THE PELICAN BRIEF
Sept., 2011
Serving the Community of Pelican Pointe
Board of Directors
Manager
Harold Davison, President
and Chair of
Steve Susman
Security & Safety Committee
8300 Fairmount Dr., #J-101
Mary Mulholland, Vice President and Chair of
Denver, CO 80247
Social Committee
Glen Olmstead, Newsletter Editor
(303) 394-0942 and (303) 668-2747
Marcia Helfant, Chair of Design Review
Committee
Frank Parker, Treasurer
Don’t miss this! It’s almost here! September 18, Sunday, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Our
Annual Pelican Pointe Summer Picnic will again be held at the Lighthouse Clubhouse.
This
is the
highlight of our summer social season. We’ll feature great BBQ from Sam
Taylor’s,
delicious side dishes, wine, soft drinks, dessert --
all have previously garnered
rave reviews from our residents
and homeowners. This is another great opportunity to
meet and greet your neighbors, corner our manager, hang around the perimeter of the
pool as if you belong to a fancy country club, or just enjoy someone else’s cooking for a
change.
There will be no charge for our residents and homeowners (two persons per
(303) 973-9018, by September 15.
Book Club. Our Pelican Pointe Book Club will meet on
Friday, September 9, 2011, at
6:30 p.m., at the home of Karen Damon, 2518 So. Tucson Cir., Aurora 80014.
To be
discussed: Evidence of Things Unseen, by Marianne Wiggins.
This poetic novel
describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. In the years between the two world
wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen
that would transfigure our unquestioned trust in a safe future.
All who enjoy reading are
welcome.
RSVP to Karen at (303) 338-0204..
Lunch Bunch. Join this interested and interesting group of Pelican Pointe men and
restaurant, 2816 East 3rd
women for lunch at Crepes and Crepes
Ave., Denver, on
Thursday, September 8, 2011, at 11:30 a.m. Note this move from a Tuesday to
Thursday.
Treat yourself to a good meal and sparkling conversation. New faces (and the
hungry bodies to which they are attached) are cordially encouraged to attend!
RSVP to
Susan Million, (303) 316-7190.
Save this
2011 date, too:
--
Monday, December 5, 6:00
p.m., at Augustana Lutheran Church, for our Annual
Homeowners Meeting.
SUSMAN UNLEASHED
by Steve Susman
“Let there be light “ [Genesis 1:3]. Alternatively: “ Let thy Board lead thee from
darkness” [Susman Unleashed, 14:92]. Your Board of Directors at its regular monthly
meeting on August 15 authorized a pilot project to substantially enhance the night-time
lighting in our complex. Many of our sidewalk areas are dark at night. The only lighting
in Pelican Pointe now is our tall pole
lights and some porch lights. We have tried,
begged, cajoled, imprecated, and induced our residents to turn on their porch light after
dark. Some have installed timers, which are partially effective. Others have forsaken
their porch light
timers because these devices are sometimes unreliable or hard to re-
program. And others have simply ignored the lighting situation and kept their porch light
off at night.
The Board considered several alternative programs, as researched and presented by your
manager. Here’s
the project chosen: About 24 townhomes, a so-called test group, will
have their front porch bulb removed, and replaced with a hard-wired LED fixture.
Generally, LED (light-emitting diode) lights provide several times the candlepower with
very much reduced wattage (12 watts). They create very little heat; little energy is
wasted. They are more reliable in cold weather than fluorescent bulbs. Their purchase
price is many times higher than either incandescents or fluorescents, but
they
last about
ten years.
The LED unit, inside the existing porch fixture, will be wired to a photo-electric cell,
similar to the ones controlling our driveway light fixtures. That cell will automatically
turn the new light on at night and off in daytime. The resident’s wall switch (and any
timer there) will be deactivated, and will no longer control that light. The expected result
should be that virtually all
porch lights in the test area will be on and off at the same time.
Dark sidewalk areas will receive more illumination than presently. This program will be
mandatory for all townhomes. The manager will select three eight-unit building-
configurations to be selected --
meaning four townhomes facing four opposing
townhomes, in three
Pelican Pointe
neighborhoods. In spring 2012, the Board will
evaluate this test program. If satisfied with the results, the program will be expanded to
all Pelican Pointe townhomes.
Please contact me, during normal business hours, with any questions or concerns you
may have about this program. Your Board and manager believe that this program will
add to our values, our safety, and our perception of safety.
Behold, a good idea from environmental greenies.
