Potential Scout Projects
The Broadmoor Recreational Improvement District/Broadmoor Property Owners Association in Little Rock has opportunities for Boy Scout service projects related to the pathway around Broadmoor Lake. The 10-acre lake, located at the intersections of Broadmoor Drive and South University Avenue, is surrounded by a walking trail bordering the back yards of houses on the lake.
The trail is usable now, but only but it has several overgrown and rough areas. This makes it difficult for the less agile or adventurous to walk the whole path.
Needs range from clearing and grading to building a bridge to span an inlet or fishing docks over eroded areas.
Trail improvements can be broken down into many small or large projects. All would provide an opportunity to work with a group of residents, recruit volunteers from the neighborhood in addition to Scouts, plan and design the work, and coordinate work days.
Point of contact:
Edward Swaim
36 Rosemont Drive
Little Rock, Arkansas
501-661-9879
edwardswaim@yahoo.com
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Yard-Parking Article in Today's Paper
Vote set on yard parking
LR board to take up ban March 2
Saturday, February 20, 2010
LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock residents have another two weeks to voice their opinions on whether the city should ban cars and other vehicles from parking in front and side yards.
City directors postponed a final vote until their March 2 meeting after debating the idea Tuesday.
Little Rock already bans nonworking vehicles from being parked in yards. This new proposal would prohibit all cars, trucks, vans, boats, campers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, golf carts, all-terrain vehicles or “other similar vehicles” from being parked in front and side yards.
The proposal also would limit houses to one additional parking pad and prohibits entire front yards from being paved for parking. There would be an exemption during parties and special events, such as Razorback football games at War Memorial Park. City directors added those ideas in the past few weeks.
Residents in various parts of the city have asked for a ban for years, saying neighbors hurt their property values when they park in the grass. The PlanningCommission approved such a ban in October 2004 but the proposal never moved up to city directors until recently, when several city directors asked that the idea be revived.
“It’s very ugly and very upsetting,” said Edward Swaim, president of the Broadmoor Property Owners Association.
The 1950s-era neighborhood near the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was built before most households had two or more cars, but Swaim told city directors Tuesday that the issue wasn’t about a lack of space to park.
“People are lazy and they either want to park the car right up near the door,” he said, or they don’t want to shuffle cars around to let one out of the driveway.
But some residents, including Robert Webb of the Love Neighborhood Association, said a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work in older parts of the city where the streets are too narrow for parking.
“We think this is a good idea, but not for every neighborhood.”
Southwest Little Rock resident Luke Skrable said that rather than passing a new law the city should focus on improving its code-enforcement agency and enforcing existingordinances.
“I want to address the cars in the yards but I don’t want to pass another law that you all won’t enforce,” he said.
Yet, passing such a law will give residents a way to do something about a problem they see hurting their neighborhoods, said Pat Gee, president of the Upper Baseline Neighborhood Association.
“At least give us the opportunity to have some recourse on what we can do,” she said.
City directors have said they’re concerned about forcing residents to park on the street. On Tuesday, the only city director to oppose the ban was Erma Hendrix. Hendrix said it seemed to her that the issue really centered on absentee landlords.
Little Rock isn’t the only city that has grappled with yard parking. Conway city officials considered a similar ban before dropping the idea.
In 2008, North Little Rock officials agreed to let neighborhoods decide for themselves whether to ban parking in yards by giving them the authority to create special parking districts. Three North Little Rock neighborhoods - Argenta, Park Hill and Lakewood - now have a ban on parking in yards.
City directors postponed a final vote until their March 2 meeting after debating the idea Tuesday.
Little Rock already bans nonworking vehicles from being parked in yards. This new proposal would prohibit all cars, trucks, vans, boats, campers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, golf carts, all-terrain vehicles or “other similar vehicles” from being parked in front and side yards.
The proposal also would limit houses to one additional parking pad and prohibits entire front yards from being paved for parking. There would be an exemption during parties and special events, such as Razorback football games at War Memorial Park. City directors added those ideas in the past few weeks.
