And here’s an update on residential burglary in our neighborhood from Jill Garcia, the Foothills Crime Prevention Specialist: Foothills Residential Burglary Update, and some advice from APD: Residential Burglary Prevention

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM at APD’s Jeffrey Cole Russell Memorial 

Substation by Vice-President Ray Dymale.  

Officers present were Ray Dymale,  John Minks,  Dave Zeuch, Nena-Joy Almodovar, Suzanne Kersten, and Floyd Spencer.  The meeting room at the Jeffrey Cole Russell Memorial Substation was nearly filled with members of the ECNA.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Mr. Greg Lobberegt, Realtor

Mr. Lobberegt appeared briefly and was thanked by enthusiastic applause for his willingness to publish the ECNA Newsletter.  

Greg spoke briefly, reminding the Board that we may submit articles for the newsletter while he retains page three for his communication.  Also, if if there is any specific topic  that we wish to see in the newsletter, to just let him know, especially if it is real estate-related.  

He expressed the hope that real estate will start picking up soon.  There are very few “short sales” in the Foothills area, which is good news.  Councilman Harris inquired as to home values, and Greg indicated that he is starting to see them stabilize in the Foothills.

Councilman Don Harris

Councilman Harris gave a brief presentation on redistricting of the City of Albuquerque.  Increases in the city’s population with increasing growth on the West Side has resulted in the need to move one district to the West Side and to expand the remaining districts on the East Side.  A plan is currently before the City Council and will soon be voted on.  It is likely that quite soon, ECNA will be entirely in Councilman Harris’s District 9.

The Councilman told the Association that boundary signs are not expensive, and that we should be able to find the money to construct and place two signs.  

In 2013 it should be possible to obtain additional funds for the East Central Redevelopment project.  The City is awaiting additional Federal funds before undertaking the construction of medians on E. Central.

Next year’s City budget will be “lean.”

County Commissioner Wayne Johnson

Commissioner Johnson appeared at the meeting mostly to introduce himself to the Association.  He did remark that it is unlikely that there will be any serious problems related to redistricting of Bernalillo Country.  He also noted that the Bernalillo Country Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) has helicopters that are underused.  BCSO and APD are trying to establish a relationship such that the City will obtain greater access to BCSO’s helicopters, helping to amortize the cost of the helicopters and benefitting both agencies.

APD Lieutenant Nick Gonzales and Commander Cliff Saylor, Foothills Area Command

Commander Saylor made some brief introductory remark.  He is preparing the year-end documentation for the Foothills Division, and notes that the Division has made significant progress in crime reduction in some areas, but still has areas in which improvements need to be made.  

This holiday season the Foothills Command focused on “police presence” in retail areas and had great successes.  There were NO robberies, down successively from the past two years. 

Bike units have done extremely well in community-service, especially with regard to things like relocating the homeless into shelters, and  in reducing panhandling in retail areas.  

There was, however a spike in residential burglaries during the holiday season, so Foothills Command is placing increased emphasis on establishing new Neighborhood Watches.  The Commander also noted that he has a new Crime Prevention Specialist, Ms. Jill Garcia, who can help with establishing Neighborhood Watches.

Lt. Nick Gonzales provided a detailed account and analysis of 2011 crime in the ECNA area.  He also provided a written summary, which the Secretary will investigate having put on the Association’s web site.  In brief, there were 

• 28 auto burglaries
• 23 residential burglaries, one of which was thwarted by an alert neighbor, who heard a burglar alarm going off
• 3 robberies
• 2 thefts
• 12 auto thefts

Lt. Gonzales also provided helpful tips on how to reduce these types of crimes:  citizens need to be vigilant, and call 911 or 242-COPS when they observe anything suspicious.  Both the Lieutenant and the Commander agreed that it really doesn’t matter which number to use.  If you forget 242-COPS, definitely use 911.

