THE PELICAN BRIEF
August, 2010
Serving the Community of Pelican Pointe
Board of Directors
Manager
Linda Corry, President
Steve Susman
Mary Mulholland, Vice President
8300 Fairmount Dr., #J-101
Liaison --
Social Committee
Denver, CO 80247-6528
Glen Olmstead --
Newsletter Editor
Phone: (303) 394-0942
Marcia Helfant
Cell phone: (303) 668-2747
Liaison --
Design Review Committee
Frank Parker, Treasurer
What do The Lone Ranger, Tonto, Roy Rogers, and Kemosabe have in common?
Answer: None of them will be attending our annual Pelican Pointe End-of-Summer BBQ
--
even though the caterer will be Cowboy Caterers. Cowboy will be serving a delicious
barbecue menu: hamburgers, cheeseburgers or chicken fillets on buns, gourmet potato
salad, Mexican corn & black bean salad and spinach salad. To quench your thirst there
will be raspberry lemonade, ice tea and wine. At 6:00, Cowboy will start making dessert
crepes and bites. It is important that the committee get an accurate head count and dinner
choice by Thursday, September 3rd. RSVP early
or 303-973-9018 and
don’t forget your meat choice. This should be a fun afternoon. Don’t miss the good
food and friendly people. Be sure to put this event on your calendar:
Sunday, September 12, from 5:00-7:00, at the Lighthouse Clubhouse.
We don't have caucuses, smoke-filled back rooms, or primaries. But we do convene
our Annual Homeowners Meeting. Most Pelican Pointers look forward to an hour (from
6:00 p.m.) of socializing with our neighbors, meeting new ones, and enjoying hors
d'oeuvres or a light dinner before our business session at 7:00. The location and details
are being negotiated; stay tuned. Meanwhile be sure to place this on
your calendar:
Tuesday evening, November 9.
Lunch Bunch.
Join this group of spirited Pelican Pointers for lunch on Wednesday,
August 11, at 11:30 at Syrup in Cherry Creek. All genders and ages welcome. Good
conversation guaranteed. Broaden your horizons. (Broaden your waistline, too). Syrup is
located at 300 Josephine St. #20 (3rd
and Josephine). They offer a great breakfast menu
as well as sandwiches, burgers and salads. RSVP to Susan Million at (303) 316-7190.
meet on Friday, August 13th
Pelican Pointe Book Club
will
at 6:30 at Mary
Mulholland’s, #EE-101, to discuss “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. As told by
“Death”, this novel tells the story of a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-
telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding during World
or 303-973-9018.
SUSMAN UNLEASHED
by Steve Susman
The stock market crash of 1929
was a mere blip in history, compared to the crash of a
reckless driver through our perimeter fence on July 11. Late that afternoon, a resounding
crash brought about three dozen Pelican Pointers to our northwest corner. The weather
was pleasant; a few brought lawn-chairs; some sipped
ice tea; many met new neighbors;
dress was informal. In a sense, it was the social event of the month. The car was
traveling south on Fairmount Drive, drove over the center of the roundabout, remarkably
passed between one of our curbside trees and a parking sign, broke through our iron
fence, and vaporized one of our brick support columns. Going further, the car smacked
into the rock wall there, damaging it and some of the landscaping and lawn. The car
landed upside-down. Four police cars, a couple fire engines, a tow truck, and a City
ambulance rounded out the festivities. I have obtained competitive bids from
recommended contractors, with a view to rebuilding our fence, its support pillar, and the
rock wall, and restoring our landscaping and lawn. We will be collecting the costs from
our insurer, after our policy's "deductible" is deducted. Reimbursement will be sought
from any insurance compan(ies) and/or the errant driver. The extent of our recovery and
our reimbursement strategies can't yet be discussed. Stay tuned.
Did you ever see a human shot out of a cannon, or wonder how Superman can "leap tall
buildings with a single bound"? Painfully, you'll find the answers to this question if you
happen to be near your garage door's interior when one
of its two springs bursts. Each
door operates with two coordinated springs, very powerful and very-tightly wound and
compressed. Depending on your usage, about ten years is the expected life of those
springs. Your door won't operate with only one of them. If one breaks, both must be
replaced. The symptom, usually, is that the door refuses to open or close, or does so with
great effort, or suddenly comes crashing down, and/or the mechanism makes a plaintive
clang. Be alert to this; your Pelican Pointe
Handbook suggests vendors who have proven
to be trustworthy and capable. Call me if you want more particulars.
