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May 2007 5/29/2007
5/29/2007
5/28/2007 I was reading the Lake Forester and saw that the pools again have a $2.00 fee for members. Wasn't this fee removed last year and used as a point for some members who were running for office? I have seen the wrong things written before so I'll wait to find out the truth. However, so far in the 2 years I have lived in Lake Forest, I have seen monthly dues go up twice and I think down once. I now pay $37.50 per month, I think, for one nice neighborhood entrance, one with nothing, and one that has been rebuilt like 3 times. I get to pay for the golf course (even though I pay an annual fee that is supposed to go to the golf course), the pools, and the Yacht Club sunsets are nice, but don't go there for dinner. I have been a member of Buccaneer and Mobile Yacht clubs and we can not compare ourselves to either. We do have plenty of light on the streets, so much so that one member of my family doesn't need a light in their bedroom. I received a letter for a trailer beside my house, so I removed it, built a fence, then brought it back. However, I am within sight of 2 houses that have had trailers in their yards for I don't know how long, and I pass a truck every day that is moved so often the tires are always flat. I get to pay $17.00 to the great city of Daphne that may or may not pick up my "trash" or "garbage" depending upon where it is, what it looks like, what its made of, or just how they feel at the moment that they get to my home. I pay to live in a neighborhood where I'm not sure if the teens here even have parents, much less have respect for someone else. I get to try and keep ahead of everyone who loves to fill my adopted median with the garbage that they don't want and decide to give it to me. That is the same median I adopted to make my home look better, but can't make it look better because of the 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, and cars that go around the garbage trucks. I have personally seen 3 accidents in front of my house involving speeders, which makes me love the idea of my daughter riding her bicycle in the driveway. I am not sure how a business that is run by those who live in it everyday got so out of control, but it needs to be put back in check. This is not what those who created Lake Forest Property Owners Association were dreaming of. Getting back to the point. I hear at member meetings, people boasting that Lake Forest is a multi Million dollar business, so let me ask for all Lake Forest Members in good standing..... just let me use the freekin Ridgewood and Montclair pool for free. Could "Member Owned Lake Forest" please just let us have one thing without having to go to the ATM first. It's the one thing that my daughter waits all year to do. If it was a misprint then thank you for letting us use the pools, and please pass the rest on to the appropriate council member.
5/28/2007
5/27/2007
5/27/2007 There were two photos in your Lake Photos. One depicted a beaver dam and the other was the wier built on Tiawasee. This was built years ago with NRCS Funds. It is a streambed stabilization effort. I have been told there are others in that stream. We need to be clear, neither of the photos actually are of areas of the lake. They both are of areas in Tiawasee Creek as it approaches the lake. The lake water level is down for two reasons. One, someone has tampered with the slide gate without permission and that gate is difficult to shut unless water levels are way down. Second, our area is in a serious drought condition. The "base flows" of our streams are likely at an all time low. This is the problem with the wier holding scum, also; little to no base flows in Tiawasee. We can do little about the rain. We are currently working on a slide gate solution that is practicable and will work. We apologize to all lake owners for the condition of the lake. It should be noted that we will be spraying the lake weeds to kill them. That will happen anytime. Enjoy the summer-John Peterson, board member and lake chairman.
5/26/2007 A little correction on the beaver dam photos on Tiawasee Creek. The picture with the tree laying on top of the water was not caused by Beavers. I watched it fall over the creek about 18 months ago during a stong rain storm and the dam you see behind the tree was man made several years ago. The tree is very popular with the kids that swim in this part of the creek.We didn't live in Lake Forest when the dam was built. I was told by several people that the dam is one of several that was built along Tiawasee to hold back sediment before it reached the lake and to control flood waters. I'm curious to know who built them and why. The dam actually holds back water flow and causes a scum build up on top of the water during the summer months before we get a storm to give it a "flush". It flows over the top during fall and winter months. Just wanted to clarify the photo and see if anyone had any info about these dams.
