The recent email repetitive message saga has focused a bit more interest as to what communication is on the Neighborhood List — formerly called the ListServ.  There were many irate members who mentioned that they did not like the Neighborhood List being clogged up with non-essential information.

In the recent Board meeting, I was appointed to oversee the Communication Committee which will oversee the website, Neighborhood List, Pemberton Journal and all things related to messaging to our neighbors.

Our communication strategy is in its infancy but much of it is quite obvious and therefore I would like to share what we have done thus far and our plans for the future:

We are going to try to streamline the volume of messages on the Neighborhood List communication channel.

1. The website will be invigorated to include a blog (WordPress based) and comment system (Disqus) to allow for a bit of commentary and back and forth conversation.  This has already been accomplished.The blog will be governed by simple rules: no profanity, no ad hominem attacks and no ultra-long comments.  Offenders will have their comments removed and repeat offenders will be blocked.  This will not be a big problem.
2. We will tout the capabilities of Nextdoor Pemberton Heights — https://phna.nextdoor.com — as a place to engage in dialog about such things as vendors. This has been done and our website has a link to Nextdoor Pemberton Heights and right now we have approximately 40 neighbors who have joined.  Please join.
3. We will add a “Recommended Vendors” tab to the website and will provide a continuous, complete and timely list of vendors from carpenters to veterinarians.  When you want to add someone to the list you can simply email me — jminch@littlefield.com — or the webmaster — webmaster@pembertonheights.org — and your recommendation will be added. This effort is in progress as we speak and will be completed shortly. When you require a vendor recommendation, you can look through the recommendations at your leisure.  We will provide a link to YELP for additional information.
4. We will try to grow the Neighborhood List penetration in the neighborhood.  Right now we have approximately 425 Neighborhood List members. We will try to grow this membership by direct messaging to the entire neighborhood by communicating through The Pemberton Journal and by hand delivered messages during the first quarter of 2012.
5. Fred Robinson, our PHNA President, designed and launched a Survey Monkey survey to gauge neighborhood sentiment on certain issues and to bubble any other issues to the surface.  We will take careful note of those results in formulating our communication strategy.
6. The Pemberton Journal will be used to solicit Neighborhood List membership as well as a vehicle to disseminate news of all kinds.

The net result of these efforts will be to streamline the Neighborhood List to ensure that critical information is not obscured.  Thanks for listening and let me know if there is something else we should consider.

The inaugural meeting of the PHNA Board of Directors was held on Monday, 16 January 2012.  In accordance with the ByLaws, the following appointments were made:

Fred Robinson, President (one year term)

Jeff Minch, Vice President (two year term)

Polly Swain, Treasurer (two year term)

Laura Sharp, Secretary (one year term)

Carl Williams, Director at Large (one year term)

1. Fred will be the Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee dealing with traffic issues; MoPac improvements; land use, zoning and development; City and Community liaison.
2. Jeff will be the Chairman of the Communications and Security Committees.   The Communications Committee will oversee the website, the ListServ – Neighborhood List and the Pemberton Journal.  Laura Sharp will assist with the Communications Committee. The Security Committee will oversee the Security Program, fundraising for the Security Program, Austin Police Department liaison, liaison with other neighborhood associations pertaining to security issues and the Block Captains.
3. Polly will chair the Finance Committee dealing with accounting, financial statements, cash management, insurance and the collection of dues.
4. Laura will chair the Administration Committee overseeing the ByLaws, meeting agenda and meetings, membership, neighborhood lists (members, eligible voters), privacy issues and elections.
5. Carl will chair the Social and Special Projects Committee with responsibility for the Annual Neighborhood Picnic, Christmas carriage rides, neighborhood coffees/teas, Triangle fundraising and other neighbor initiated projects and events.

Each Boardmember will be staffing their committees over the next few weeks.  As an example, the Security Committee has already held a Security Working Group meeting which attracted approximately thirteen interested neighbors and another approximately fifteen interested neighbors who were not able to attend on that date.

Later this month, the Board will conduct a Survey Monkey Survey to gauge neighborhood interest in specific issues and to solicit members to serve on specific committees.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact Boardmembers directly to express your interest in serving on any committee that they may chair.

About ten days ago, we had a rash of car break-ins in Pemberton Heights.  There were six such incidents reportedl between midnight and 3:00 AM.

What is gratifying is that nothing was apparently taken because there was nothing in the cars to be taken.  This indicates real progress on our part as we are ensuring that there is no low hanging fruit for the crooks to pluck.

In correspondence with our Austin Police Department District Representative, we were provided the following list of incidents, none of which were in our neighborhood.