You don't need to bake brownies, but your Board is soliciting volunteers to form a
Welcoming Committee. New owners or tenants in Pelican Pointe are always grateful
when "welcomed" by a small group of persons, bearing greetings from our Board and
residents, perhaps bringing the brownies, our Handbook, and answering some of the
usual questions about How We Operate Here. This need not be a burdensome or long-
term commitment from volunteers. If your outgoing, friendly personality has been
unduly restricted or "cooped up" recently, here's your chance. Please contact Linda
"You light up my life," is either a corny cliché or an accusation against an arsonist. In any
event, we urge all residents to have their porch light On after dark --
either until dawn or
until later in the evening. The easiest way to arrange this is to have a simple timer
installed in place of the switch that controls your front porch light. Many residents have
had such an inexpensive timer installed; others opt to turn their light On and Off
themselves, manually. In any event, your HOA has been furnishing and installing the
bulbs without a charge. However, some residents have taken advantage of this program
by keeping their porch light On 24/7. That obviously shortens the bulb life and adds
unreasonably to our operating costs. The Board strongly discourages this, and will
withdraw that free service from any resident who habitually keeps his/her porch light On
during daylight hours. Please cooperate; save on your electric bill; help your HOA save
money and Sonny's labor time.
"Good Help is Hard to Find" is a tabbed section in your Pelican Pointe Handbook. The
Board maintains this listing of recommended subcontractors and service-providers to
assist our residents. Soon these listings will appear on our Web site. However, the list is
only useful if our residents contribute to it. So, if you've recently had a gratifying
experience of obtaining goods or services from a subcontractor or service-provider,
please send me his/her/its name, phone, e-mail address (if you know it), and contact
person with whom you dealt. The postings are made anonymously, so that you are not
the guarantor of another resident's happy experience with that same provider. Similarly,
if you have dealt with a recommended provider, and the experience was unfortunate for
you, let me know that, too.
Little
kids love Tonka toys, earth-moving trucks, excavators, and construction equipment.
When the kids become adults, these toys grow in size (understatement of the day). Our
concrete contractors will have finished our 2010 concrete replacement project by the time
you read this. At this writing, they are about 2/3 finished; they appear to be doing a very
professional job. The Board and I appreciate the cooperation and understanding that
virtually all Pelican Pointers have exhibited during this week of turmoil. As I said in the
recent letter I sent to all residents and homeowners, concrete replacement is expensive,
messy, and never-ending. Our Colorado freeze-and-thaw cycles damage all concrete
roads, curbs, and gutters. Your Board will probably be budgeting for this ongoing
remediation each year, for both aesthetic and safety reasons. The value of your real
estate receives some protection from the ravages of concrete [and asphalt] deterioration.
Many HOA's do not or cannot budget for such upkeep; the values of these properties are
directly affected.
Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso they ain't, but our painting contractors, at this writing,
continue to display extraordinary craftsmanship and care as they move through the 2010
phase of our exterior painting project. Your Board opted last year to bypass contractors
who proposed merely "to slap a couple coats of paint" on our buildings --
in favor of our
chosen painting firm. Their modus operandi, as you have observed, is to thoroughly
"prep" each surface --
with carpentry, caulking, and tender loving care --
before applying
high-quality paint. We believe that this strategy will be "cheaper in the long run."
No, it's not psoriasis; and we don't need a dermatologist. As I write this, we are
experiencing many
consecutive days of almost-100-degree weather, with little or no
precipitation. This is typical weather in Denver in late July. We can expect some brown
areas to appear on our lawns, as they suffer from the heat. We water extensively, and
within the Water Board's rules, at night. Water rates for commercial users, like Pelican
Pointe, have increased substantially this year, straining our budget. The profusion of
rabbits traversing and living in our complex compounds the problem, as their waste kills
the lawns. And dog and cat waste, solid and liquid --
well, you know what that does . . .
August trash pick-up:
August 4 and 18(trash and recycling); August 11 and 25 (just trash).
A Pelican Pointe homeowner reports that the City will provide you with a
bi-
weekly notice of "recycling pick-up day" --
by an e-mail to you on the previous day. I
suggest you make your request for such notices by calling 311. Or, consult the web site
Pelican Pointe townhomes For Sale:
#AA-103, #V-104, and #R-104.
Weird behavior: Was learning cursive really necessary? How the heck are you supposed
to fold a fitted sheet? Part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer history if you die. I disagree with Kay Jewelers: I would bet on any given
Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than with Kay. I'm always
slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to
my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. I hate leaving my
house confident and looking good, and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire
day. What a waste.
August Board Meeting: It will be held on Monday evening, August 16, at 7:00 p.m. at
The Lighthouse clubhouse. All homeowners and residents are welcome!
.