Lt. Gonzales is offering a FREE WORKSHOP for small business owners and  their staff on FEB 7, 2012   on Robbery Awareness for the Small Business.  Call him for more info and to register for the workshop by calling him at 553-2210.

Ms. Stephanie Russo, from Congressman Martin Heinrich’s office

Ms. Russo appeared briefly to reaffirm the Congressman’s commitment to assist constituents with problems related to the Federal government, including problems with difficulties making mortgage payments.  

Constituents with any such problems can either visit any of the Congressman’s local offices, or Ms. Russo holds regular meetings at the Monzano Mesa Multigenerational Center from 10:30-11:30 AM on the first Monday of every month.

OLD BUSINESS

Treasurer’s Report

ECNA has a balance of $1,706.80 as of 11 January 2011.

NEW BUSINESS

Formation of Barking Dogs Committee 

Suzanne Kersten reported that 135 letters were sent out to targeted “problem streets” to raise awareness of people as to the City’s ordinances related to barking dogs.  An ECNA member remarked that the letter seems to have had an impact on the problem in her immediate vicinity, though the true test would come in spring when dogs are out more.  

However, as this problem is ongoing, Suzanne moved for a vote that a “Barking Dogs Committee” be formed to further address the issue.  The motion was seconded and passed by oral vote with none opposed.  Volunteers who will form the committee are Suzanne, Gloria Drayer and Sharon Swim.

Selection/Adoption of Boundary Sign Design

ECNA member Judy Minks put forth a design for the two boundary signs that the Association is seeking to buy and place on the two main entrances to ECNA, Indian School at Monte Largo and Lomas at Tramway.  After some discussion, it was moved, seconded and put to a vote to accept the design and further examine (1) costs and (2) the exact wording to be put on the signs, the latter of which will be put before the Association before final adoption.  The oral vote passed with none opposed.

Election of New Officers

At the end of their  terms, President Jay Brotz  and Treasurer John Minks both declined to run for additional terms.   

Nena-Joy Almodovar indicated that she was prepared to run for the office of ECNA President.  With no other names put forward, it was moved by Treasurer John Minks and seconded by Secretary David Zeuch to vote upon the matter.  Nena-Joy was unanimously elected President.

Suzanne Kersten indicated that she was prepared to serve as Treasurer.  With no others nominated, it was moved by Vice-President Ray Dymale and seconded by Secretary David Zeuch to vote upon the matter.  Suzanne was unanimously elected ECNA Treasurer.  Changes in the office will result in the transfer of appropriate bank signature cards.

With Nena-Joy’s and Suzanne’s election to higher offices, this left two Director-at-Large vacancies.  Both Jay Brotz and Gloria Drayer (both absent) had indicated that they would be willing to serve in this capacity.  Judy Minks’ name was also put forth as a nominee.  Judy was out of earshot at the time the nomination was made, which was apparently made by someone who did not understand that the “slate” was full. 

It was moved by Vice President Ray Dymale and seconded by ex-Treasurer John Minks that the matter be put to a vote.  It was passed by unanimous voice vote.

Once informed of her “accidental” nomination and election without any intent on her part, Judy Minks promptly resigned her new post in an e-mail to the Board dated 13 January 2011.  No further action is needed as three Directors-at-Large (Jay, Gloria and Floyd) meet requirements outlined in the by-laws.

By-laws

It was noted that the written copy of the bylaws needs to be revised to reflect recent changes made by the Board which changed the annual meeting date and membership fee.  

The new Bylaws need to be sent to the City, and, related to the changes of the annual meeting date, an addendum to the ECNA annual report to the city Neighboorhood Association  coordinator needs to be sent.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

David H. Zeuch, Secretary

Thursday, January 12th will be our first January Annual Meeting (since moving it there, from July, last October in a vote). During this meeting, as with all Annual Meetings, we will have officer elections. This year, President, Treasurer, and three Directors will be elected. We will be discussing our accomplishments in the past year and our schedule of events for 2012, and as always, taking ideas for neighbors on what we ought to be doing.