Residents in various parts of the city have asked for a ban for years, saying neighbors hurt their property values when they park in the grass. The PlanningCommission approved such a ban in October 2004 but the proposal never moved up to city directors until recently, when several city directors asked that the idea be revived.
“It’s very ugly and very upsetting,” said Edward Swaim, president of the Broadmoor Property Owners Association.
The 1950s-era neighborhood near the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was built before most households had two or more cars, but Swaim told city directors Tuesday that the issue wasn’t about a lack of space to park.
“People are lazy and they either want to park the car right up near the door,” he said, or they don’t want to shuffle cars around to let one out of the driveway.
But some residents, including Robert Webb of the Love Neighborhood Association, said a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work in older parts of the city where the streets are too narrow for parking.
“We think this is a good idea, but not for every neighborhood.”
Southwest Little Rock resident Luke Skrable said that rather than passing a new law the city should focus on improving its code-enforcement agency and enforcing existingordinances.
“I want to address the cars in the yards but I don’t want to pass another law that you all won’t enforce,” he said.
Yet, passing such a law will give residents a way to do something about a problem they see hurting their neighborhoods, said Pat Gee, president of the Upper Baseline Neighborhood Association.
“At least give us the opportunity to have some recourse on what we can do,” she said.
City directors have said they’re concerned about forcing residents to park on the street. On Tuesday, the only city director to oppose the ban was Erma Hendrix. Hendrix said it seemed to her that the issue really centered on absentee landlords.
Little Rock isn’t the only city that has grappled with yard parking. Conway city officials considered a similar ban before dropping the idea.
In 2008, North Little Rock officials agreed to let neighborhoods decide for themselves whether to ban parking in yards by giving them the authority to create special parking districts. Three North Little Rock neighborhoods - Argenta, Park Hill and Lakewood - now have a ban on parking in yards.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 02/20/2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Reporting Potholes Caused by Freeze
Message from the Mayor
Winter Weather and Potholes
Over the past couple of weeks, Little Rock has been treated to a winter wonderland of beautiful snow-covered landscapes. It has also created treacherous driving conditions and an extraordinary number of potholes in our city streets. These snow storms have dumped so much snow on our city that this month ranks as the sixth-snowiest February on record.
The consequence of ice and snow melting and refreezing causes our roads to expand and contract. This action creates potholes that can be dangerous and are quite frustrating to motorists. Please call 311 to report potholes that need repair. Under normal circumstances, one of our street crews is usually able to patch reported potholes within 24 hours of when they are called in. Because the ice has created such an unusual number of potholes, we have been working three street crews on potholes and will work three crews overtime on Saturday as well. Because of the increased number of potholes, it may take two to three days for repair rather than the typical 24-hour service.
I am proud of our Public Works Department, which has performed admirably to clear the most essential routes in our city as quickly as possible. As a matter of city policy, the department clears the city's main thoroughfares first, including routes near hospitals to protect the public health and safety of our community. After the main streets are cleared, crews clear the most heavily traveled routes and then work their way into neighborhood streets.
I would like to ask you to forward this email to the people in your address book who may also want to know this information. They may sign up to receive future Messages from the Mayor by following the link below. If you wish to have your address deleted from future emails please follow the link below and click the "unsubscribe" button. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mark Stodola
Mayor
Winter Weather and Potholes
Over the past couple of weeks, Little Rock has been treated to a winter wonderland of beautiful snow-covered landscapes. It has also created treacherous driving conditions and an extraordinary number of potholes in our city streets. These snow storms have dumped so much snow on our city that this month ranks as the sixth-snowiest February on record.
The consequence of ice and snow melting and refreezing causes our roads to expand and contract. This action creates potholes that can be dangerous and are quite frustrating to motorists. Please call 311 to report potholes that need repair. Under normal circumstances, one of our street crews is usually able to patch reported potholes within 24 hours of when they are called in. Because the ice has created such an unusual number of potholes, we have been working three street crews on potholes and will work three crews overtime on Saturday as well. Because of the increased number of potholes, it may take two to three days for repair rather than the typical 24-hour service.