5/26/2007 Having used the pools for the last two years, I can assure our Board they will not gain any income for this travesty. It is always a poor idea to institute fees for what has been no cost. This is especially true in a non profit club environment. Not only will this not make money, it will certainly piss off the membership. This type of decision making is exactly why I ran for the Board. We have 10 members: Slate of 5 and Gang of 5 all thinking in lock step with poor leadership and narrow mindedness. The same results can be seen our Federal Government. All we can do is hold this Board accountable for their record and make a different choice in October. Brian J. De Grego 5/26/2007 I cannot wait for the entrances at Windsor and D'Olive to be completed. The entrance by Home Depot could not be more beautiful. Are there any pictures of what it is suppose to look like once it is completed? The monthly fees that we pay right now can be swallowed a little easier when you see improvements in progress. 5/25/2007 To All Board Members, Please reconsider your decision charging members a fee to use the pools. It is my experience that many folks who do use the pools are working/lower income families whose children need a summer break. The pools are under-utilized to begin with (my husband and I have enjoyed them since we moved here in 2004). Please do not penalize these families. Can you give a financial break to families earning a specified annual? Sometimes "throwing money at the problem" is not always the solution. Thanks for your time... 5/25/2007 I keep looking for the "new, gorgeous entries" to LF. I see new brick columns and alot of red clay dirt. What is the schedule for completion on the entries? I sure hope they look better than now as they are quite ugly and looked better before anyone messed with them. Am I the only person who thinks they look bad at the moment? Thanks for any info you can share.
5/25/2007 From a director . . . The slide gate for the dam has apparently been opened. It cannot be readily shut without draining the lake to relieve pressure from the flow. LFPOA staff is aware of and attending to the problem. Someone had placed a handwheel on the slide gate making it readily available for tampering with. It was done without staff, current board members, or the Lake Chairman's knowledge or approval. Hopefully, we can get it shut again and the lake can be restored to its normal pool elevation. 5/25/2007
5/22/2007 Has anyone thought about doing a large play date type event during the week for It would be a great way to people to meet and form friendships that could encourage people to stay in the forest. I have a 1 and 2 yr old. Would love to meet some people with young children in the neighborhood. 5/22/2007 The Friends of Daphne Public Library will hold a sidewalk book sale outside the library from 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday, May 30. There will be a large selection of used books. Hardbacks will cost 50 cents and paperbacks 25 cents. Shoppers buying 4 books will be able to select another book at no additional charge. The Friends' bookstore will also be open inside the library. Gus August A. Palumbo Daphne City Council District 7 5/22/2007 Where did the page for the pools that showed the times pools are open go? There is presently no info on this. And as I have yet to receive the Lake Forest paper after one-year here, this is my only place to come for information.
5/22/2007
5/22/2007
5/19/2007 The official web site is still down. Does anyone know why?? On rare occasions it does have some good information. Has the board abandon this idea as well. 5/19/2007
5/18/2007 Pool fees. Horrible roads. Raise the dues. People who could care less. Lack of enforcement of the laws we all signed up for. These are just a few of the reasons that we trail everyone else in property values. Just because we put a pretty fountain at our entrances, doesn't make us special for potential buyers. Our streets have become race tracks for kids with fast cars. Just look at all the skid marks. You only have to drive a few houses down in one of our entrances to see a boat parked in the driveway, and has been for quite some time. And drive a bit further and you see a yard or twelve that looks down right terrible. Just why do we sign up and pay fees, when some ignore the rules and seem to get away with it. The problem is, the people who care are reading this. The people who don't probably have no idea that this site exists. Who enforces these rules, and why are they not enforcing them?
5/18/2007
5/18/2007 Is there some sort of a way of permitting basketball goals and trampolines so that some standards are imposed on the quality and quantity of the equipment. There are many basketball goals that are made of cheap and dangerous materials that could be dangerous to unwitting and unsupervised users. The same goes for the trampoline that is actually residing on lfpoa property (golf course fairway) off of Rolling Hill Dr. This is a lfpoa safety issue.
5/17/2007
5/16/2007 I am not in favor of the Board's reverse course on fees for use of the pools, but if they are going to do that...perhaps they could offer some sort of "season pass". That way a member wouldn't have to worry about paying each time he/she came to the pool(s).
