Alpine home owners association - Alpine Forest Homeowners Association - CharleyBird's Blog - Tehachapi News

Jan 28, 2008 at 04:01 PM : How can an Association...

How can an Association have this sort of power? I always thought the Homeowners voted in the Associations to act as advisors who abide by the wishes of the Homeowners?-not controllers of what they personally think and wish.. I hope that the homeowners go to the meetings to find out what is going on. When are the meeting dates?

Jan 28, 2008 at 04:01 PM : gillfish, the first...

gillfish, the first meeting is this Saturday Feb 2 at 10:am at the Chalet, then Feb 9 and Feb 23rd. all at 10;am.

I too thought that they had to abide by our wishes, as I'm sure most every one else believes but apparently our HOA wants to do things their way.

How can we stop them if in fact they can because the Davis-Stirling act gives them that power ?

Jan 28, 2008 at 05:01 PM : I was president of the...

I was president of the Alpine Forest homeowners association several years ago.

A quorum was only needed at the annual meeting to elect the new board.

A quorum is important because without requiring a quorum the board can

appoint itself to a new year without any election.

If I were you I wouldn't allow this to happen. As for complying with laws the board

can act at any meeting to comply with mandated law and they don't need

a quorum.

Jan 29, 2008 at 08:01 AM : Joe, Thank you

Joe, Thank you

Jan 29, 2008 at 10:01 AM : the Alpine Forest...

the Alpine Forest Homeowners association needs to be abolished all together. I don't take too kindly to a homeowners association telling me what i can and can't do with my own property. The whole association is usless and it seems to me that these people have nothing more going on in their lives.

Jan 29, 2008 at 11:01 AM : I didn't even...

I didn't even know there was a HOA out there. We almost bought out there, in fact we would have if we could have afforded just a little more. After seeing the CC&Rs for Bear Valley and Stallion, it was very refreshing to see the whopping 2 pages of CC&Rs for the city! I don't see much point in HOAs either. My neighborhood looks just as nice, if not nicer, than many neighborhoods out there. And it seems like a lot of those CC&Rs aren't even enforced unless you piss your neighbor off.

Jan 29, 2008 at 12:01 PM : I currently live in...

I currently live in Alpine Forest ( took over my Mom's home after she passed) and so far I am dissastified with the security here. They are very predictable of what time they patrol and when they are in the security rooms. Every morning they drive by between 6:15am and 6:30am and at about the same times during the later parts of the day. And as long as my Parent's have lived in Alpine Forest ( 20 years) there has been alot of this same stuff going on. It seems like the board gets a wild hair now and then and tries to pull the wool over the people's eyes, the question is are they going to get away with it this time???

Jan 29, 2008 at 12:01 PM : we have...

we have acerage in Alpine that we wanted to build a house on and retired one day but we now have the property up for sale.

Jan 29, 2008 at 02:01 PM : Julie and Moday, you...

Julie and Moday, you are so right about your comments, the HOA needs to be disbanded along with the security, at least the security shack on LeManns should be moved to the entrance of Alpine not 1/2 way up the hill, what about all of those homes prior to the security shack ? they don't get protection ? do they get a discounted HOA fee ?

We need to continue to blog about their stupid and self serving decisions and question them. THEY DO NEED TO BE DISBANDED !

Moday - How ?

Jan 29, 2008 at 02:01 PM : I wonder how they can...

I wonder how they can be disbanded?

Jan 29, 2008 at 03:01 PM : I don't know how...

I don't know how to go about having it done but someone knows. continuing on with more comments, a friend of my father's lives in BVS and he hung a sign from his porch with his last name on it, so it was maybe 8 inches x 12 inches, he got a warning and was told to change the little eye hooks holding it to the tiny chains because they were too shiney, "they didn't have shiney metal like that in the old west". This how our HOA wants to get, they want to dictate what we should and shouldn't do.