I am proud of our Public Works Department, which has performed admirably to clear the most essential routes in our city as quickly as possible. As a matter of city policy, the department clears the city's main thoroughfares first, including routes near hospitals to protect the public health and safety of our community. After the main streets are cleared, crews clear the most heavily traveled routes and then work their way into neighborhood streets.
I would like to ask you to forward this email to the people in your address book who may also want to know this information. They may sign up to receive future Messages from the Mayor by following the link below. If you wish to have your address deleted from future emails please follow the link below and click the "unsubscribe" button. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mark Stodola
Mayor
Yard-Parking Ordinance, Second Reading
The second reading of the yard-parking ordinance is on tonight's City Board agenda. If you would like to go speak on it, please do. The board meets at 6 PM at City Hall. They won't vote on it on a second reading, but Mayor Stodola said at the last meeting that he wants to hear from the public.
If you can't make it, I encourage you to e-mail the board today at Board@littlerock.org. Your message will go to a staff member who will distribute it to the board members.
If you need motivation, take a drive after our yards have been wet for the past few weeks and see the mess.
_________
SEPARATE ITEMS (Items 20 - 21)
20. ORDINANCE To amend Chapter 36 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas, providing for various procedures and land use regulations regarding parking of motor vehicles in front yards or corner side yards of residential properties; and for other purposes. Planning Commission: 9 ayes; 0 nays; 2 absent. Staff recommends approval. (Second Reading) (1st Reading held on February 2, 2010)
Synopsis: The Planning Commission is forwarding to the Board of Directors an ordinance amendment which would establish procedures and criteria regulating the parking of motor vehicles in the front yard and street corner side yards of residential properties.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
How to Track Down the Owner of a House
During this week’s snow and ice storm, a tree fell on a neighbor’s house, penetrating the roof. The house is owned by a former Broadmoor resident who leases it through a prominent management company.
The neighbors were not able to reach their management company by telephone at the regular office number or the emergency number. A member of the Broadmoor board was able to assist them by contacting the owner.
When situations like these come up, it is helpful to know how to do a bit of detective work. Here’s a step-by-step description of the process of tracking down an owner.
1. When you see a house with a “for lease” sign in the yard, write the telephone number down. This seems too easy, but it is the most reliable way of being able to contact the owner in an emergency or with other concerns.
2. If you don’t have the owner/manager’s number, or are just curious, search the ownership using the Pulaski County Assessor’s Web site. Tip: just put the house number and the street name in the appropriate blanks. If you try to put in more information, such as “north” or “drive,” it confuses the computer. A search takes a minute or two.
3. If you get the owner’s name, look them up using the techniques in paragraph 5 below, or run the name (last name first) in the “ownership” line of the Assessor’s site.
A. Look it up in the telephone book (try the business pages)
B. “Google” it
C. Run the name on the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office. The Web search is at http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/corps/search_all.php.
A. Look them up in the good-old telephone book. You should try the white pages and the business pages.
B. Run a Google search, and try other search engines, such as http://www.zabasearch.com/ and http://www.peekyou.com/. Both these sites will give you limited free information, which is often exactly what you need. You do not have to use any of the paid searches that they lead you to to find most of what you need. Run your own name for fun, it will scare you if you didn't already know what all is available over the Internet!
6. In general, apply some persistence and imagination, and you will be surprised what you can find out just sitting at your computer! After searching ownership a few times, you will get better at it and will start noticing interesting ownership patterns.
7. Please describe your experiences and tips in the comments!
The neighbors were not able to reach their management company by telephone at the regular office number or the emergency number. A member of the Broadmoor board was able to assist them by contacting the owner.
When situations like these come up, it is helpful to know how to do a bit of detective work. Here’s a step-by-step description of the process of tracking down an owner.
1. When you see a house with a “for lease” sign in the yard, write the telephone number down. This seems too easy, but it is the most reliable way of being able to contact the owner in an emergency or with other concerns.
