Snow by Judy Currier
Hopefully
we have seen the last of it. I was out wandering around in the
aftermath of the 6" storm before the huge snowfall that we got.
It
was impressive how people were helping out their neighbors who
might not be in quite the condition to shovel snow, and also
how some shoveled common area sidewalks and parking spaces not
associated with their homes.
Kudos
to all of you thoughtful souls!
Leewood Annual Meeting
The
Leewood Annual meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 11th at
the School for Contemporary Education. The meeting will begin
at 8:00 p.m. Prior to the meeting (beginning at 7:00), there
will be a social hour where neighbors can meet or catch up with
one another and meet the board and committee members. Finger
food and drinks will be available. We also will be giving away
door prizes, such as gift certificates to local restaurants.
Those who attend the meeting are eligible to win.
The
meeting will provide an opportunity for you to find out what
the association has been doing for you over the past year. One
board position will be up for election. If you are interested
in serving on the board, you can contact a member of the nominating
committee -Al Sanford, Judy Currier or Barbara Rolling. You
can also submit your name from the floor at the meeting.
If
you cannot attend, please remember to submit your proxy to a
member of the board so that the required association business
can be conducted.
REPORT FROM THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE
by Barbara Rolling
The
Nominating Committee would like to introduce you to a resident
who has agreed to be a candidate for the Board of the Leewood
Homeowners Association:
LYNN
WHALEN and her husband Art of 31 years, joined our neighborhood
in July from Leesburg, VA, and reside at 5267 Leestone Court.
Lynn is President/CEO of the National Science Foundation Federal
Credit Union in Arlington, VA. Currently, she also serves on
the Board for Ballston Child Care Consortium, Inc., handling
tuition assistance for the NSF Child Care facility. Originally
from Ohio, Lynn has been very active on her church council and
was very active in Girl Scouts as her daughters grew up. Now
that they are grown and have left home, Lynn is very excited
about moving into this area and is looking forward to getting
involved wherever she may be needed.
Other candidates
also would be welcomed. The voting for candidates will occur
at the Annual Meeting on March 11th at the nearby Phillips School.
If you are interested in running for the Board, please contact:
Judy Currier, Al Sanford, or Barbara
Rolling (addresses/telephone numbers removed for web publishing)
Nominations
can also be put forth from the floor at the Annual Meeting.
Reserved Parking Spaces
In the spring,
we will be having some work completed on curbs. At that time,
we will also repaint the "reserved" parking space indicators
on the curbs. If you are interested in having your reserved
space moved to another location, we need to know. (We have heard
anecdotal information that some individuals may not use their
reserve space regularly since the space is located under a sap-laden
tree.)
If you are
interested in moving your reserved space, please complete the
form below and return it the Leewood post office box (PO Box
1421, Springfield, VA 22151). As an alternative, you may go
on-line to the Leewood website and provide the requested information.
The link to the form will be under the "What's New" section.
If done via the website, we will contact you for a confirmation.
If you are renting your Leewood home and are interested in moving
the reserved space, please contact the owner of your unit, as
permission to move the reserved space must come from the owner.
Owner Name:
____________________________________________________________________
Leewood
Address: __________________________________________________________________
Proposed
Location of reserved space: ____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
Phone number
of owner (for questions or clarification): _____________________________________
Signature
of owner: ___________________________________________________
Garden Tours by Judy Currier
I would love to do a series for
the website on what people have done with their back yards to
make them attractive and/or useful. With Spring on the way (so
I am promised) this and early summer would be a good time to
get plantings at their peak. Please share your ideas with your
neighbors! I'll be glad come over and take pictures, or you
might have some of your own. I think that a lot of people in
Leewood would love to see your ideas, and if there is a section
not quite up to snuff - well, we will just ignore that part!
Please contact me at judy@leewood.us
or by telephone - I'm in the directory.
Excerpts from Jan-Feb News for Civic Associations
from Supervisor Gross
Report Malfunctioning
Streetlights: Help deter crime and increase pedestrian safety
by reporting malfunctioning street lights to Dominion Virginia
Power which is responsible for maintaining most streetlights
in Mason District. Unfortunately, electric utilities do not
"self-patrol" the streetlight system to identify inoperable
lights. Please jot down the number on the pole of the malfunctioning
light and report it by calling 1-888-667-3000 (toll-free). If
you can't obtain the pole number, then provide the specific
location, such as "in front of 123 Columbia Pike," or "the 2nd
and 4th lights going West on Columbia Pike south of the intersection
at Powell Lane." To ensure better follow up, make sure that
you record the work order number given by Dominion Virginia
Power. If the streetlight is not repaired within 11 calendar
days of your call, contact my office at 703-256-7717 or e-mail:
mason@fairfaxcounty.gov,
and provide the work order number.
Tax Relief
for the Elderly and Disabled: Department of Tax Administration
staff will be on hand at the Mason District Governmental Center
on Tuesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 27, 9:00 AM - 2:00
PM, to assist Mason residents who are either 65 or older, or
totally disabled, in obtaining Real Estate, Personal Property
Tax and Vehicle Decal Fee relief as well as Rental Grants. For
more information on eligibility requirements, contact: 703-222-8234,
TTY 703-222-7594 or visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/gov/bos/md/homepage.htm.
Receive News
and Updates by E-Mail: If you wish to receive information and
updates about Mason District by e-mail, please send your e-mail
address to
mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.
For District calendar of public meetings and other info, go to
the Mason District web page at:
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/gov/bos/md/homepage.htm.
President's Message December - Opinion
by Tony Mc Sorley
"The landscape
contractor will bill us in DECEMBER for the plants and we will
pay the contractor sometime in 2O03." Item # 5
A $8500
bill from a contractor four to five months before the purchase
of the plants, never mind their planting, would seem to be strange
accounting practice, especially, when the contractor has a $30,000
grounds contract with us. From discussion at the board meeting
this bill will be paid in January to use up 2002 budget money.
Does Leewood operate as the federal government budget, use by
year end or lose it. No it doesn't. So why pay a contractor
$8500 months early.
When I sent
two e-mails, four weeks apart, to the president and Al Sanford
as the board member in charge of grounds requesting a plant
list covering the $8500 bill, no response was yet received to
the four e-malls from either one. As such, it is hard to imagine
that a plant list even exists. Would you pay a roofer or plumber
four or five months in advance and without a detail explanation
of work to be done? Did we also send the sidewalk concrete contractor
$6000 for the future sidewalks in the Spring?
"..the FIRE
MARSHAL inspected the community and indicated that stop signs
should be installed in a few locations." Item #9
As the only
parking committee volunteer who toured Leewood with the Fire
Marshal, traffic stop signs were not the scope or interest of
the marshal. The Fire Marshall was totally devoted to fire lanes
in case of fire. VDOT is concerned with traffic signs. To use
the Fire Marshal in an attempt to justify stop signs at Leewood
would seem to border on the silly and misleading. This was told
to the board at their meeting but apparently silly is better
when you search for justification for five or six stop signs
after twenty five years without.
