Northwood News ♦ October 2003

President’s Message

By Vince Jankoski

Welcome back!  I trust you all had a rewarding, fun, and invigorating summer.  Our new season promises to be both exciting and historic.  My focus for the upcoming year will be on increasing participation in existing NFCCA activities and on increasing the kinds of activities sponsored by the NFCCA.  We have a lot of work to do.  We need a lot of good people to do it.  I hope to involve many of you who have not previously participated in association activities.

Since we have many new families in our neighborhood who may be unfamiliar with the NFCCA, let me tell you what we are about.  NFCCA is a voluntary association.  In this regard, we are unlike a homeowner’s association.  We do not promulgate rules affecting the manner in which our residents use their property.  NFCCA exists to promote the general welfare of the community.  We do this through various internal and external mechanisms.

Internally, we hold an annual Neighborhood Night Out every August.  For those of you who attended the August event, you know it was a rousing success.  We conduct annual (and sometimes semi-annual) environmental clean-ups of the Lockridge Drive tributary.  We plant trees in the neighborhood parkland.  This year, it has been suggested that we conduct a neighborhood-wide yard sale, a Halloween party, and an Easter egg roll.

Externally, NFCCA interacts with various state and local agencies to assure that our roads, utilities, and other services are delivered in a suitable manner.  NFCCA also troubleshoots on various issues as they arise.

NFCCA’s ability to promote the general welfare of our neighborhood is necessarily limited by the number of people who volunteer for activities.  New people are needed to expand the scope of what NFCCA can do for its members.  New ideas are needed to expand the kinds of activities NFCCA can sponsor.

This brings me to the most important issue facing the NFCCA.  The NFCCA’s bylaws define its boundaries as:  University Blvd., Colesville Road, Northwest Branch Park, and Eisner Street extended to the Northwest Branch.  A group of residents living north of Eisner Street has requested that we invite them to join NFCCA.  They currently do not have an association.

Representatives of this group attended our last membership meeting in the spring.  There have been a number of discussions since then.  The NFCCA Executive Board has decided to put the matter up for a vote of the membership at the October membership meeting.  The mechanics of this proposal will be to place before the membership a proposed amendment to the bylaws to redefine the NFCCA’s boundaries as follows:

“The boundaries of the NFCCA shall be as follows:  University Boulevard, Colesville Road, the Northwest Branch, and the Northwood High School.”

This will have the effect of moving the northern boundary of the association from Eisner Street to the grounds of Northwood High School (see map).  The proposed expansion will include Forest Knolls Elementary School within the boundaries of the association.  It will add to the NFCCA the homes on Caddington Avenue, Cavalier Drive (north of Eisner), Chiswell Lane, Edgewood Avenue (north of Eisner), Foxglove Lane, Hannes Street, Hannes Court, Irwin Street, Loxford Terrace, Malta Lane, Playford Lane, and Whittington Terrace.  It will expand the NFCCA membership by approximately 535 homes.

After discussion and voting on this proposal, the general election will follow.  Only members current in their dues will be permitted to vote.  Given the significance of the issues involved, I expect to see a big turn out.   ■