5/16/2007 From a director. . . I was in no way offended about remarks concerning the city's lack of responsiveness, I just pointed out the inaccuracy of your opinion. I feel strongly that the city, the county and and many other agencies will work to actually clean out some silt some day. I cannot say when we will see that, but it is in the works already. We are looking at every available option with every agency possible to secure the proper grants or funding sources. This is a long and difficult process and I understand why so many get frustrated. Perseverance is the key to success. We will persevere, therefore, we will succeed. Time is what it will take, though. In the meantime, the association will spray for weeds in the coming weeks to cut down on the edge growth. 5/15/2007 From a director . . . Mitch, Your statement about the city's responsiveness to citizens about the lake forest lake is dead wrong. Once again, you are showing exactly why you were a problem for us. The fact is that the City of Daphne is going to great strides to help us with the lake. The stepped up enforcement on erosion, with the city hiring two people to police the construction sites, is doing great work in slowing down the sources that contribute to the lake sediment. Also, they have worked with the D'Olive Watershed task group, meeting at the country club regularly now for 16 months, to focus attention on problem areas. City staff have contacted landowners with high sediment sources and demanded action. Oh sure, they haven't dredged the lake for us, yet, but you said yourself that dredging with sediment loads like we have today would do no good. Please tell me, just what would you have the city do at the lake? Help stop sediment loads? They are doing it. Watch for violators? They are doing it. Fund actions in the watershed? They are doing it. I would suggest that you keep your comments accurate and base them on real facts. The fact is the City is a great partner for us in dealing with the lake issues. John Peterson
Contrary to what he may think, over the years your webmaster has had a very good relationship with many in the City of Daphne from the council and mayor on down and it is highly unlikely that anyone among them has ever said anything to suggest otherwise. Also, none of them would have ever had the audacity to suggest that the City has done, or ever will do, anything to clean up that lake. Their position always has been that ours is a private lake and, therefore, not their responsibility. Nothing has been said that would suggest that their opinion has changed. When anyone sees the city equipment down there digging out the silt, call me. I will be happy to sing the their praises. The city has been instrumental in assisting us in gaining aid from other governmental agencies for work done upstream of the lake. However, the vast majority of that was funded by agencies like the NRCS and never included any part of the main body of the lake, west of the Bayview bridge. While the measures described in the director's statement are appreciated, they are, after all, part of the city's responsibilities. Why is it necessary to suggest that they are somehow intended for the benefit of the Lake Forest lake? They are intended for the benefit of the entire watershed, which is in crisis. Any action to reclaim our lake will have to come from the association. Don't count on anything like that being done by this board. 5/15/2007 Has the Yacht Club ever been re-inspected by the Health Department? Were the actual problems ever disclosed to the membership? 5/14/2007
5/14/2007 Much to our surprise, on Mother's Day. We arrive at the swim and racquet pool and it was closed for repair. I had called and the gentlemen answering the phone had stated that it was closed because the pool needed to be cleaned. It should have been cleaned prior to the weekend arriving so that Lake Forest Residents can enjoy what they pay for yearly.
Now, a couple of years later, apparently this pool is not even clean. I wonder if Henry is as outraged as he was then. That Swim & Racquet Club pool was open for business on Saturday and closed because it wasn't clean on Sunday. Did they let members swim in an unsafe pool Saturday? The pools may not have been ready, but they were certainly set to grab those new pool use fees, weren't they. 5/14/2007 What gives? Every time I try to visit the "Official LF Website" it's down. I tried to log on today to find out about the daily/annual swim membership fees with no luck. Thank goodness this website has them posted. I am not pleased at all about the pool fees. Weller and Robison need to rethink their stance on this one and Moss should have gotten off the fence when the motion was made to drop the pool fees. Thanks to the current Board for nothing.
