Periodico de Esperanza
Homeowners Newsletter
December 22, 2003

President’s Report - By Ben Sheffield

We wish all of our friends and neighbors a very Joyous Holiday Season blessed with good health and surrounded by loved ones.

At the meeting of December 15, 2003, there were four first time attendees and we were pleased to have a total of seventeen (17) members present. There were member comments regarding trash in Flag Park and people allowing their dogs to deface our decorated lamp posts and garden rocks beside the sidewalks. There were also questions from the members regarding the approved Budget for 2004.

Joe McMahon, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, introduced four of our new candidates running for the Board in the January election. They were Steve Brown, Rick Ernst, Bill Haley and John Kennedy. The other candidates are Max Perry, Norma Stanley and Ben Sheffield.

The general meeting was routine and those issues will be followed up by the Committee Chairs. Other significant issues that came before the board were as follows:

Consider increasing the amount of Liability Insurance carried by EEHOA. At present our policy limit is $1,000,000.00 and our annual cost is $2,482. After a discussion and questions from both the Board and audience a motion was made, seconded, and carried to increase the limits to $3,000,000.00 at an annual cost increase of $445.

In an effort to achieve our goals of painting the common area walls and buildings in 2004, Ken Miller was appointed to take charge of this project.

Financial Summary as at December 11, 2003:
Cash in Banks: Reserves $57,000
Unrestricted $15,433
Total $72,433
Revenues $110,556
Expenditures $101,129
Balance $ 9,427

Hospitality Commmittee — By Phyllis Johnson-Frost

The Bus Tour steering committee (pun intended) —McCalls, Frost, Thompsons — will be meeting at the McCalls on January 3 at 1:00 to pin down final arrangements.

Common Areas Report — By Tom Cooke

A couple of our most active volunteers, Lance Ewing and Vince Brow, (with a lot of help from Ben Sheffield and a little help from others) have completed another nice project near Sunset Park. They removed all of the old gray gravel and sick cactus in the area immediately west of the Park, replacing it with colored stones, and at the same time, rebuilt the cactus garden rock wall on the south edge of this spot.

The removed gravel found a home in one of our common areas, which was sorely in need of it. The area has since been replanted with various flora, partly contained in terra cotta pots. Lance and Vince also ran the Sunset Park watering system to the newly refurbished area under the wall, and have placed some of the plantings on that system so they will receive regular watering.

The Kiwanis bench here has been relocated to a better viewing area, and a graveled walkway constructed to it, all nicely outlined in stones. These same busy guys have mended and repainted the block wall surrounding the Park and the shuffleboard court, and have a plan to continue to improve this area, including the placement of the subdivision name in attractive lettering on the front part of the masonry wall.

Most of this work and improvements were done at the expense of the Esperanza Estates Volunteers, and involve no Board funds. We want to extend to the Volunteers a big thanks for their interest and concern in keeping our subdivision looking good.

Lance and Vince report they have more beautification projects on the drawing board as well. Another of our perennial volunteers, a talented man with a trowel, Bill Milne, has re-blocked an area of the wall surrounding the shuffleboard court, turning the surface into a seating bench. This is in the area adjacent to the umbrella tables, and will be highly useful during our gatherings there.

Lance and Vince, with help from Jerry and Delores McCall have also completed placement of most of our community Christmas decorations for this year, both in the pool-shuffleboard area, and at our front entrance sign. Dick Wahl and Sheila Bennen similarly decorated Esperanza Park. The decorations look great, and the Board thanks them all very much for their efforts.

Two volunteers whose names I have not been able to learn, repainted the bridge which crosses the wash near the swimming pool. We certainly thank them, whomever they were.

A few months ago, we took a survey to try and locate trees in the common areas that were infected with Ribes (mistletoe). Several were located, and noted, but we had no funds available at the time to do anything about the problem. This year's budget, however, has an allocation for addressing this issue, and this will be handled early in the coming year. The question is sometimes asked as to why the regular landscapers can’t take care of this, and the answer is simply that our contract with AAA provides they Will not work over 10 feet off the ground. This is because of insurance constraints. As a result, this problem has to be specially handled.

Audrey Boffa has purchased a bench for Esperanza Estates, in memory of her late husband Bill. This will be placed, at her request in Mt. View Park. We have received similar gifts from Joanne McGill, in memory of her late husband and former Board President Wally McGill, and from Charleen Blackman, also in remembrance of her husband. Charles "Bill" Blackman. Joanne's gift will be placed, at her request in Esperanza Park. We thank these ladies very much for their thoughtful gifts. These are the seventh, eighth, and ninth benches given to the subdivision in memory of loved ones. The earlier donations were covered in previous editions of this column in the Periodico. As we have many more places for benches, we encourage other residents to consider such a donation. A specially made plaque will be placed on each such donation, giving the name of the donor, and the name of the loved one. If any resident wishes to discuss this program, please give me a call at 399-0455. The cost involved if fairly nominal, and it’s a gift and memorial that will last for many years.