To kick off the meeting, we will have two speakers. One of our two City Councilors, Don Harris (District 9 – everything south of Indian School in our NA) will speak and then take questions, and then a staffer from Martin Heinrich’s office will speak and take questions.  Please plan to attend and bring your questions for our speakers.

Jay Brotz

President, Embudo Canyon Neighborhood Association

Embudo Canyon Neighborhood Association Minutes for October 13, 2011

Attending: Jay Brotz, John and Judy Minks

Meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Jay Brotz, President. The meeting was attended by four neighbors of Stutz NE in regards to barking dogs. A quorum was not present so no official business was conducted, however, two items were discussed: 1) A visit to the Office of Neighborhood Coordination (ONC) by Nena Almodovar and Judy Minks to present and request feed back for the Neighborhood Support Committee (NSC) concept. Pat Montoya and Deborah Mason provided excellent feed back about how such a committee would interact with the city. Pat and Deborah suggested NSC detail how the cityʼs 311 system works to resolve issues and explaining the power of googling ʻCABQ + the issueʼ will get the person to the appropriate place in the Cityʼs website for information, etc. Quite a few steps remain before NSC can go live on the website–i.e. interactive nature of the tracking form to be used by the reporting and support parties being the most obvious. 2) Judy Minks presented the ONCʼs Report Form to the four neighbors attending the meeting. Discussion ensued on how to help with a longstanding barking dog issue in the Stutz neighborhood. ECNA was asked to support a general letter that would be sent to area ECNA residents asking for compliance with city ordinances regarding barking dogs. ECNA took the matter under advisement. Because of the lack of a quorum a special meeting was called for October 26, 2011 at the house of John Minks, 7:30 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Submitted by Judy Minks

Embudo Canyon Neighborhood Association Minutes for October 26, 2011

Attending: Jay Brotz, John and Judy Minks, Suzanne Kersten, and Floyd Spencer

Meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Jay Brotz. The first item of official business was to change the annual meeting to January and have this change reflected in the Bylaws. The vote was unanimous. 1) A letter asking area businesses to join ECNA was approved and will be sent out by Judy Minks. The letter will ask for donations to support the annual events mailer in early January. 2) The meeting/event calendar for 2012 was determined as follows: January 12, 2012 Annual Meeting and invite Mayor to speak; February 9, 2012-regular board meeting; March 8, 2012-Speaker; April 12, 2012 Annual CABQ Clean-up; May 10, 2012- Speaker; June 2, 2012-Annual Picnic; July 12, 2012-Board Meeting; August 9, 2012 or date of National Night Out for Annual Ice Cream Social; September 13, 2012 Speaker; October 11, 2012 Board Meeting and Plan for 2013; November 8, 2012-No Meeting; December 13, 2012-No Meeting. 3) Jay will do an email to the membership announcing the annual meeting and election of officers as well as invite the Mayor as a speaker for January, 2012. 4) In reference to the barking dogs in the Stutz area, a chronology of the barking dogs plus two letters was approved. One letter to the owner and tenant of the property and another general letter to the Stutz area residents asking for compliance. Judy Minks is working on the chronology and letters–to be approved by the board.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Submitted by Judy Minks

The meeting was called to order by ECNA President Jay Brotz  at 7:00PM.  Officers present were Vice-President  Ray Dymale, Treasurer John Minks, Secretary David Zeuch, and Directors at Large Suzanne Kersten, Floyd Spencer and Nena-Joy Almodovar.

GUEST SPEAKER, APD SARGENT PAUL DURAN

Sargent Duran gave us an update on crime in the area.  There was nothing new to relate for the immediate area that includes the Association.    However, APD has been focusing attention on apartments in neighborhoods that are near ECNA.   This has included investigating problem tenants, problem apartment buildings, and running the license plates of automobiles that are out in the open to find stolen vehicles.

This has had an effect, reducing burglaries by 15% within the Foothills Command.

