Mosquito dunks available
Not welcome here.
Anyone who has standing water on or near their property, James Carter has picked up 100 mosquito dunks from the City of Bryan to distribute to Westwood residents who can use them. Each dunk will treat 100 sq. ft.
Mr. Carter is at 3200 Wilderness, phone 979-779-0675 email JamesWCarter@suddenlink.net.
He has offered to deliver, or residents may pick dunks up at Mr. Carter’s.
Remain vigilant!
Ransacked truck
A resident on Rolling Glen reported a ransacked truck. We must watch out for one another as well as ourselves.
Something suspicious? ANYTHING suspicious? Call the police:
Crime Stopper’s Report Line: 361-3888
Bryan Police Department’s regular number: 209-5300
Of course, in an emergency dial 911
Coyotes again
photo from the flier
See this Letter to Bryan Residents from the city: Coyote Info Flier.
A resident’s summary in her post to the Westwood Estates Yahoo Group: small dogs and cats on the menu.
Past stories on this site:
This subdivision is at a crossroads
UPDATE: The Annual Meeting Proxy is ready. Download the Proxy here.
With the coming of the Health Science Center and the Biomedical Corridor, our neighborhood has the potential to see substantial increase in the value of our homes. Not staying current on our paperwork can and almost certainly will cost each of us by reducing or limiting our property values. Our deed restrictions and bylaws are over 25 years old. They need updating. That means we need at least 98 people or their proxies to initiate this process.
We’ll be posting proposed changes and soliciting member input. We expect the process to take perhaps 3-6 months, but we cannot even begin without a simple majority vote at the annual meeting.
After all the proposed changes are in place, we’ll hold a special meeting to approve them. This meeting will also require a simple majority (50% plus one) vote to approve.
Past dues are becoming a problem for the Association
The Board is taking action against past due accounts.
Options being considered:
- Collection agencies: will charge past due accounts their costs
- Attorneys: past due homeowners responsible for fees
- Claim of lien: will cloud title, the $40 filing fee + 18% per annum interest + $40 release fee will be charged to the past due homeowner
Residents who choose not to pay their dues put the the other residents in the position of supporting the upkeep of the neighborhood, while those in arrears benefit.
Fall Newsletter and the upcoming Annual Meeting
Annual Meeting now Jan. 16
The Spring Newsletter, and the Halloween Party flyer, both had a different date. Our new date for the 2012 Annual Meeting is:
Monday, January 16, 2012, 7pmMary Branch Elementary
On the meeting agenda
1) Late dues penalties and the status of the Board’s efforts to collect overdue accounts.
2) The need to update the Westwood Estates Deed Restrictions. UPDATE: We’ll also be needing to update the Bylaws.
3) Elections of new Board members. We’ll need at least two people, ideally three, to volunteer to run.
4) The fiscal report will be submitted by Treasurer Walter Kamphoefner.
Download the 2012 Annual Meeting Agenda (PDF)
We need you. Or your proxy.
As always, we need a quorum of 25% of the 193 members (49), or their proxies, to officially hold the meeting. Proxies will be distributed by hand and will also be available for download on the WWE website.
To proceed with the process of updating the bylaws (we’d like to update them in the next few months), we’ll need a simple majority of members—50% plus one, which is 98 votes.
Update: You may download a proxy.
Newsletter
The Fall 2011 Newsletter is ready. It can be downloaded on the Newsletters page, or download it by clicking here: Fall 2011 Newsletter.
Report ’em all, let Bryan PD sort ’em out
We’ve had a few reports of suspicious activity in our neighborhood recently (in addition to some actual truck wheel thefts); if you’re not subscribed to the Westwood Estates Yahoo email group, please do so now to get reports from Bryan Police Department’s Will Holt and contributing residents. You can see past letters to this group if you sign up.
Also, it’s a good time to review last year’s post about car burglaries.
Return of predators?
Careful; these guys are out there.
A resident on Hummingbird phoned to report that she’d found a dead cat in her yard this morning with its head gone, presumably the result of some predator animal. The cat was yellow, not fully grown.
As you may remember, we’d had coyote problems earlier in the year. Everyone, please protect your animals!
Also, from the earlier article, The Texas Parks and Wildlife website has some excellent information regarding dealing with urban animals whose habitats are being encroached upon.
Car Burglaries
From Officer Will Holt of the Bryan Police Department’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team (I highlighted some parts):
Car burglaries are continuing to plague both Bryan and College Station. Both of your HOAs (WWECIA and Rosewood Homeowners Group) have seen a big increase in vehicle burglaries over the last two months. The bad guys are breaking into cars in neighborhoods like y’alls, which normally are very quiet places to live.
- PLEASE remove valuables from your car each night.
- If you must leave them in your car, please hide them.
- LOCK your car doors.
- If you see someone in your neighborhood that you know doesn’t belong there, and they are not going directly to and from another household to visit, then report them immediately to us by calling 361-3888 or 911, depending on the circumstances.
- Record serial numbers for electronic items that you travel with or use in your home, like: iPods, GPS, after-market stereos, firearms, etc.
The vast majority of car break-ins have been “smash and grabs.” Citizens leave their valuables in plain sight, the bad guy sees this from outside the car, breaks the window, reaches in and steals your stuff, and walks away. It is a very quick crime of opportunity that is hard for us to catch, and little evidence is left behind. Don’t be a victim! Thank you.
Officer Holt sends these updates to the Westwood Estates Yahoo Group email list. If you’re not on this list, please sign up. Also, here’s an an attachment with some additional information and reminders he added to his email.
Coyotes, Bobcats, and more
Coyote picture from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website
On Christmas Day, a resident on the west side of Westwood Main had a pet chicken killed. No one saw it happen, but feathers were observed on and outside of the outer fence. It appears that the chicken had been taken outside the fence.
These chickens are ordinarily kept in a separate, fenced enclosure within a fenced backyard, but were allowed to walk around in a fenced back yard in the daytime. Some days later, this resident saw a coyote standing outside the fence, and it was not scared off when she approached it on her side of the fence.
On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, another Westwood Main resident two doors down from the previous one had her small dog killed by an animal that had left teeth marks on both sides of its body (suggesting a large-mouthed predator) and broken its neck, possibly by shaking it abruptly. This dog was presumably inside its fenced back yard, since it had just gone outside and was barking at something. But it was found just outside the fence after its owner heard it yelp and immediately stop barking.
Numerous residents have reported hearing coyotes howling nearby recently. Bobcats have also been seen. And as recently as 2005, when Traditions was still under construction, a cougar was observed very clearly just off Villa Maria Road east of the Traditions entrance.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife website has some excellent information regarding dealing with urban animals whose habitats are being encroached upon. The cougar was reported to them, and the coyotes will be also. If anyone has any additional information or reports, please share them in the comments section.
Please be aware that there is at least one large predator roaming the outskirts of our neighborhood and protect your pets accordingly.
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