HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Meeting: We are starting the year with the upcoming annual meeting. If you haven’t mailed your ballot (or dropped it off at the POA office) you have until January 12th to do so. More importantly, COME TO THE MEETING! The Annual meeting is the “membership meeting” where residents get to address the board with questions/concerns about the POA. Unfortunately, the POA can’t address issues you may be having with your HOA but we will do what we can to help if it is within our ability to do so.
Sign in starts at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 12 in the Masters Ballroom. In addition to City and County speakers, the Honda Classic has again graciously agreed to provide passes to the upcoming Honda Classic. The drawing is FREE but you must be present to win and, of course, the drawing is at the end of the meeting so we can make sure you stay for the presentations from city and county officials. They take time from their very busy schedules to meet with all of you so please plan to attend the meeting for an hour or so. Who knows you might find out something interesting (or win a pass to Honda Classic!).
Entries: We are also starting the New Year with a face lift. The main entry at Avenue of the Champions has received its new stone face and as of this writing, we are waiting for the new lettering to be installed. Each of the other entries (i.e. each end of Ryder Cup Blvd) will have the same treatment within the next year or so.
Lakes: Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District engaged a new aquatic maintenance company as of October 1st and we are now starting to see some improvement to the conditions of the lakes, canals and marshes. Many residents complain that there is so much “stuff” growing in the “lake” that they can’t see the water. Most of the “stuff” is aquatic plants that were intentionally placed there for the health of the waterways. It is a specific “ecosystem” and the plants are needed for the water to filter out the “bad stuff” and provide a habitat for fish and other organisms that ‘eat’ the things we don’t want like algae. Most of the “lakes” with all the plants are actually marshes. All of this will be addressed by NPBCID at the annual meeting (see: another reason to attend).
IT’S TOO LATE: If you still have ANY type of hurricane shutters installed you are well past the deadline for removal and in danger of being fined. Please remove/open all storm protection devices.
Although we are presently out of “storm season” I mention the following because of a recent article in a local newspaper about leaving hurricane shutters closed and whether shutters should be left installed/closed all year.
Some owners feel that it offers “safety” when the reverse is usually the case. If you have storm shutters installed and there is a fire in the house, you have effectively sealed yourself inside. I spoke with an owner who said “yes, but I can always get out the front door or the sliding glass door, the shutters are only on my bedroom window”. The funny thing about electrical fires (as an example) is that they can start anywhere. Who is to say that a fire won’t start in the bedroom blocking the only exit? Why chance it? Also, I feel that closing all your storm shutters for weeks and weeks announces that you are out-of-town and may invite burglary. The “bad guys” see this and enter via one of the back/side shuttered areas and now they can turn on lights and take their time because no one can see them inside the house.
All of this is offered for your information. The POA rules allow certain types of hurricane protection to be installed thru the hurricane season (but not all year). You may NOT install fabric panels, plywood, bare (unfinished) panels and the like unless a hurricane warning has been issued.
A COUPLE QUICK REMINDERS
As we start the New Year, why not go back to the things we learned when we were in kindergarten: 1) always say please and thank you; 2) treat others as you would like to be treated; 3) you get better results when you are pleasant so always smile ….smiles are contagious and they disarm anger.