With the start of school, “kids” have presented problems at the nearby Hastings and MacDonald’s stores.  Bicycle officers have been paying particular attention to these establishments, reducing fights, etc.

Judy Minks mentioned to Sargent Duran and our Beat Officer, Chris Wetterlund, that skateboarders have been observed in the early evening, damaging benches in Embudo Hills Park by jumping up on them.  Both Sargent Duran and Officer Wetterlund indicated that they would try to keep a closer watch on the park during the problem time periods.

TREASURER’S REPORT

As of 8 September 2011, the ECNA savings account has $1,301.57, and the checking account has $111.56.

OLD BUSINESS

Neighborhood Support Committee

Judy Minks displayed her draft version of the Neighborhood Support Committee’s “Incident Intake Form.”   The Committee is hoping that the Form can be placed on the ECNA website for direct, on-line use there.  The plan is that only the website administrator, the filer of the Form, and the ECNA Board Member assigned to help the filer will have access to the Form to preserve the confidentiality of the filer.

The form is to be used in the event that the City of Albuquerque’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program fails to resolve neighborhood or inter-neighbor issues.  In that event, the form will provide a valuable chronological history of further steps that have been take by the filer to resolve the issue.

President Jay Brotz said that he would undertake to get the Form operational on the website.

Nena-Joy Almodovar and Judy Minks will arrange a meeting with the Director of the Office of Neighborhood Coordination to discuss this concept with him, and to see if the Incident Intake Form might have applicability to other Neighborhood Associations.

August’s National Night Out/Ice Cream Social

Secretary Dave Zeuch wrote and signed a “Thank-You” card on behalf of the Association for Apple Mountain Strings & Things, who provided music for the event.  The card was delivered to the music group that same day.

Treasurer John Minks noted that we got two new members at the event, and that he logged 106 visitors.

Mayor Berry turned up at the Ice Cream Social and stayed longer than expected, visiting with many attendees.

Nena-Joy Almodovar indicated that she would get photos of the event e-mailed to Jay for posting on the website.  She also plans to send some photos to the Mayor’s Office.

Planned Vote to Change the Bylaws to Move the Annual Meeting to January

The question arose as to whether or not we had posted on the website sufficiently in advance our intention to vote at the October meeting on moving the ECNA Annual Meeting from July to January.  After some discussion, it was concluded that the membership had received sufficient advance notice for the Board to go ahead and hold the vote in October.

The purpose for the move is the hope that we will have a better Annual Meeting turnout in January than we currently do at the height of summer when so many people are on vacation or otherwise traveling.

NEW BUSINESS

Neighborhood Association Signs at Entrances to the Area

Jay Brotz suggested that we should get a permanent “Welcome to the Embudo Canyon Neighborhood Association” sign on which we would also announce our website and other pertinent information.

Judy Minks said that a design was in the works, and that she would get back to the Board as to where it stands.

When the question arose as to where to put such a sign, Nena-Joy Almodovar suggested that we actually need three signs:  One on Indian School east of Tramway,  one at Monte Largo and the northern arroyo, and one somewhere along Lomas.  These are the main entry points to the ECNA.

Jay noted that the Supper Rock Neighborhood Association has a particularly nice, cut steel sign.  He suggested that we ask Supper Rock how much their sign cost.

Fence Repairs Along Lomas

Judy Minks asked permission of the Board to write a letter to the Open Space Division, requesting that they repair fencing along Lomas from Turner to the Embudo Hills Park.  The motion was seconded and passed by acclamation.

Mayor’s Fall Cleanup

Mayor Berry has announced an early, City-wide Fall cleanup (24 September, 9AM-12PM) in preparation for the annual Balloon Fiesta.  The Board  decided to participate again, cleaning up Tramway between Lomas and Indian School.  Dave Zeuch will register the Association’s participation with the City, pick up the City-provided supplies, and arrange a point for pickup of the collected trash.

Jay Brotz will announce the cleanup on the website and via an e-mail to the membership.

