Ranches Neighborhood Association

Paypal

We are now on Paypal. If you have not paid your annual 25 dollars or just want to donate to your community so we can continue to make your neighborhood great, please follow this link. Thank you for your continuing support!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4SUCNVLM4BR76

Our new Facebook page!!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120769921285383

Check it out and become a Fan!!
Tell all of your neighbors!!

Party in the Park

May 22nd
12-3pm

We will have a bounce house, hotdogs and water.

This is your party, so make it great! Bring finger food, bring your chairs, bring your coolers, bring ice, bring your tables, bring your canopies, and bring anything else you feel we should have there!

We need voluteers to help man the hotdogs, to observe the children in the bounce house, and voluteers to play music. If you play guitar or violin or are musically inclined in any way we need your help. Contact us at ranchesna@gmail.com.

April 13th Minutes

Minutes April 13^,2010

Our meeting began at 7:08pm.

Vicki Flock introduced herself as the new president, and Diana Branson as the new Vice President. She welcomed everyone and asked if anyone would like to participate in the 50/50 raffle. She also mentioned to check out our website at www.ranchesna.org. Donna Palaro, our Treasurer, then told everyone that we had roughly 500 dollars in our account, and 4,000 dollars in the Park account.

Monica Stater, our Code Blue Captain, talked about Code Blue. She talked about how they patrol the neighborhood for at least 2 hours a month; check to make sure no lights are out and if there is any suspicious activity. If a light is out, the city has 7-10 days to take care of it. She welcomed anyone to contact her with questions or concerns. She also urged people to keep their cars parked in the driveway, in a garage and off the street. Keeping a light on at night is crucial, because even with the city lights, there are many dark pockets in the neighborhood. Currently they are working with police in investigating a possible drug house in the neighborhood. Anybody interested in joining Code Blue can contact her though our Code Blue tab.

Q: A concerned neighbor asked if the police still patrol since Code Blue patrolled the neighborhood.

A: She assured them that CB just helps the police and the Ft Worth police still patrol.

Vicki Flock then mentioned the upcoming dates:

Neighborhood Garage Sell: April 24^th (to register go to http://www.fortworhgov.org/planninganddevelopment/permits/default.aspx?id=22228 )

We will be advertising in the local newspapers and Craigslist—to donate, please contact us at ranchesna@gmail.com

Party in the Park: May 22

We will have 2 bounce houses, hotdogs and music

NEED volunteers for face painting, music/entertainment, or donating hotdogs and grills—contact us at ranchesna@gmail.com

Park Update:

Diana Branson talked about purchasing a Message Board for the Park for $647. Once it is up, we need to utilize it. It will be used for upcoming meetings and events, as well as anyone in the neighborhood wishing to post a message, like birthdays and events.

Green Team:

Vicki introduced the “Green Team”. This is a group of neighbors who is interested in volunteering their time to help with the front and side entrances. We are a self-sustaining neighborhood, and do not hire contractors to maintain our bushes and weeds at the entrances. We need help. If you are willing to donate your time to help with this, please contact us at ranchesna@gmail.com.

Randy Burkins then took the floor to discuss streets in our neighborhood. The proposal for Hughes Elementary is No Parking from 7-8am and 2:30-3:30pm on Lost Spurs from Bandera Ranch to Russeles Pass. They will be getting signs up with in the month for this. Also, Haslet-Roanoke Rd. will be closed from April 28^th through August 21^st for concreting and widening for Tidwell Middle School.

Q: Are they going to enforce the No Parking or will it be like the Right Turn Only sign at the school?

A: It will be up to the officer.

Q: How is Alta-Vista’s construction going; will it be done quicker than expected?

A: Unsure. Need to follow up.

Q: What about Beach Street? Will it be connected soon for easier access?

A: Unsure. Need to follow up.

Q: We need a Right-Turn lane from Alta Vista to 170. There is enough room, and people already make their own lane there. Will the city be making one?

A: Unsure. Need to follow up.

Q: What about sidewalks to Tidwell?

A: The school will provide them within the area they are required to by law, but I’m not sure about the rest. We will need to follow up.

The winner of the 50/50 raffle was Shawn Presley. He generously gave it back to the association.

For those who attended and spoke at our meeting on Tuesday, April 13^th, thank you!