I don't mind paying a fee for services, if we recieve them. But I don't want to pay money out of my pocket into some one else's pocket for something I don't want to start with. I would rather pay myself to do what they apparently aren't doing than to pay for incompetance.

Jan 29, 2008 at 04:01 PM : Moday, your going to...

Moday, your going to create a website for this ? THATS GREAT Does Joelazzard have the info to contact Mr. Kates ?

Jan 30, 2008 at 10:01 AM : If you are really...

If you are really dissatisfied with the HOA then you're only recourse is to start a petition to disband it.

You will need 3/4 of the HOA members to do that. In my experience it is almost impossible to do as

most HOA members are absentee and don't care.

You could try sueing the HOA if they violate their charter, but again that takes money.

The easiest way to may be to elect a new board at the annual election.

Another way is to get together with a significant number of people and withhold payments

of the annual HOA dues. The HOA will lien your property, but they can't foreclose until five years.

You will be out a couple hunderd in penalties when you finally pay, but the HOA will be out of

existence as they cannot last more than 6 months without your payments. The staff, guards,

maintenance and lawyer will all be gone as nobody got paid. Believe me I know how tight

their budget is and they won't last. Of course, you need 300 or so people to make this happen.

You may want to get a list of all HOA members and their addresses. You can do this by writting a letter to the

HOA and requesting the list. They may charge a resonable amount for photocopies. If they refuse you can

sue them for the list.

Kates is listed in the Bakersfield phone book under lawyers.

Jan 30, 2008 at 10:01 AM : If you are really...

If you are really dissatisfied with the HOA then you're only recourse is to start a petition to disband it.

You will need 3/4 of the HOA members to do that. In my experience it is almost impossible to do as

most HOA members are absentee and don't care.

You could try suing the HOA if they violate their charter, but again that takes money.

The easiest way to may be to elect a new board at the annual election.

Another way is to get together with a significant number of people and withhold payments

of the annual HOA dues. The HOA will lien your property, but they can't foreclose until five years.

You will be out a couple hundred in penalties when you finally pay, but the HOA will be out of

existence as they cannot last more than 6 months without your payments. The staff, guards,

maintenance and lawyer will all be gone as nobody got paid. Believe me I know how tight

their budget is and they won't last. Of course, you need 300 or so people to make this happen.

You may want to get a list of all HOA members and their addresses. You can do this by writing a letter to the

HOA and requesting the list. They may charge a reasonable amount for photocopies. If they refuse you can

sue them for the list.

Kates is listed in the Bakersfield phone book under lawyers.

Jan 30, 2008 at 10:01 AM : Joe, thanks for your...

Joe, thanks for your reply. I'm going to try and call Kates now and see where his thinking is and find out if he'd get involved with us.

Jan 30, 2008 at 11:01 AM : I'll take care of...

I'll take care of our roads as we'd own the grader and skip loader and back hoe. I don't sleep much at night anyway, why not be constructive. It wouldn't take too long to scrape the paved roads, but round trips to the sand piles would take awhile, about just as long as scraping.

Moday, i sais I'd call Kates before I saw your posting, you'd be a better one to call him. i don't know nothin about telephones.

Jan 31, 2008 at 08:01 AM : moday and joelazzard,...

moday and joelazzard, are you planning to go to sat. 10:am HOA meeting ?

Jan 31, 2008 at 12:01 PM : I'm going,...

I'm going, I've never before and usually I don't but I do want to hear what they are doing because the way I read their letter to us, they say "to get into strickter compliance with recent changes in the Ca. laws & guidlines (theDavis-Stirling act)" Like that is a new state law.

The Davis-Stirling act has been around since the '70's. So either I'm reading this wrong or they want it to appear like the law is forcing them to make these changes at our monatary expence and our well being expence (is there such a thing ?)

