President’s Message
from Lindsey Lee

We need your help. The OFNA relies on volunteers to fulfill its mission to inform, improve, promote, encourage, beautify, protect and unify the Oak Forest Community. We don't have paid staff, mandatory dues and a tremendous budget. We do have the best resource of all, you.

Oak Forest is comprised of over 5,000 homes with over 12,500 residents. It is the third largest neighborhood within Houston's city limits. I am constantly amazed at the number of people I meet who grew up here or have lived here, my firm's office manager being an example.

Despite our community’s size, very few people are active in the OFNA. Some residents are still upset over a misguided effort nearly 10 years to amend our deed restrictions to require mandatory association fees. Thankfully, that idea died away, yet these residents won’t participate because they remain bitter and upset about past actions. The only way to be sure nothing like this happens again is to be involved. As a Edmund Burke said, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Many new residents don’t become involved because they think the OFNA is like the homeowners associations you read about that take widow’s homes or sue a homeowner for xeriscaping her lawn. We do enforce the deed restrictions we have, but most of our work is focused on helping residents with problems, maintaining and beautifying our neighborhood, and undertaking projects to promote and unify the Oak Forest community.

It is easy to become involved. Join the association; attend a meeting; ask to become involved. I am a perfect example of how easy it is to become involved. I attended my first OFNA meeting in June 2001.

We need your help, your input, your ideas and your energy. If you care about maintaining and improving the quality of life in Oak Forest, your “urban woods” then become involved in the OFNA and its committees.

National Night Out

The 20th annual NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is scheduled for Tuesday, August 5th. 2003. NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is an annual crime prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch designed to:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
  
  
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
  
  
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
  
  
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

We are asking residents of Oak Forest to organize a National Night Out for each block. Yes, I know August is hot, but the group organizing NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is from Pennsylvania, where the weather is comfortable then. Despite the heat, hundreds of Oak Forest residents organize and participate in National Night Out parties each year. If you will let us know your plans for National Night Out we will include them in the next newsletter and post it to our website. You can email me at LDLee_1@yahoo.com. Or call the OFNA hotline at 713-688-6342. You can get more information on NATIONAL NIGHT OUT at their website.

How to Be a Good Neighbor

We all want to be good neighbors. Here are some things you can do to reach that goal:

• Keep your home painted and in good repair.
  
  
• Make sure your grass and shrubs are trimmed and neat.
  
  
• Do not leave junk lying around outside your home.
  
  
• Do not leave your trash containers out after pick-up. Try to arrange for someone to move them if you can't.
  
  
• Do not let your parties be loud enough and late enough to interrupt neighbors' activities and sleep.
  
  
• Manage your pets so they do not annoy your neighbors. Do not let your animals run free, and do not allow your animals to "do their business" in a neighbor's yard.
  
  
• Work with your neighbors to keep the neighborhood safe. Get to know your neighbors. You may want to plan a block party or picnic. You may also ask the local police or sheriff's department to talk to you and your neighbors about starting a neighborhood watch program.
  
  
• When we know and trust our neighbors, we can ask them to bring in our mail when we are away and then return the favor for them.

Source: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Crime Watch

The Houston Police Department believes that an active neighborhood watch program can significantly reduce the incidence of crime in a neighborhood. We call our neighborhood watch group the OFNA Citizens on Patrol. If you want to help make our neighborhood safer become involved in the OFNA Citizens on Patrol. The group meets the second Thursday of each month at St. Stephens United Methodist Church located at 4301 Donna Bell Lane at W. 43rd St.
Remember to lock your house at night. We recently received a phone call from a resident who left their house unlocked and a burglar came in and stole some cash from the kitchen while the resident was asleep.

Yard Maintenance

Spring is here. Flowers are blooming. Grass is growing. Lets all do our part to keep a good looking front yard. Grass should be mowed regularly. Some folks allow weeds to grow higher than 9 inches, which is in violation of city ordinance. If you have a neighbor who is not keeping the weeds mowed call the city at 311 and report them. You are not required to leave your name.
Also the curb needs to be kept clean. That means edging it as well as sweeping up the pine needles, leaves, and trash. It belongs to the city but the city doesn't sweep residential streets. Be a good neighbor and make the front look good.

Heavy Trash

The OFNA has received many complaints about residents placing heavy trash out weeks before heavy trash day. Placing heavy trash out early creates an eyesore and shows disrespect not only for your neighbors but yourself. This problem is not isolated to Oak Forest. Older neighborhoods with limited deed restrictions, like Oak Forest, have little, if any, power to enforce the placement of heavy trash.

A resident can place heavy trash in the front yard beginning at 6:00 p.m. the Friday before the scheduled pickup day. If your assigned day is the third Thursday, you can place heavy trash in your front yard beginning the preceding 6 days. I used to think one of my neighbors was consistently violating the city's rules until I checked. Compounding the problem is the heavy trash trucks don't always run on schedule.

If you see someone violating this rule, help us do something about this problem. Call 3-1-1 (the City of Houston service center) and file a complaint. Pass out notices to your neighbors of when your heavy trash pickup day is. If you want, I'll print them. (As far as I can tell, the city no longer mails an annual notice of assigned heavy trash pick up days to residents). Suggest some ideas to solve this problem. Just remember, we are a volunteer organization with limited resources.

Heavy trash pickup maps and schedules can be found at the following websites:

West of Antoine

East of Antoine, West of Ella

East of Ella

Drainage Utility Fee

At its monthly meeting on Monday, April 14, the Oak Forest Homeowners Association unanimously passed a resolution opposing the proposed supplemental drainage utility fee to repair water and wastewater infrastructure.

Opposition to the proposed fee was quite broad. Some members noted that the city transfers "excess" funds from the Water and Wastewater Fund to balance the city's budget rather than spending the monies on drainage maintenance. Others believe the proposed Drainage Use Fee is a tax increase hidden as temporary fee to solve a problem created by the city with no certainty the fee would be temporary and would be used for the declared purpose. Many residents also expressed their belief the proposed fee was a poorly thought-out solution to the city's flooding problem. These residents are worried that flooding will not be resolved until the county and the city begin working together on the flooding problem. They also were concerned that by not coordinating its plan with the county that the city would contribute to greater flooding.

Call or email your city councilpersons, to let them know you your opinion on this issue.

Barking Dogs

We have received several complaints from residents about neighboring dogs that bark all the time. Sometimes, people aren’t aware that their pet is annoying others. Although not a violation of the deed restrictions, dogs that bark excessively do violate city's sound nuisance law.

The City of Houston Code of Ordinances §30.05 prohibits keeping any animal that makes frequent or long and continued sound that disturbs others.

If you have problems with a neighbor's dog barking too much, talk to you neighbor first. If that doesn't resolve the problem, contact the OFNA and we will mail a letter to the resident regarding the problem. Also, call the police at 713-222-3131 or 911.