5/13/2007
5/12/2007 Anyone who has been to Karaoke at the Yacht or Country Club knows what a great singer/talent young Hunter is. She will be performing at "Alabama Idol" at the Blue Gill on June 7th. Let's show our support for her. 5/12/2007 I attended my first "Business After Hours" yesterday. It is a great idea, but if they really want to get business people to come they need to have some type of food available. By 5:00 the 19th Hole is already closed. Light finger foods would be a great addition to get the people out there. Especially if they also want the people to stick around for Karaoke. 5/11/2007
5/11/2007 Contributor forwards more information on finding out who owns property like those with the debris in the front I went ahead and put this together. Looking up the information is very simple and the link is already listed on the website. FYI - You can also look up judgments, liens, etc. by searching the same site under 'Probate" instead of "Revenue Commissioner" 5/11/2007 In response to the 5/9/07 submission by a "Governor", what exactly is a "Governor" in Lake Forest? Someone on the current Board or just someone who thinks they are impressive? It seems to me that this Board has spent a lot of the membership's money with very little to show for it except lots of feel good statements. Now I am all for positive feelings about Lake Forest. I love it here and think we have a wonderful place to live with great amenities and I do participate in efforts to make it better. But the fact remains that there is an awful lot of money bei ng spent with very little return that you can point at and show people. New entrances - that is the Improvement Committee and they are 5 thousand dollars in debt. New plantings in the medians, again that was the Improvement Committee and volunteers. I can't really see much maintenance being done on the Country Club although there are some new railings at the Yacht Club. Has the Yacht Club been re-inspected? All in all, I want to be positive but it gets harder every day.
5/10/2007 I read about the disgusting foreclosure junk dumped near the road and want to help. Anyone wanting to find out how to look up property owners at the Baldwin County Website, please let me know. I will be glad to tell you how - its quite simple and the information is public record. No trip to the courthouse necessary!
5/10/2007
5/10/2007 * * * * * * * *
*Unless, of course, we are talking about the Lake Forest lake. 5/9/2007
5/9/2007 From a governor . . . Here we go again, an anonymous contributor making statements without all the facts..."The fact that the Board is spending large amounts of money on surveys and consultants when they can't even cover regular expenses without assessments or offer free pools shows EXTREMELY poor business management ability. No company or individual with business, accounting, or financial knowledge, would waste money they don't have on frivolous things when they can't cover the basics. This screams of inexperience and incompetence." and then the "webmaster" has to agree. We could spend hours on the true mismanagement that occurred under the webmaster's administration. Those are actually recorded and exist. I have seen the results: late charges on many accounts when funds were there for payment; vendors refusing to sell to the association due to lack of confidence in the operational capability; contracts being signed by the President that were never approved by the board; funding GM Bienville Club dues with association money; Selling property of the association for pennies on the dollar; forgiving accrued dues to delinquent members in the hope they begin paying; giving association property to the GM, like a truck; paying for the construction of a website now used to slight the association and its board; failing to file liens and update them to include accrued dues; failing to track slip rentals at the Yacht Club; allegedly using the association property for private gain; and allowing the GM to spend beyond his stated authority without conseque nce. And these are the items I can name without even looking. These are issues that no longer exist. So, I ask your contributors to name specific instances of mismanagement or not to claim them when they do not exist. We are far better now, that is a fact.
The bottom line is this. The previous management, over an eleven year period, oversaw the restoration of Lake Forest amenities. Most of the current board was not around to know just how bad things were when Jake came. I was not on the board, myself, at that time, but I did live here and knew very well how much work needed to be done. He spent millions in renovations and turned the place around. Once the major part of the work was done, he worked just as hard to restore our financial health to the point that in the last four years or so of his term, he eliminated the assessment; did not borrow any money; returned basic amenities to the membership and reduced our debt in the process. All the while his team continued to maintain and improve the facilities. Let's hope that future management will have the same success. Finally, the governor asked for specific instances of mismanagement. All together now...... · Running out of money in November · Borrowing $65,000 because you ran out of money in November · Assessing the membership because you ran out of money in November. · Spending large sums of money on non-essential activities after having run out of money in November. · Showing no tangible improvements or maintenance results in over a year and still running out of money in November. · Adding charges for basic privileges because you ran out of money in November · And finally, threatening a privately owned website, because it allows members a free and uncensored means of expressing their opinions, because you are sick and tired of hearing that you ran out of money in November.. One final note: I noticed that the governor didn't actually put his name at the bottom of this one. 5/8/2007 Mitch, In response to the member who commented on Lake Forest vehicle policy. It was I who was seen driving a company truck at 3:00pm on Saturday. As you know I am "on call" 24/7, and was responding to such a call at the time this member saw me. This is documented by maintenance logs as well as vehicle milage logs. As a matter of fact I had two other calls on that Saturday and was called out of Church on the following Sunday to answer a maintenance call. And yes it is true there is a no smoking policy for L.F. vehicle's, fortunately the nice bank teller loads me up on suckers which I keep in the truck to keep me from having to smoke in said truck .Perhapes this person saw me with a sucker instead of a cigarette. Let me go a step further. You may catch me driving this same truck at 2:00am responding to an alarm call at any one of our facilities. Finally to those members who are worried that this may cost them overtime, I'm on salary, this 24/7 service is only inconvenient to me and my family. Please print my name with this. Thanks Kenneth Eggers Facilities Maintenance Supervisor
5/8/2007 The fact that the Board is spending large amounts of money on surveys and consultants when they can't even cover regular expenses without assessments or offer free pools shows EXTREMELY poor business management ability. No company or individual with business, accounting, or financial knowledge, would waste money they don't have on frivolous things when they can't cover the basics. This screams of inexperience and incompetence.