The meeting ended at 7:32pm.

ARE YOU MUSICALLY INCLINED??

Are you musically inclined? Do you play an instrument, or do you play in a band? Even if you play a Cello, acoustic guitar, or trumpet we would love to have you!! Would you like to play at our neighborhood "Party in the Park"? We would greatly appreciate it if you would be willing to donate your time and talent so that all of our neighbors could enjoy some music at our neighborhood party.

We have not set the date yet, but we know that we will be having 2 bounce houses--one for small children, and one for older kids. We will also be having hot dogs and drinks. It will be sometime near the end of May. We don't want to conflict with any district events, like graduations or end-of-year celebrations.

Police Forum

Jeff Halstead, Chief of Police for the Fort Worth Police Department, invites you to a police public awareness forum

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

7:00 PM until 8:00 PM

NORTH FORT WORTH BAPTIST CHURCH

5801 OLD DENTON ROAD same as

( 5801 N. FREEWAY)

Important Dates

We are having a Meeting on Tuesday, April the 13th. It will be at the Park at 7pm. We'd love to see you there!! Bring the whole family out and get to know your neighbors!!

We are also having the Neighborhood Garage Sell on Saturday, April the 24th (if we are rained out, it will be postponed to May 1st). If you'd like to be a part of it, please be sure to pay your 25 dollars (if you have not already) to our Treasurer, Donna Polaro, at the meeting and be up to date on your membership dues. It does not cost any money to be a part of the neighborhood garage sell, however, we are advertising in the Star Telegram, the Times Register, and Craigslist so we are accepting small donations.

SHOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD PRIDE!!

Meeting Min. Jan 19

The meeting started at 7:07pm

Patrick Kennedy opened the meeting and introduced Sal Espino, our City Councilman.
Sal talked about gas wells in the area, our park, development, but mainly focused on roads.
We have 2 gas wells in our area—one on Haslet-Roanoke Rd. by the new school, and one on Haslet-Roanoke Rd. toward Westport Pkwy. Benzene was found in the water supply in Dish, which is by Denton, and has concerned the Fort Worth Counsel, but so far no Benzene has been found in the City of Fort Worth from the gas wells.

Sal mentioned that the City would help our neighborhood with the park plan after September 1st of this year for the 100,000 dollars we have in escrow for signing our mineral rights to the gas company.
He then moved onto the issue of sidewalks for the new school. They plan to make temporary sidewalks (made of asphalt) for the students to walk to and from school. One concern he mentioned, though, would be the pond that is so close to the road on the way to the school. He said we would have to contact the developer to possibly put a fence around it.

The development in the area has slowed because of the financial crisis. This is why we are focused on the Alliance Town Center off of Heritage Trace, which is where the Kroger will open in 2011. BJ’s will open there next month and Olive Garden is planned to open there later this year.

Jim Walker was then introduced. He is the AICP Assistant Director for the City of Fort Worth. He talked about various roads in near Keller that will be expanded soon, like Golden Triangle, North Beach, and Keller-Hicks. Then he mentioned that Litsey Rd. near Roanoke will eventually connect with Independence Pkwy.

Mr. Walker moved on with questions, when concerns were raised about Alta Vista. He and Sal agreed that there was a major problem with Alta Vista, and Sal insisted that it would be a priority at his next council meeting. Alta Vista was not meant to be a major arterial street like it has become, but it still has suffered a premature street failure. That is why it is currently is in litigation and arbitration to place blame before money is spent to fix it.

Mr. Walker went on to discuss concerns raised over sidewalks. He said that arterial streets, like Cattlebarron, will get sidewalks, but collector streets will not. Because he was concerned about the pond, he went on to mention that his long-term goal is going to be to put a walk-though around and behind the pond to the school for the students.

Questions:

A concerned neighbor then brought up her concerns about Ridgetop and Lazy River’s Road collapse. Jim Walker responded by talking about the same type of problems in many of the neighborhoods here in Fort Worth.

Another neighbor mentioned that we should have a right-only turn lane from Alta Vista in our neighborhood onto 170. Because there is already enough room for it, it doesn’t seem like that difficult of a job to complete. Mr. Walker took note of this; he said that it might be easily fixed.