Neighborhood Grant Programs

Dave Zeuch brought two announcements from the City soliciting grant proposals from neighborhood associations.  Judy Minks volunteered to look into the call for proposals to fund specific improvements or activities such as workshops.  Judy and Nena-Joy Almodovar volunteered to look into the call for proposals to fund public sculptures within the neighborhood associations.

It was suggested that the library at Lomas & Tramway would be a good site for a new sculpture following their renovation.

New American Flag for the Foothills Command

John and Judy Minks plan to approach Commander Cliff Saylor of the APD Foothills Command, with the intention of donating an American flag that was flown in an F16 over Iraq.  

E-mail Announcements from the City

Jay asked the Board’s advice on what to do with the e-mail announcements  that he receives from the City.  Specifically, should he wanted to know if he should be forwarding them to the Board alone, or top the entire membership.  The Board recommended that he forward them to Board members only, who could then help him decide what, if anything, should be sent on to the entire membership. 

Otherwise, the membership might be “turned off” to participation in ECNA owing to receipt of too many irrelevant e-mails.

Guest Speakers

The Board agreed to consider changing the number of meetings that include formally-announced guest speakers.  Previously, the Board has sought to have such speakers frequently, but a speaker at every meeting tends to draw out the length of meetings and inhibit the amount of work, or topics for consideration, that the Board can undertake.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned by President Jay Brotz  at 8:15PM.

Respectfully submitted,

David H. Zeuch, Secretary

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Vice President Ray Dymale at the Jeff Russell Memorial Albuquerque Police Department  Substation, 12800 Lomas Blvd.

Present for purposes of establishing a quorum: Ray Dymale, VP; David Zeuch, Secretary; John Minks, Treasurer; Suzanne Kersten, Director; Nena-Joy Almodovar, Driector.  Absent: Jay Brotz, President and Floyd Spencer, Director.

OLD BUSINESS

1)  Minutes of last meeting were reviewed and approved by the Board and have been posted to the ECNA web site at the time of this meeting.

2)  It was announced that the Association did follow up on the double left-turn and signage problems at the intersection of Indian School and Tramway and the city has resolved the problems with appropriate lane identification on the ground and with new signs.

3) Treasurer’s Report:

July 1, 2010 Account Balance  $1874.33

Income 2011 to date $653.12

Expenses 2011 $1039.04

Account Balance June 30, 2011 $1488.41

4) The bank can’t find its signed copy of the June 2010 minutes with officers listed and  signatures.  Dave Zeuch, Secretary will obtain another copy for them.

NEW BUSINESS

1)  Presentation by APD officer Sargent Paul Duran

Officer Duran described the “Problem-Oriented Policing” program  which has been in effect for several months. This program focuses on bringing all resources together across the department and other agencies to more effectively target specific problems. The recent effort was focused on the hotels that border our neighborhood (The Hotel Circle area).  In the last month there has been a significant decrease in property crimes relative to the previous month.

Property and car thefts were also reported to be 9% lower in June.  Within our neighborhood reporting area there were 7 burglaries, 3 thefts, 1 assault , 2 acts of vandalism and 1 call for a disturbance.  There were 38 referrals made to the police for graffiti.

The police have been successful in recent months in stopping a large, organized group of people who had hit homes in our area and the Four Hill neighborhood.  They asked us to announce on our web site that citizens struck by this group (the “Pillowcase Gang”) should visit the Lomas Sub-station which is holding property for identification by the victims so it may be returned to them.

Neighborhood Association attendees brought up a continuing problem of graffiti on Tramway benches, and at Chelwood Elementary School.

2) Elections were held, as required by the by-laws for the offices of Vice President  and Secretary.and the three directors. Inquiry was made to the group if anyone was interested in putting their name forth as each position was brought up for election.  Nominations were opened for each position respectively and in each case, the current office-holder was nominated, nomination seconded by another attendee and was unanimously voted to continue in the position for the next term of office.  The results:

Ray Dymale, VP; David Zeuch, Secretary; Suzanne Kersten, Director; Nena-Joy Almodovar, Director.   and Floyd Spencer, Director.