5/8/2007
5/8/2007 Mitch checkout nissan.com if a giant like nissan can not win what gives the board the idea they can win. 5/8/2007 I think we should have a way to pay monthly dues from the website.
5/7/2007 Oops. Stated meetings are the 4th Monday of the month at 6PM May 25th.
5/7/2007 What I find interesting is that the Board was so short of money in December that they had to assess the Membership just to pay the bills. Also, there have been some pretty high fees placed on the swimming pools. I know, if I had 3 grandchildren visit for a week and took them to the pool 4 of the 7 days they were here it would cost me $56.00. Pretty high in my estimation. My next door neighbor has 3 children. If she takes them to the pool it will cost her $8.00 per day. So, let's say the Board felt they needed to make these adjustments to make ends meet and avoid another assessment. Good cause. However, now, all of a sudden, there is supposed to be a survey of the membership, that I have heard will cost 20 thousand dollars! And suddenly they have lots of extra money to spend on a lawyer to harass a private web site. Seems to me it wasn't too long ago that they paid a good sum of money to a consultant to advise them what to do with the Country Club. He advised them that the building was basically sound and just needed good upkeep - noticed any of this money being spent on upkeep?? What's wrong with this picture! 5/6/2007 I know that the current board passed a vehicle use policy for the Lake Forest Employees last year. It's 3:pm Saturday afternoon, and twice in the last hour I have seen an employee in a white Lake Forest truck pass my house and the driver was smoking a cigarette. Now, it is my understanding that the policy states that no employee is to drive the Lake Forest autos for personal use or to smoke in the automobile. I would normally call the management and report this, however I have found that matters submitted to your website get a quicker response. 5/5/2007
Isn't this sad? You know that the Grapevine is certainly the reason for this. They are so annoyed that they have no control over you "instigators" out there that make your submissions to the Grapevine! It drives them nuts that you can say anything you want within the decency guidelines of the website, whether your Webmaster or anyone else agrees with you or not! They can't stand your uncensored views! And, I believe, they are annoyed that this site gets more traffic than the official one. On a bright note, apparently the finances of the association are so good that they feel that they can throw away money on something as silly as this. I guess we know what at least one of those executives sessions was about. I am a little disappointed in a couple of the directors that I had come to think were pretty fair-minded. I suppose next year they will be blaming their failures on the Grapevine. This is a risky path that they are considering. As sensitive as the issues of Freedom of Speech and free and uncensored access to the Internet are today, when this story starts circulating among the local papers and the Internet blogs out there, it's liable to get ugly. I've already had an offer of financial support in the fight. If any of you legal eagles out there would like to offer some of your knowledge to your friendly neighborhood webmaster, you are more than welcome to call. Like everything else on the Grapevine, we need to have as much fun with this as we can. 5/5/2007 I am also a resident of the previously mentioned street with the trash problem in one of the yards. I called Lake Forest and spoke to the Architectural Support person on Tuesday. I was told she would look into the problem. I called back to today to get an update since the trash has still not been picked up by the city. The Lake Forest Architectural Support person told me it was not their problem anymore and the City was taking care of it. I then confirmed that this pile of trash was in violation of the bylaws and asked her if the current owners ha d been contacted. She stated they did not know who the current owners were. I suggested that information could be found at the courthouse. She stated they did not have time to go to the courthouse. I then asked, as a dues paying member, what they did do all day. She stated they did several things including “wasting time on phone calls with people like you.” I cannot believe I was treated so rudely by an employee that my dues help pay! I am reporting this incident to her manager and Henry Lawson. Mr. Lawson called me back immediately and said he is looking into the situation. Any other suggestions for courses of action regarding the trash or the employee would be greatly appreciated. 