Feb 1, 2008 at 03:02 PM : moday, i looked it up...

moday, i looked it up & all that was there really was KB homes crap. everything else didn't seem to pertain to our hoa problem. under what subheading do i look and for what subject ? please and thank you.

stop by my house if you want, if you see me outside that is, since i have a fence all the way around with my FAT yellow lab and scary looking sheppard running around - next to the maint' bldg. anyway i'll be there tomorrow with green dodge cummins p.u 4x4.

Feb 3, 2008 at 05:02 PM : I went for the first...

I went for the first hour only I didn't realize it could an all day ordeal, I had another commitment already for the rest of Sat. I'll plan for a whole day next meeting. I got disgusted almost immediately, the 1st. thing they said was drop "park" from our name - no problem it attracts visitors, 2 -remove entire section pertaining to Articles of Incorporation - WHY ? the 1st. thing (sec.1 par. A) in the By-Laws says, "the name of the corp. shall be", ......... the articles should stay in the same book as the By-Laws and CC&R's, plus why would we want to go to the expense of removing it, especially if $ is their concern ? Then their Vote crap !

I got up to whisper to someone in the back where no one could see us except for the committee members at the front, and they actually had the nerve to say "we seem to have a seperate meeting going on in the back would you mine coming back and sit down ?". I had leave anyway.

One other thing no one questioned is the fact that this committee to review our current by-laws & cc&r's is made up of last years board members who we all voted out & replaced. Maybe they were good while a board member or maybe not but we voted to replace them & now they're involved in something that everyone is questioning their motives and legallity ?

What is the agenda for the next 2 meetings ? will it be next one a review of discussion of yesterday and proposals ? and then the last meeting the final draft and vote ?

I should have asked at every point - -WHY ? every time because when I was there not one point had anthing to do with bringing us into strickter compliance. Did any of their "wants" have anything to do with compliance ?

Feb 14, 2008 at 02:02 PM : Hi, I hope...

Hi,

I hope it's not to late to post to this discussion but, here goes! I just want to say that I think it's wonderful that property owners are still discussing this issue. For years I have urged board members to have open communications with the property owners and for years board members would point to the few people that show up at monthly meetings and say "Look!" "Five members in the audience. The property owners are apathetic"

I would then point out that the property owners voted for the board members to represent them. The property owners are content with their life in the community and they're expecting the board to represent them to the best of their (the boards) ability.

That's why I saw the need to post those notices back in January. I really wanted our community to realize that they (the property owners) have the true power in this association. BUT, they need to be aware of what's happening.

I was thrilled to hear of this blog. What a great opportunity for our community to voice their opinions and to think it came about through the local paper. Thank you Tehachapi News.

I know our community is filled with educated, caring people. I know many of you personally and I know that you know how much I care for Alpine Forest.

Let me tell you, your association is worth the fight! It's probably one of the best Homeowners Associations around.Can it be better? Of course it can! There's always room for improvement in any area of your life.

Now remember we have two different kinds of meetings going on this month. The Committee for CC&R Change has had or will have a meeting on three Saturdays this month. Now remember whatever decisions they come too, they must present them to the Associations' Board of Directors and then the Board decides what happens next. Now the seated Board at that time will be greatly influenced by the Property Owners opinions. This is why I say over and over again, "The power for change/ or no change is in your hands."

Now the second kind of meeting being held is the monthly Board meeting, which is going to be Saturday the16Th. The monthly Board meetings are held the third Saturday of each month @9:00 a.m. @ the chalet. I have requested that these meetings should actually be called "Property Owner Meetings." Cause at these meetings, the property owners should be discussing with the board what things they would like to see happen in our community.

Hope to see you there!

Mary Dufrain Vice-President Alpine Forest Park Property Owners Association

Feb 14, 2008 at 03:02 PM : Mary-Do you know what...

Mary-Do you know what is going on at the mail boxes? Today I drove by and there were some men measuring and moving stuff at the Arosa site??

