted an article to the committee ahead of time so that we would be on the agenda. With all of you present and our Council Member Nancy Bilicich too, we really got their attention. When we left that meeting, I felt that we had succeeded in making our point. The results being that our Village will remain as it always has been. This is due in large part to all of you, the concerned residents. On Saturday, November 19th from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., we will hold our annual meeting for all Bay Village Homeowner’s at the Pajaro Village Clubhouse located at 739 Bronte Avenue. We are hoping that by holding it at the clubhouse, we will have a better attendance than in the past years. Hopefully, we will have a guest speaker who will be of interest to all of us. I am looking forward to seeing many of you there. Veteran’s Day is coming up on November 11th. Being an adult community, I am sure that we all have someone in our family and friends who served in our military. I have written articles before about flying our flag on holidays. I am happy to say that on the 4th of July, my wife and I drove through our Village and counted 150 flags on display. I am hoping for 200 on Veteran’s Day! Our flag is the most beautiful one in the whole world. It has been through hell at times. Especially in various war time battles. Our military always brought it back home with honor. I am an 8-year Navy veteran who loves and honors our flag. So, let’s see how many we can count on November 11th. Thanks in advance. We have not had a violations meeting in two months. It is hard to believe that there are no violations in our Village. We have heard of some, but we cannot act upon them because they were not submitted on our official complaint form. A reminder – no one knows who sends and signs these forms except the 3 members of our violation committee. We get notes and phone calls but with no names and addresses to follow up on. There are a few things that need to be looked into, such as – cars parked in front yards, garbage cans in front yards, too many cars at a residence (telling us that too many people live there), television dishes on the front of the houses (should be located on the back of the roof), and yards that need weeding and mowing. Remember, your neighbors and visitors have to look at those yards all the time. Many of you have fixed up your yards since it was last mentioned, so here is hoping that the rest of you will make an effort to keep our Village looking good. President Bob P.S. Enjoy life and have some fun!!As the 2006 Sentinel newspaper article said, “For years, the levee separating Salsipuedes Creek and the homes along Bridge Street was a wasteland of trash and weeds. No more.” The change happened because Dorothy Carroll and Gail Olson had applied for and received a $3,000 grant from the Watsonville City Neighborhood Pride Grants Program to beautify the area where Bay Village begins – across from Kings Way, to the first house on the levee side. Sick of experiencing the ugly approach to our community, they were determined to change the message that this was a community of low esteem. In addition they had taken a panorama series of pictures of the levee in it’s cycle of green weeds, sprayed weeds, cut weeds and resulting stubble of weeds and trash and presented it to a group of county and city officials at a meeting they requested. Then Supervisory Tony Campus took the lead as the result of that meeting and gained the cooperation of both the county and the city public works departments. They in turn sought the required approval for the project from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps would allow planting and irrigation on the foot of the levee but not the bank. Using some of the grant money, a design was developed which used wood chips to cover the bank and as a weed barrier in the planting area. The design called for a variety of over twenty different small trees, tall shrubs and perennials – over 200 plantings in all. The soil was professionally tested and found to be very rich and suitable for the plants. More grant money was expended to have the flat area of the levee rototilled in order to be able to dig for planting, as years of neglect had heavily compacted the soil. The City agreed to provide water and a box and hookup was installed. More grant money was used to develop an additional box from which faucets could be used to provide water to an irrigation system. Almost exactly one year after receiving the City grant, county dump trucks rolled along the top of the levee and dumped tons of chips at intervals. A small tractor pushed the chips down the bank and waiting Bay Villagers with rakes at and distributed the chips down the bank side and on the foot to the curb edge of Bridge Street. A month later Bay Villagers were at it again, planting Wild Lilac, Manzanita and Red Bud shrubs along the narrowest part of the landscaping. Chicken wire was fashioned into gopher baskets as the calculated gopher population on the levee was in the hundreds! Meanwhile Gail was laying over 800 feet of irrigation hose with an emitter at each of the designated planting sites on the design. All materials were paid for through the grant. A group of volunteers from Twin Bridges Church of Santa Cruz spent a day re-locating and spreading the chips to a more uniform depth as part of a church outreach project. In the spring of 2007 several Bay Village planting parties were held to plant the widest part of the landscaping with shrubs and perennials. In November a celebration of completion was proudly held, in the rain, on the levee. Since then a small group of volunteers have been fighting the weeds and pruning the robust plants. While some plants were lost for various reasons, most have thrived. In 2010 we were able to obtain several more dump truck loads of chips to replace those that had decomposed and thanks to the generous donations from many Bay Villagers, we were able to hire strong, young help to spread those chips. As the original gardeners and custodians of the levee landscaping have experienced aging backs and knees, we have continued to use the donations for maintenance weeding and pruning. The original plans called for a bench for walkers to stop and enjoy the garden and a sign welcoming folks to our senior community. These goals have yet to be realized but the message about our village has changed to one of pride of place and a stronger sense of community. Gail Olson P.S. I would like to thank Gail, and Joe & Dorothy Carroll, and all of the Homeowners who have made donations to the Levee Fund. There is a meeting held on the last Wednesday of the month at the Pajaro Village Clubhouse at 3:30 p.m. This is when our police officer, Steve Nakamoto, has come to inform us of what is happening in our Senior Communities. On the one hand, we regretfully announce that Officer Steve has retired. We wish Steve a HAPPY RETIREMENT AND MANY HEARTFELT THANKS. We are fortunate enough to have a nice, young officer, Jose Barrera, to take Officer Steve’s place. The following incidents have taken place in our 3 Senior Communities during the months of June, July, and August 2011 JULY 2011 TOTAL: 24 Medical 15
AUGUST 2011 TOTAL: 37
After hearing the police reports made at the monthly meetings for June, July, and August, I have a good feeling about our police department. They are patrolling our area on a regular basis, they do come when called, and they question persons who they think do not belong there. They also stop speeders, which is one of our biggest problems. Like I have said before, some of those are our own residents and their visitors who are guilty of speeding.911 Hang ups 2  |
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