A brief discussion was held regarding the Association’s intention to do minimally, two formal USPS bulk mailings to members and otherwise communicate via emails to membership.  Given the increased cost of mailing to our large association area, a proposal was made to raise the association membership fee to $10 per year per household, due each January.  The proposal also included the provision that the fee would not be pro-rated to those joining later in a calendar year. The motion was made and seconded and approved by the attendees.  It was confirmed that no change to the by-laws was needed to make change to the membership fee itself.

A  motion was made to change the annual meeting requirement  from its current summer month to a January meeting as (1) more people are in town at that time, and (2) it serves the association efforts better with regard to kicking off the membership drive and (3) will facilitate planning efforts.  Historically ECNA sponsors  spring and summer social events which then tend to detract from  participation at the annual board meeting in the same month.  That is why this year’s  June board meeting was delayed to early July. This fact prompted a motion to change the month of the annual board meeting.

The motion was made and seconded move the annual board meeting from June to the January meeting.  Thus, election of officers will move from June to January.   Bylaws require a 10 day notification of this motion to members prior to a vote.  A time was agreed upon that we would address this requirement by posting notice of the motion on the web site by Aug. 10, 2011 that will announce that a vote will take place on this motion at the  Sept. 8, 2011 meeting.  Signs will also be posted to announce the meeting.

A request was made by N. Almodovar to purchase a dozen more white signs as we did last year to advertise meetings and events (as the previous set has worn out) along with additional packing tape.   The expense was approved unanimously.

The annual National Night Out event and Ice Cream Social occurring Aug 2 this year was discussed.  Suzanne Kersten will plan the ice cream supply component with help from members at large, John Minks will plan the membership drive table.Judy Minks and members are looking into offering a silent auction at the event.  Judy Minks circulated a list of 2011 ECNA accomplishments/activities that was reviewed  and will be turned into a poster by N. Almodovar for the event.  Music will be supplied from 6:30-7:30 by Apple Mountain “Strings and Things,” at no charge to the Association. The decision was made to charge $.50 for ice this year and a hand stamp members to indicate payment  No membership, no ice cream this year.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned by Vice President Ray Dymale at 8:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

David H. Zeuch, Secretary

The meeting was called to order by ECNA Secretary  David Zeuch  at 7:05 PM at the Jeffrey Cole Memorial Police Substation.  Officers present were Ray Dymale (Vice President), David Zeuch (Secretary), and Suzanne Kersten and Nena-Joy Almodovar (Directors at Large).

Owing to the presence of a guest speaker, Mr. John Kolessar (Director of Traffic Engineering for the City of Albuquerque), Old and New Business were deferred until later.  Mr. Kolessar gave a presentation that was so detailed,  interesting—and often, so surprising—that it dominated most of the meeting.

GUEST SPEAKER

Mr. John Kolessar, Director of Traffic Engineering, City of Albuquerque.

Mr. Kolessar emphasized at the outset that as a citizen who lives on a city street with traffic, he is “one of us,” not the enemy.

Traffic engineering is mostly a science.  Though there are some politics involved—along with some emotions—traffic engineering is largely driven by decades of data collection and scientific analysis.

Across the United States, traffic is managed in accordance with The Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which is available for public viewing on the Web.  By using this manual nationwide, what we see from street-to-street, city-to-city, and state- to-state are essentially the same traffic control devices.

First, Mr. Kolessar tried to dispel five myths about the Traffic Engineering Department

(1)    Traffic Engineering has NOTHING to do with the city’s “red light cameras.”  They are operated under a contract managed by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), and so problems with the cameras and their associated policies should be taken up with APD.

(2)    The city’s traffic signals ARE synchronized.  However, there are many things that can cause to signals to temporarily become out of synchronization.  Emergency vehicles can preempt signals, putting the signals out of “synch” for a while.  Similarly, pedestrians pushing the “Walk” button at an intersection can also put the signals temporarily out of synch.  It takes time to recover from these “disturbances.”