A different neighbor brought up the problem with the trash pick-up. There is only one trash pick-up a week and in Roanoke there is two which costs less. He also mentioned that bulk-pick-up is ridiculous; our streets are lined with trash for a week or more while waiting for the pick-up to come. Sal responded to the first question with a political answer having to do with past people in office and the fact that Fort Worth spends a lot of money on recycling so they can’t afford to come more than once a week. He further offered that The City of Fort Worth has a storm water fee, which is in place because when it floods there are parts of the city that flood so bad that people can die. To the second question about bulk pick-up, Sal answered that it is because they have up to a week to come, which sometimes can and will take a week. He agreed that it was a problem, though.

RNA Meeting

At 8:20 Patrick Kennedy wrapped up the meeting with introducing the new officers as follows:

President: Vicki Flock
Vice President: Diana Branson
Treasurer: Donna Polaro
Secretary: Morgan Nevarez

Hal is in charge of Dad’s on Guard/Watchdogs up at the school and talked briefly about the impact and security it makes for the children if 1 dad is at the school every day of the school year. Studies have shown that education ratio’s go up when dad’s are involved at schools. He mentioned that they need more members, and to go online to www.HughesWatchdogs.com/.
Ken is in charge of the lights in the neighborhood, so if you notice a light is out, contact him.

Diana talked about Code Blue and asked for more people to join. It is good for the community to look out for one another. They patrol and call the police if they see something suspicious going on and have them handle it. She mentioned that if you have a car in front of your house that is clean, opposed to a dirty one that has visible valuables inside, a burglar is less likely to break into your car. It also helps if you keep the lights on outside at night.

Old Business:
Jacqueline Slockner let everyone know that there will be trees planted at Hughes very soon.
Patrick mentioned that the 4.062 dollars we have set aside for the park picnic tables cannot be used until we have a bonded and licensed contractor willing to put it in for that price.
We have new more professional-looking signs.

New Business:

This year is going to be “The Year of the Park”. We are going to have all our meetings there from now on, so that they are family friendly and brief (unless the weather doesn’t permit).

We are going to do our annual Neighborhood Garage Sell this year, and we are going to have our “Party in the Park”.
We NEED “Block Captains” to pass out fliers for our upcoming events or meetings. Please contact us at ranchesna@gmail.com to let us know if you would step-up to that position.

We will advertise for you on our www.ranchesna.org website on our businesses/churches tab if you are a paid member.
Dugless Smith is running for Precinct Chairman and is having a block party the first week of February. He will be having hamburgers and hot dogs.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm.

--
Ranches Neighborhood Association
www.ranchesna.org

Neighborhood Officers

President:  Vicki Flock president@ranchesna.org
Vice President:  Diane Branson   vicepresident@ranchesna.org
Treasurer: Donna Palaro   treasurer@ranchesna.org
Secretary: Morgan Nevarez secretary@ranchesna.org

Neighborhood Meeting

The Ranches Neighborhood Association welcomes our city Councilman, Sal Espino, to Hughes Elementary School on Tuesday, January 19^th at 7pm.

Bring your dollar and your luck to the meeting!!

We will be having a 50/50 raffle!

And

A Drawing for a 25 dollar restaurant gift card!

We will be talking about the park, sidewalks, the new school, and upcoming developments in the area!

And don’t forget to bring your 25 dollars to renew your membership if you have not already!

www.ranchesna.org
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!!
WE CAN'T GET THINGS DONE WITHOUT YOUR HELP!!
SHOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD PRIDE!!

Ranches Neighborhood Association

Paypal

Party in the Park

April 13th Minutes

ARE YOU MUSICALLY INCLINED??

Police Forum

Important Dates

Meeting Min. Jan 19

Neighborhood Officers

President: Vicki Flock president@ranchesna.org Vice President: Diane Branson vicepresident@ranchesna.org Treasurer: Donna Palaro treasurer@ranchesna.orgSecretary: Morgan Nevarez secretary@ranchesna.org

Neighborhood Meeting

President: Vicki Flock president@ranchesna.org
Vice President: Diane Branson vicepresident@ranchesna.org
Treasurer: Donna Palaro treasurer@ranchesna.org
Secretary: Morgan Nevarez secretary@ranchesna.org