On recycling-barrel
pick-up day, the
City had originally recommended that all of the purple barrels in a driveway be lined up
on the same side of that driveway, with their handles facing the wall(s). Over time, that
requirement or suggestion was ignored. But consider this: If each of us and our
neighbors who share the same driveway did follow that procedure, the recycling trucks
would have to enter that driveway only one time, rather than twice --
whether entering in
forward mode or reverse. Those mammoth trucks consume much energy, of course. So
who volunteers to “get the word out” among your driveway compatriots? Here’s your
chance to implement the skills you acquired in your Leadership Training course.
How many of us have tried to “hide” a hazardous waste product in our normal trash
barrels or bags, hoping that the trash-collectors won’t notice? Our weekly trash service
and bi-weekly recycling pick-up service are not equipped to receive and deal with
household hazardous waste (HHW) items. Typical HHW items: Automotive fluids,
corrosive chemicals, fluorescent bulbs, fertilizers, insecticides, paint, paint thinner and
varnishes, and weed killer. The City has a program for picking up these products, but it
has limitations: (a) You must submit a $15 “copayment” at the time of the appointment.
(b) Only one appointment
is allowed per year. (c) A kit will be provided to
you, to
contain the HHW items, and its use is
mandatory. (d) You must have at least 25 pounds
of at least one HHW item
to dispose of, or three different types of HHW materials. And
If you have only latex paint, there’s a drop-off option (for $2 per item). Still interested?
Should we test dog doo-doo to help ensure that dog owners clean up after their animals?
If you’ve stopped laughing, read this: The manager of a New Hampshire apartment
complex proposes to use commercially-available DNA sampling kits to check the DNA
of dog droppings. Residents will be ordered to submit samples from their dogs so DNA
profiles can be put on file. As manager at Pelican Pointe, I certainly sympathize with that
hapless manager in the sophisticated northeast part of our country, but, hey, how about
compliance with dog waste pick-up Rules in our own complex? Please!
Did you ever hear the expression “Pay Now or Pay Later”? Usually, this refers to car
maintenance; you can defer maintenance and its attendant expense for only so long --
and
then the deferred damage
“catches up with you.” The same principle relates to our
asphalt roads. In our climate, asphalt suffers in cold weather: Water can turn to ice, once
it
seeps into the cracks in and around the asphalt.
Recall from high school physics class
that
ice expands when it freezes. The result is cracks. Add to that: In summer, hot
weather causes the asphalt to partially melt, as
it were. We all know the devastation that
winter weather causes on our
public streets, which are mostly asphalt. Periodically, your
Board, from our capital reserves, undertakes to repair, restore, and replace selected
sections of our Pelican Pointe asphalt road. We anticipate that such work will be
undertaken again in spring-summer 2012.
“I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down,” threatened the Big Bad Wolf to
the Three Little Pigs. From that literary masterpiece, we deduce that it’s essential that
we maintain adequate insurance for the risks that could befall our buildings. Our
Association
carries several different policies of casualty and liability insurance, but a
primary one relates to physical damage. Currently, our annual policy covering physical
risks expires on September 30.
We are about to receive
data from our insurance agency
to assist us in evaluating whatever options are available to our HOA for the ensuing
insurance year. Wind and hail have apparently caused tremendous claims payments to be
made by many of the larger underwriters --
not only in states prone to tornados and
floods, but also in Colorado. We may learn that our renewal insurance policy may
contain significant “deductibles.” This
means that the Association and/or our
homeowners may be called upon to share in certain
wind-and-hail risks. Stay tuned for
more on this subject in the weeks ahead. The Big Bad Wolf can
be alive and ferocious,
unexpectedly
and with expensive consequences, in our own home area.
“Give me land, lots ‘o land, under starry skies above; don’t fence me in,”
are the
opening lines of an insipid Western ballad of the mid-20th
Century. Ignoring that plea,
we must maintain our very long perimeter fence, and its attached gates. Our contractors
are busy restoring this fence. This involves a very tedious job of trimming overhanging
trees and bushes; scraping off the rust (caused in part by our sprinklers); welding loose
pieces of the iron bars; applying rust-inhibiting primer; and then oil-based paint. This
is
another example of how our capital reserve funds must be used to maintain
our physical
assets.
September
trash pick-up:
September
8, 14, 21, and 28..
Recycling
pick-up:
September 14 and 28.
Pelican Pointe townhomes For Sale:
,
#LL-104,
#X-101, #V-101, and
#II-103.
Weird behavior:
--
Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
--
Why do we wash bath towels?
Aren’t we clean when we use them?
--
Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
--
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
--
Why is “phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?
September
Board Meeting. This Meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Lighthouse
Clubhouse, on September 19. ALL RESIDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.
.
