NOT VERY NEIGHBORLY
I would like to thank and acknowledge the residents who are current with their membership dues for the 2011 calendar year. These dues are voluntary, but without your financial support the Friendly Hills Property Owners Association (FHPOA) simply could not continue to do the good work it does for the benefit of every resident in our neighborhood. A list of those who have stepped up to support the community is included throughout this newsletter. If you have not paid your dues of $45.00, please write a check to: FHPOA, and send to PO Box 1018, Whittier, CA 90609.
I would also like to thank those residents who have stopped by and chatted with me about FHPOA activities of the past few months. Many of you have offered support, encouragement, advice and even pointed criticisms about how we can best serve our residents and keep Friendly Hills the nice place that it is. During these chats, several common themes were consistently mentioned that really got me thinking. In my opinion, these critical suggestions are mostly related to good manners, showing respect to each other, and just plain common sense. This may sound obvious, but this was the common theme. Therefore, I am taking the opportunity to summarize some of these suggestions, or what I call being "neighborly."
- On trash pick-up days please remove your trash cans from the curbside in a timely manner, preferably that afternoon or early evening. When you do put your trash cans away, please store them in an area where they cannot be viewed from the street during the rest of the week. Ideally trash cans should be stored in an enclosed area on the side of your house, behind a wall or in your backyard.
- For those of you who have boats, recreational vehicles, motor homes and trailers, at minimum you need to comply with the City of Whittier's ordinance for proper storage regarding set-backs. If you would like to know what that ordinance states, feel free to call Code Enforcement at 562 567 9190. That said, please understand that trailers, boats, RV's etc parked in your driveway, or even worse, parked on the street in front of your house, are a nuisance to your street as they block view corridors and take away from the landscape ambience. Not to mention that storing them in such a way for long periods of time is just plain disrespectful to your neighbors. In fact, the FHPOA has received numerous complaints about this. Please be considerate of your neighbors and store these things elsewhere, or at least out of sight.
- We all understand that squirrels can be pests and that they can cause a mess when they feed on pine cones in our neighborhood's numerous mature pine trees. Unfortunately, the squirrels are simply being squirrels. The mess they cause is nothing that your gardener cannot clean-up. Wrapping the base of your pine trees with tin or aluminum foil is not the answer, and only detracts from the presentation of your home.
- Burglaries, home invasions and petty thefts are on a steady rise in our neighborhood. Some neighbors see a connection with the number of yard sales taking place. Think about it, yard sales encourage and invite strangers to visit, enabling anyone with bad intentions to case the home hosting the yard sale as well as the other homes on the block. If you are thinking about hosting a yard sale, I strongly encourage you to notify your immediate neighbors of these plans. This thoughtful gesture will enable your neighbors to take appropriate measures regarding the security of their homes. Better yet, consider tax deductable donations to local organizations such as the Salvation Army or Boys and Girls Club in lieu of a yard sale altogether.
Regards,
Randall Martinez