Feb 16, 2008 at 05:02 PM : moday, I see i have a...

moday, I see i have a few comments on this blog, probably Mary, you, and gillfish's question to Mary. I haven't looked yet.

I have been effected by the housing slump because I'm in construction so I just got laided off and took this new job in Bakersfield that is requiring me to work Saturday's, so I did not make the last 2 meetings on Sat.

Mary, or moday, can you update us ? Mary, I would like to see our association maintain a web site for ALL of our notices and voting. Also it would eliminate the need for mailings as this would be the mode of communication to our homeowners, everyone has a computor now days, well almost, and those that don't can be informed to request it in writing.

Feb 19, 2008 at 04:02 AM : Hi, I know...

Hi,

I know we're installing two new sets of mailboxes. So maybe that's what they were doing?

mary

Feb 19, 2008 at 05:02 AM : Hi Modayint,...

Hi Modayint,

It's me mary. I just went to your vote page. I was hoping for an area of discussion. I have concerns about disbanding the association.Disbanding the association comes up every few years when talks of raising the dues becomes an issue. Now when I checked into this a couple of months ago, I read somewhere and forgive me for forgetting where ,but I read that if the association was dissolved anyone in the association that had a home mortgage may have that mortgage revisited by their financial holders. You know the bank. Cause when they got their mortgage certain services provided by the association were listed as assets. Like Security, having someone patrol your community on a daily basis, just being aware of our surroundings and making their presence known, is an asset to all of us. I bet Security also helps with any ones homeowners insurance. Just a reminder that there are good things the association does for us.

I have heard talk that some people believe that if the association is dissolved we will fall into ruin, we will have properties with numerous junk cars lined up out front, trash thrown everywhere and dogs running freely through our streets. I say to people with these thoughts, geez calm down. Our main governing agency here is Kern County. Any of you who have built a home or a garage know that you have to comply with Kern County Building. If you own animals, there are Kern County Animal Control Restrictions.If you drive a car or own one in Alpine you must abide by California Vehicle Codes.

Our property owners association is suppose to collect the dues. Our board is suppose to pay the employees and maintain our common interests, like our chalet, our barn/maintenance equipment and our roads. The difficult task is deciding how to do this for the majority good. Let's try to keep this simple.

mary

Feb 20, 2008 at 12:02 PM : moday, cool web page....

moday, cool web page. I voted, but noticed that only 6 persons so far have voted. How do we get every one involved ? mailers ?

I'll help if we can come up with a realistic plan of action

Feb 21, 2008 at 09:02 AM : charleybird,...

charleybird,

It is very difficult to inform all of the property owners because about 2/3rds of them live somewhere else. That's why we really need a web-site so everyone can check in and get updated on happenings. The cost of mailing stuff out is very costly. People showing up at meetings is usually limited to those who live here, especially during the winter months.

In the meantine, we do have a newsletter that goes out twice a year. The spring addition is going out soon. I'm not sure what the "rules" are about content but maybe there could be mention of the "vote" web page.

Give the office a call and ask 822-6525.

Feb 21, 2008 at 02:02 PM : Mary, hello. I know...

Mary, hello.

I know that mailings are expensive but with 75 % of the homeowners not living here and the fact that we don't have a web site yet my line of thinking is that we do need to reach all of the property owners as soon as possible to stop anything stupid before it happens. I'm broke but i would kick in $100.00 if we had to come up with our own $ to accomplish our goal. Our goal of, I'm not sure of what.

Recalling the board of directors ?

Stopping their hidden agenda ?

Establishing a web site to save $

Disbanding the HOA ?

All 4 ? - or more ? -(i think all 4)

Feb 23, 2008 at 01:02 PM : Hi Charleybird,...