(3)    Surprisingly, traffic signs do little to alter driver behavior.  Indeed, it seems that a surprising number of  drivers actually never “see” traffic signs.  The purpose of signs is for enforcement, which has a greater effect on bringing careless drivers to see the error of their ways and change their behaviors.

(4)    Much though some of us like them, speed bumps DO NOT appreciably slow traffic down.

(5)    Stop signs do not appreciably slow traffic down.  Nor are they intended to allow pedestrians to cross streets.  Rather, they are simply there to allow traffic from side streets to safely enter.

This was an interesting statistic:  85% of all drivers cause less than 1% of all traffic accidents.  They actually need little in the way of  traffic devices to control their behavior.  15% of all drivers cause the remaining 99% of all accidents.

Of that 15% of problem drivers, 68% are under 25 years of age.  Another 18% are men under the age of 49 years old.  12 % of all accidents are caused by women with children in the car, i.e., distracted.

Mr. Kolessar also explained the new, city-wide “sign audit” that is underway in Albuquerque.  Once the audit is complete, signs will be “redone” across the city, making them larger and brighter and, overall, much easier to see.

After his presentation, Mr. Kolessar kindly made himself available for a lengthy question and answer session which took up much of the meeting’s remaining available.  In particular, he explained why he LIKES Albuquerque’s growing trend toward increasing use of “traffic circles,” and gave a particularly lucid explanation of how they are supposed to work.

OLD BUSINESS

Treasurer’s Report

As of 12 May 2011, ECNA had $1,401.10 in its savings account, and $117.07 in its checking account.

New trafficsigns on eastbound Indian School at Tramway

Sally Mayer directed Dave Zeuch to the appropriate person in the Traffic Engineering Department (Mr. Dan Korbin) to request that  better signage be added to the eastbound lanes of Indian School where they intersect Tramway Blvd.  Consequently, new signs were finally added to indicate that there is only ONE left turn lane from eastbound Indian School to northbound Tramway Blvd.  The line markings were also improved and the arrows in the relevant lanes were repainted to further emphasize this point.

Many ECNA members have noted for years that many drivers think that there is a double left turn lane from eastbound Indian School onto northbound Tramway.  The new signage is likely to improve this dangerous situation.

ECNA/APD workshop on crime prevention

The subject workshop is still planned for May 14 at the Jeff Russell Memorial Police Substation at 9:30 AM.  It was decided that planning on our part was essentially done, with no additional assignments given out to the ECNA board.

NEW BUSINESS

It was decided that planning for the June 4 ECNA picnic  could be better done “off line.”  Judy Minks volunteered to solicit assistance from other members to take care of the final details, and to acquire needed tables, chairs, etc. at a later date.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned by Dave Zeuch at approximately 8:50PM.

Respectfully submitted,

David H. Zeuch, Secretary

Dishes already signed up for:

• Hot dogs, buns, and condiments
• Pasta salad
• Rice quiche casserole
• Fruit salad
• Baked beans
• Cake or cookies

For this year’s Cleanup, we’ll be collecting trash along Tramway Blvd. and the Tramway Trail between Lomas and Indian School. If you’re interested in helping out, bring a pair of gloves and meet us at the Circle K at Lomas and Tramway at 9 am on May 7th.

Our board meeting on the 12th and the Crime Prevention Seminar on the 14th will both be at the Foothills Police Substation, at 12800 Lomas Blvd NE, in the community room. The Board meeting will be at our usual time of 7 pm and all members and neighbors are welcome to attend. The Crime Prevention Seminar will run from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, and will be conducted by Albuquerque Police Department crime prevention specialists. Everyone is welcome to attend this seminar, whether they live within our NA boundaries or not, so please tell your family and friends.

And don’t forget, our second Annual Picnic will be held once again in Embudo Hills Park on June 4th.