- Tip, you can type a telephone number (include the area code) into a search engine, such as Google, and it may give you a name and address. Try your own number to see.
2. If you don’t have the owner/manager’s number, or are just curious, search the ownership using the Pulaski County Assessor’s Web site. Tip: just put the house number and the street name in the appropriate blanks. If you try to put in more information, such as “north” or “drive,” it confuses the computer. A search takes a minute or two.
3. If you get the owner’s name, look them up using the techniques in paragraph 5 below, or run the name (last name first) in the “ownership” line of the Assessor’s site.
- Tip: The most expensive house they own will be the one they live in.
A. Look it up in the telephone book (try the business pages)
B. “Google” it
C. Run the name on the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office. The Web search is at http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/corps/search_all.php.
- Tip: When you get the results, open the corporation name and look for names of real people. There will be a “Registered Agent,” sometimes the lawyer who set up the corporation, other times one of the owners of the business. It may also include other names of the people behind the corporation. Use the techniques below to find contact information for the people whose names come up.
- Tip: If you get a physical address, or even a post office box, search it in Google, to see what you can find. You may find their telephone number that way.
A. Look them up in the good-old telephone book. You should try the white pages and the business pages.
B. Run a Google search, and try other search engines, such as http://www.zabasearch.com/ and http://www.peekyou.com/. Both these sites will give you limited free information, which is often exactly what you need. You do not have to use any of the paid searches that they lead you to to find most of what you need. Run your own name for fun, it will scare you if you didn't already know what all is available over the Internet!
- Tip: The search results may give you enough information to follow up on using other Internet searches.
6. In general, apply some persistence and imagination, and you will be surprised what you can find out just sitting at your computer! After searching ownership a few times, you will get better at it and will start noticing interesting ownership patterns.
7. Please describe your experiences and tips in the comments!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Broadmoor Partners with Fair Park Residents Association to Recognize Police
The Broadmoor board voted this week to join the Fair Park Residents Association to create an awards program to recognize the great work being done by the Little Rock and University of Arkansas at Little Rock police departments. Here's a description of the program:
“University District Officer of the Year” awards
Idea:
- To recognize the efforts of our Police (LRPD & UALR).
Benefits:
- For the neighborhoods to begin taking “ownership” of the University District.
- To increase awareness of our neighborhoods by both Police Departments.
- To increase the partnership of our two neighborhoods.
Plan:
- Both neighborhoods approve the “University District Officer of the Year” awards and agree on sharing the costs.
- The “University District Officer of the Year” award is then established for one (1) LRPD Officer and one (1) UALR Officer to be recipient.
- The criteria for the award would be direct actions by an Officer to stop, prevent or reduce crime within the University District boundaries. The Chief of each Police Department would submit three (3) nominations.
- A joint committee of two members of each neighborhood (appointed by the respective organization) would be the selection committee.
- The joint selection committee, by majority, would select the recipient, one from each Police Department.
- A letter would be sent to both Chiefs explaining the award and requesting three (3) nominations.
- A date for the award ceremony would be picked that works for both
associations. - The award ceremony is suggested to be at Broadmoor’s clubhouse. Press releases and invitations would be sent for the award ceremony. The Mayor, City Directors, UALR Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, Chiefs, all nominees and family would be invited.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
An Appeal to the Little Rock City Board of Directors
Broadmoor Property Owners’ Association Supports “Yard-Parking” Ordinance
The Broadmoor Property Owners’ Association Board of Directors voted at its December 2004 meeting to express its support for “An Ordinance Amending Chapter 36 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Little Rock Arkansas Providing for Various Procedures and Land Use Regulations Regarding Parking of Motor Vehicles in Front Yards or Corner Street Side Yards of Residential Properties.” The ordinance is now before you in 2010. We encourage you to vote for the ordinance.
This ordinance will do much to improve the appearance of our neighborhood and city. Parking in yards destroys lawns and is unsightly. We in Broadmoor feel that pride of ownership in our homes promotes good, stable citizenship and preserves the value of our property.
Please vote for the “yard-parking” ordinance.
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