Hi Charleybird,

Good questions! Initially my concern was with the Committee for CC&R changes. Like I said ,I saw a worst case scenario evolving. If we lost our quorum in voting for the board of directors, our board would be elected by whomever shows up at the meeting, which could be no one, which means as little as three members of the sitting board could determine the new board. After I brought this to the communities attention the committee for change, backed away from the quorum issue and started saying that the real change was to put more "bite" into the association. They started saying that we needed to get more aggressive with the members of our association that don't pay their dues but we already have things in place for that. We lien property and we are already looking into notices of default. I really didn't like to hear this committee (which is made up of the previous board) continue to state that our members are apathetic. Thank you to everyone who has proven this to be wrong.

I'm all for a web-site for Alpine, I've been advocating one for years. We need a place on-line that all members can go to to read the minutes of the monthly meetings, they need a place for their comments and opinions, they need a place to go to see what's happening in their community. If an Alpine Web-site is the one thing that gets accomplished while I'm on the board I'll be happy.

Now for the "voting" page, like modayint says its a fun site. It will be interesting to see what numbers come about. Thank you for going through all that work. I went there last week and voted. So in answer to your questions charleybird I will tell you what and why I did.

I voted to keep the Association cause like I said in a previous comment I like it. For less than a $1.00 a day, I get trash collection( cause without it I'd have to haul my trash to the dump, 10 miles away)., I get security, which means if there's a strange vehicle on my road I can call and they can checked it out for me and I get road maintenance, which means my dirt road gets bladed in the springtime.

I remember someone earlier suggested that the water company could take over all these services for us but I know they won't. They will tell you, that they are just a private water company.

I voted no for a recall. A recall would be very time consuming for whoever initiates it, it will end-up being costly for the entire association and it will just act as a distraction from the real issues. It would be a lot easier to just start campaigning for the new election. I believe at the last board meeting we were calling for nominations for the board. So I think come March, candidates will start to submit their statements. Elections will be held in June. This is much more efficient than a recall.

I voted against an increase in dues. Cause I'm cheap. I think when times get tough, you tighten your belt.

O.K. now the last thing you wanted to vote on was stopping the hidden agendas on the board. Of course no one wants "hidden agendas", but we all have them, I myself want better communications between the board and the members of the association. I think we should put all our energy into getting the Alpine web-site up and running.

It's been great reading all your comments. Thank you.

mary

Feb 24, 2008 at 12:02 PM : Thank you Mary for...

Thank you Mary for your responses, I agree, a recall is not the right way to go at this time and I wondered about the comment of having the water district maintaining our roads, but so far I haven't seen our security be too much help, I live next to one of the shacks and my house was broke into during the day while we were at work and I've called them numorous times to report illegal dumping and not once been able to reach them, and.......... why isn't the security at the entrance to our neighborhood instead of by the maintainance bldg. these homes don't deserve security ? I don't mind paying our resononable cost's for our association either, if we get what we pay for, but I don't want our board of directors doing what they want without regard to what we want. If the board screws up badly enough and brings about a lawsuit we all will be responsible to cover the costs no matter how high a price, my ex represented a major insurance carrier who insured a HOA when they screwed up to the tune of 50 million and the homeowners had to pay that judgement by way of an assesment when my ex lost in court and on ALL of the appeals. We can't afford to have idiots nor selfishness on the board.

Mary please continue to comment and to inform us until we have a web site

Feb 25, 2008 at 09:02 AM : Hi Charleybird,...

Hi Charleybird,

I too have questioned why the guard shack is not on Arosa. I agree that the property owners down there have as much rights as the rest of us and that they and security miss out because those property owners are not driving through the gates everyday. That's a big part o f security, knowing the property owners and what vehicles they drive.

Years ago when I was head of Security I asked for the guard shack to be moved to Arosa. One of our board members at the time put a lot of thought and planning into the notion.