Our re-graveling program has begun this month, with the purchase and placement of approximately 55 yards. We plan on trying to redo up to about an additional 200 yards in 2004 in areas that have been identified as sorely in need of refurbishment. Special attention will be given to our landscaped common area along Esperanza Boulevard, which has fallen into pretty rough shape. As this is our "front door", we II want to keep it looking as attractive as we can.

Our landscapers are still in the process of removing dead agave cacti around the subdivision. Just when it appears we have them all, we find another. This was a hard year for the Century Plant---we lost about 7 large ones after they sent up their "death stalk." This is a shame, as these are a lovely variety of desert flora, and we had some beautiful examples of the species here in EE. Of interest is the fact that one of those removed was weighed, and found to be over 800 pounds. Several fairly large trees in the common area adjacent to Vereda Calma will be removed in the near future, as they are threatening our boundary wall.

Weed removal is continuing, and we are hopefully nearing the end of it. A couple larger common areas remain, but are on the list for completion. When the crews are working on this, they can get behind on other requested maintenance, so if you called to report a problem, please bear with us. Be assured we will get to it shortly.

As always, please call 399-0455 if you have or observe problems in the common areas, and we will tend to them as quickly as we can.

In Memoriam
Virginia Huston
1148 Circulo del Sur

Advertisements —By Sheila Bennen

We would encourage each of you to ask any "tradeperson" that you feel does an excellent job to place an ad in the Periodico. We would like our homeowners to have a list of reliable people to call.

We will give this idea a three-month's trial. The cost structure for the first 3 months is as follows:

Full page-- 3 months -- $100
1/2 page — 3 months -- $ 50
1/4 page — 3 months -- $ 25

We would like a copy ready ad. Please call Sheila Bennen at 399-0501 or Robert Frost at 399-9003 for more information.

Updates — By Sheila Bennen

New Phone Number
Chris and Joanne Amaroso
291 Circulo Napa
648-7026
 
Neighborhood Watch — By Melodye Cooke, Chair

Thru the GVCCC we have been given materials concerning disaster plans, preparing for terrorism and or the unexpected. I would like to share some of the materials in this issue and in coming months.

The first of these is a Preparing for Emergencies for people with mobility problems, but a great source for anyone, supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross. This should be on a separate page to read, study and keep in the event you should need it.

In January a mailing will be made to all residents that we have not been able to contact to become a part of the Neighborhood Watch. We are asking you to provide an emergency contact telephone number and an extra key contact number. Our houses are getting older and if you are away and the water heater breaks it would be beneficial to be able to contact someone who could fix the problem before it affects you home severely. We also would like to make sure we have someone to call in the event of a medical emergency.

If you receive a letter and an information sheet please return it to me in the enclosed addressed envelope. Phyllis Johnson-Frost (Chair of the Hospitality Committee) and I are trying to work with the Sheriff's department and SAV to utilize this information in the case of an emergency. Any questions or comments please feel free to call me at 399-0455. The Best of Holidays, Hope for Health and Safety to All. . .

Volunteers -- by Tess Ewing

Our November Garage Sale was a real success. Thank you to all who donated to it. Thanks also for the delicious food items. The Bake Sale and Mona's muffins and coffee were a big hit.

Plans are already shaping up for the March Garage/Bake Sale. If, at any time during the winter, you have clean, usable household or patio items to donate, please call one of the following for pick up:

Bev 625-7741; Mary 399-7499; Sheila 399-0501; Melodye 399-0455; Mona 625-3797; Joan 399-1053

The latest project was to improve the area at the west end of Sunset Park. The gray rock was removed (used in another common area) and desert brown rock was brought in to replace it. Two small evergreens were purchased and, with two donated pots, were placed in a group in front of the bell wall. Everything looked so good, it was decided the walls should be painted --so we called in our painters. Now, the entire Sunset Park area looks great! Walk by, or sit on a bench near the fountain and see for yourself.

Esperanza Estates Forum — by Rod Pearson

There is now a place online to exchange a variety of information among our residents. The "unofficial" website for Esperanza Estates, now has forums for posting Announcements, Letters to the Board, Recommended Service People, Recipe Exchange, and General Comments. Other forum topics may be included later. Anyone with a computer and internet access now has a place to publicly comment on a variety of subject matters of interest to residents of Esperanza Estates. You don't have to use your name, nor post your email unless you desire. I have been assured that the posting on the forums will be reviewed by our EEHOA Board. This is an excellent way to voice your opinion.

Just point your browser to EsperanzaEstates.com and click on Forum. The success of the forum will increase with the continued postings by our residents. If you have any questions or suggestions, email me,
rod@esperanzaestates.com.