1. “Burglary of Vehicle-1504 Windsor – suitcase left on the back seat
2. Auto theft-615 Oakland – car was taken out of the drive way, no glass on the driveway,  there was a bag in the front, possibly the spare key was in the console.
3. Burglary of Vehicle-702 Oakland – no signs of forced entry.  Heard dog barking, went outside and saw interior light on and door open.  Resident shut the door and then opened it and noticed that the glove box had been gone through.
4. Burglary of Vehicle-1011 W 5th St – window was broken and radar detector was taken
5. Burglary of Vehicle-1004 Elm St – HTC EVO was left in the car and taken.  Window was broken out.
6. Burglary of Vehicle-1718 Palma Plaza – Laptop left in car and taken.  Window was broken out.
7. Burglary of Vehicle-1611 W 5th St – Large cosmetics bag with $500 worth of cosmetics taken from car
8. Burglary of Vehicle-1100 Kingsbury – Two purses containing credit cards (one of which was used by the suspect), cash and other stuff, were left in the car and taken.
9. Burglary of Vehicle-300 n Lamar – Wallet with four credit cards and an IPOD left in car and stolen.
10. Burglary of Vehicle-806 Theresa – Digital camera was left in car and taken.  No signs of forced entry into vehicle.”

The common denominator is the presence of “loot” for the criminals to steal.

Here are some common sense rules pertaining to safeguarding your cars:

• Park your cars under a light and as close to your house as possible.  Cars are most vulnerable on the street or at the end of your driveway.  I have read that parking a car with the front facing the street substantially diminishes the probability of being broken into.  Who knows?
• Lock your car and enable the alarm.
• Take all valuables out of your car.  No phones, tablets, laptops, GPS’s or digital cameras.  No guns, cosmetics or other valuables.
• Keep your car keys with the panic button next to your bed when you go to bed at night.  If you hear something, activate the panic alarm.
• Be very, very careful going out to inspect your car after dark as a criminal may be trying to lure you out and pounce on you.  Take a flashlight with you and a spouse or a Rottweiler.

Be safe and vigilant.

7:00 PM
16 January 2012
2501 N Lamar Blvd

The Board meeting will be conducted in accordance with the attached agenda (pdf).

There are several websites which will provide crime information on our neighborhood.  The three following I know work but they do not provide the degree of detail one would like as it relates to the details of the crime itself.  The City of Austin police incident report provides a bit more info than the others.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS/crimeviewer/CrimeReportSearch.html?

Spotcrime.com

If you know of any more or more detailed sites, please let me know and I will publicize them.

Stay vigilant and safe out there.

There has recently been a bit of discussion as to forming a volunteer Neighborhood Watch type patrol of the neighborhood as a complement to the patrols provided through the PHNA Security Program.

There have been such efforts in other neighborhoods and the Austin Police Department is of great assistance in organizing these efforts.

This is not a new idea and has been explored for some considerable time.  We are intimately familiar with all the neighborhood programs currently in existence.  There are some very important considerations of such a program which may be different from other neighborhoods and which may be unique to Pemberton Heights.

I do not want to color the discussion or to dampen the enthusiasm by sharing what has been previously learned but these considerations will be aired at the meeting.

Anyone who is interested in participating in a discussion of such efforts or who would like to express their interest in participating in such an effort is invited to meet at 6:30 PM on Thursday, 5 January 2012.

6:30 PM
Thursday, 5 January 2012
2501 N Lamar Blvd

The meeting will be held at 6:30 PM at 2501 N Lamar Blvd.  That’s the building with all the flags at the corner of 25^th and Lamar just across Shoal Creek from the neighborhood.

If you think you can attend, please RSVP to Nancy Adams at nadams@littlefield.com or 512-692-1711 or 512-476-5141.  If you cannot attend but are otherwise interested, please advise Nancy of that fact.

I hope to see you there and look forward to a productive discussion.

The software we have selected is Disqus which is a widely used for this purpose.

Please give it a spin.  You may be required to enroll with Disqus which is a simple intuitive process.

This is our first effort at cleaning up the ListServ and removing much of the discussion which may have turned folks off to the ListServ.

This is an experiment and we will evaluate the results in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, please use it to express your views and to engage your neighbors in friendly debate and commentary.

There will be monitoring of the conversation and some obvious problems — profanity, ad hominem attacks and other generally offensive language — will be screened.  In the future, we will be publishing some community norms and etiquette.  For now give it a try and let me know what you think.

A total of 184 ballots were cast with 13 ballots being rejected for ineligibility, failure to identify or late deliver resulting in a total of 171 valid ballots.

The top five vote getters — Robinson, Minch, Williams, Sharp, Swain — will become the new PHNA Board effective 1 January 2012.

In January 2012, the Board will call a meeting to pick officers including a President, Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Director-at-Large.  The Vice President will automatically succeed the President.

Two Board members will serve a one year term and three Board members will serve two year terms.  The Vice President will serve a two year term.

A copy of the ballot is attached for your review and use. (pdf)

To be eligible to vote, you must be a dues-paying member of the PHNA by Noon on 12 December, Monday.  You may join the PHNA by following the instructions for joining on the PHNA website at pembertonheights.org.

Ballots should be delivered in one of the following manners:

1.  Via US mail or hand delivery:

PHNA in care of Diane Umstead
1201 Claire Avenue
Austin, Texas 78703

2.  Via fax:

512-474-0162

3.  Via e-mail:

dedeumstead@gmail.com

If you have any questions, please call or e-mail Sherry Smith at 512-476-6243 or SherrySmithnew@gmail.com.