5/4/2007 I have a very easy fix to the writer who submitted the picture of the disastrous yard on his street. In such a case of extreme debris, Lake Forest could, if it wanted to, pay to have the debris hauled off and then charge it to the homeowner. If the homeowner does not pay or the house is in foreclosure, Lake Forest could take that up in legal action after the fact. To wait around on legal action in such a severe case is unnecessary. Especially when LF would only incur the cost of removal. Any other subdivision would do the same. Even if legal action failed (which it likely would not) LF would only be out a small amount of money which it could chalk up to "maintenance". If LF says they can't do it...don't believe them, keep insisting, because they can. 5/4/2007
One interesting note is that we were told that another recent foreclosure was bought by director Clint Martin. After some difficulty with the previous owner, he had to send the sheriff’s department in to move her out. They also put all the stuff out at the front of the house. To his credit, however, we understand that Clint had a dumpster put over there and the trash put into it. We are hopeful that Clint will be one of those landlords that makes sure that his tenants are good neighbors. 5/4/2007 I
just read the posting with a picture of debris on the side of the road in
your “Grapevine” a minute ago. I no longer live in Lake Forest. I left due to
the very poor decisions the current Board has made over the past two years.
However, back to why I am writing this note. Mr.
Roger Davidson, all on his own, started a “Adopt a Median” program two or
three years ago. I was one of the first to sign up and took care of the
entrance on highway 90 (where the beautiful fountain is). I took great pride
in helping the community I lived in. I also road on the Sunday cleanup golf
cart along with Roger and my wife. Due to Roger Davidson’s efforts (not this
current board or anyone on it), several other Lake Forest residents joined in
and some are still involved to this day on their own blocks doing cleanup.
However, about a year ago, one of Lake Forests board members decided to take
all the credit for Roger’s efforts and the “adopt a median” has dropped off
considerably. I am not aware of anyone that drives the entire Loop on Sundays
picking up the missed debris. Also,
Roger & I, on one occasion, picked up a pile of debris ( similar to the
one in the picture) from a col-de-sac and took it to a median where the city
would be able to pick it up. The same day we did this, Roger started getting
calls form our current President reprimanding us for our action. Mr. Ed Kirby
was kind enough to pick up the debris from where we left it, and dispose of
it himself. We are still grateful to Mr. Kirby (one of the PAST board members
– wish he were still on the board!). My
point is that if this board had left well enough alone, Roger would probably
still be doing the terrific work he did back then and Lake Forest would have
a few less debris problems that they do now. Also,
I am probably one of those “instigators” that has finally left the
neighborhood Mr. Martin has referred to. I’m not sure it means anything, but
looking back on it, I’m still very proud of how I assisted in trying to make
my community just a little bit better (in spite of Lake Forests current
board). Further,
even though I am no longer a resident of Lake Forest, I still enjoy reading
your “Grapevine” and believe it to be a very good place for members to voice
their opinions. I also still insist Lake Forest would be much better off if
the “Webmaster” were still in office (although I have no idea why you would
ever be interested again.) Feel free to post my name 5/3/2007 I
would like to take this opportunity to respond and comment on two dated
entries that have appeared on this site. Let me start by saying that I
personally appreciate this site because it gives more than one side of the
"story" and it allows Lake Forest members to actually voice their
opinion, as opposed to just receiving a "kind and sugar coated
response" to any comments that we might leave on the other LF website.
Having said that, I will start with an entry dated 4/11/07; although I was
not able to find or read the original comment from Clint Martin, this
webmaster left his comment on this site. Apparently Mr. Martin feels that
there are not many instigators left out there, and insinuated that the
webmaster was one such instigator, etc. I would like to say that in any
organization, there will always be a handful of people that wish to complain
and make their opinions known, but does that qualify them as an instigator,
especially if their opinion might differ from another person's? You may as
well call me an instigator with a capital "I". (even though an
instigator is defined as someone who tries to start trouble) I feel that my
$40 per month entitles me, among other things, to voice my opinion. I can't
promise that my opinion will be the majority but it is my right to state it
in a fair and professional manner. The webmaster hit the nail on the head
when he mentioned that most people would not take the time to write, those
that do should not be labeled as "instigators". I feel like there
are probably a lot of people out there that do want to voice their opinion, a
lot more than Mr. Martin would want to believe! That brings me to the next
entry, one dated 5/2/07. I agree with a lot of what this individual has stated,
i.e. the dues, everyone following the rules, etc. I am fortunate in that I
live on a street where the majority of our neighbors do care about and take
pride in their home and yard. There are a handful of residents on my street
that could care less about their home; the fact that these people throw trash
in their front yard and basically abandon their property because of a
foreclosure is not an excuse. (Please see the attached photo. This is an
actual photo of this house on my street. This garbage has been where it sits
for almost a month now. Repeated calls to LF office have not been addressed.
It has taken about 10 residents on my street numerous calls to the city to
try and have this picked up and cleaned up.) This photo sums up the
disgruntled sentiments of my street's residents. We are sick and tired of
paying our dues every month without fail, only to have to come home and pass
by this every day. My husband and I just spent 6 weekends repainting our
house, putting in extensive lan
5/3/2007 Regarding the homes "in Lake Forest" that do not pay dues. If you check very closely there are in fact some homes in what could be called Lake Forest that are not part of the Lake Forest Property Owners Association..and as I understand do not pay dues and do not get member use of the amenities. One example is the newer section of Lake View Town Homes (addresses from #30 Lake Shore Drive and higher). They border both the lake and some of the 9 hole golf course. They are not actually part of Lake Forest. The same is true for a lot of the areas north of Lake Shore Drive from Lake Forest Blvd and down toward the lake. This would include the condos and homes north of the D'Olive entrance. 5/2/2007
I just have a couple of complaints that I want to voice. One is the increase in dues when we have nothing to show for it. Yes, I know that Lake Forest is in debt because of the previous boards lack luster performance. However, I am frustrated with putting in money and not seeing anything come from it. The other day I went to get a haircut in town and began discussing Lake Forest and the dues situation. The hair stylist informed me that she also lives in Lake Forest and doesn't pay the dues and she doesn't know anybody in her area that does. I was outraged!!! I don 't feel it is fair to the people who pay the dues and have to deal with the increases because some people can't take pride in the area. On the same line I am tired trying to get my yard in good condition when the neighbors a few houses down park their cars in the front yard with grass growing up over the tires. I know they are not the only ones, I have seen many other houses with yards straight out of the trailer park. I did not move here to pay money for a substandard arrangement. Thank You.
Mitch Davis Thank You for your prompt attention. I have lived in Lake Forest for 20 years now between my parents house and mine. I have heard of HUD houses in the area and have noticed steady decline in property appearances. Its nothing against you, but if I am paying $480.00 a year and then every now again I get slapped with an additional $50.00 charge. Not to mention having to pay for the pool, golf, and a 78 rated restaurant. I want my moneys worth! I follow the rules, I expect everyone else to have to as well. I wake up every Saturday and Sunday morning having to clean up the coke and beer cans from around my yard and street. It is ridiculous! I assure you that I just want to be part of the solution and not the problem. I apologize for my remark of being a lack luster board. I am just frustrated with the lack of progress that I have seen.
5/2/2007 I would like to see our subdivision build a racquetball court. I played a lot in college on an outdoor court, and I think it's something we could do for not a lot of money. I think it's a shame that to play racquetball in Daphne you have to join the YMCA when Lake Forest members already pay dues. This would be another draw for people thinking about moving to Lake Forest. We would be the only neighborhood in Baldwin County that I know of with a racquetball court. This is a great sport that is very good excercise and easy to learn. I have pictures of an outdoor court at the University of West Alabama if anyone is interested.
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