At the time( this thinking may have changed) Indian Hill Campground opposed having our guard shack on Arosa because their clients coming up Arosa in motor homes and campers would have to stop at a guard shack. They would lose their momentum coming up the grade. Also going down Arosa especially during bad weather ice, snow there was a concern about drivers being able to avoid running into the guard shack. We also had a property owners say they didn't want the guard shack in front of their house because they didn't want cars stopping there all the time. Now this was during the time that we installed the road undulations (speed bumps) when we were trying to slow drivers down on Arosa. Most people applauded this move but some people outside of Alpine didn't like it, they even set-up a web-site at the time to take votes on the road undulations. It was pretty interesting cause at the time a lot of people liked them. I think having a manned guard shack on Arosa/ and Alps Drive entrances would do our security a world of good. Knowing who is in our community would help us out greatly. Of course the cost of that would be beyond our budget. Cameras would be nice at the guard shacks and the dumpsters. Illegal dumping hurts us a lot. We should be able to afford cameras. Its just finding the right set-up. While I remember this, someone said something about security being a "leftover" from the developers, I don't believe so, we as an association implemented security ourselves. Security, the dumpsters and snow removal, the association implemented those.

Now I'm extremely sorry to hear that your home was broken into while you were at work. I don't now what to say about that. However when you say that you tried to contact security numerous times about illegal dumping and not once been able to reach them. Let me give you their cell-phone number #303-0449. I suggest you put it in your cell-phone address book, this has been the same number for almost ten years. The number at the west gate(Alps Dr.) is 822-0639 you can leave a message there. My phone number is #972-4355 if you still can't get a hold of them.

One final thought, I whole-heartedly agree with you about lawsuits. The thought makes me cringe. Just at the last board meeting, a fellow board member accused me of being overly cautious because I reminded him that in order to open the equestrian trails, they first needed to be surveyed and clearly marked. This was voted on back in 2002-2003?? I said that the property owner needed to know where his liability ended and the associations liability began, because in this litigious environment that we live in, when someone decides to sue, they sue everyone. For ex. a car accident, they sue the driver, the maker of the vehicle and the company that constructed the roadway. Sue everyone cause someone is going to pay. I'm with you, I don't want to pay for a someone else's mistakes. A very scary notion, $50 million. Thanks for reminding us!

Feb 25, 2008 at 10:02 AM : Hi Mary, Thank you...

Hi Mary,

Thank you for all of the great information. I am one of the people who are considered apathetic by our Board but in reality it's just that until I feel something isn't right I am hoping the board is doing the job they were voted in for properly and I don't feel the need to interfere. I always vote.

moday thank you also for the good information.

Feb 26, 2008 at 09:02 AM : Mary, again thank you...

Mary, again thank you for your responses. My opinion, and you know what they say about opinions, is that Indian Hills Camp Ground is not really part of Alpine Forest and therefore doesn't deserve the same amminities that we all have, yes the owner maybe does but that is as far as it should go. The guests there need to obay our rules and the laws ( and I don't know of any times that they haven't) but should not benifit from our amminities, like our security or trash dumpsters - do they ? - i don't think they do. My point is, is that if they can't drive slow enough in bad weather to avoid crashing into a guard shack then they can pay the damages and not be invited back. We can protect the guard shacks from this by putting in K-Rail which we should have any way and moving the one shack would not be very costly, the shack it self can be moved entirely by picking it up with a loader if we had to with no problems, calling a towing company with a flat bed would work better. The only costs would be pouring a slab with anchor bolts and running electricity and a phone line. They don't have a bathroom now (and this is why it's where it is in my opinion) but they're hardly ever at this shack anyway, they're always driving so it wouldn't be any different than now. I would say to install a restroom at a new location and make both shacks manned always.

Radio Shack sells a security system with 4 camaras that hook to your computor or T.V. for recording for I don't remember, but either like $199. or $400.

A new comment, or question, Why is Indian Hills in business if we have a rule against commercial business's in our HOA ? are they part of Alpine Forest ? I'm setting you up if the answer is anything other than they are not, so think hard before answering.I ask with love though.

Feb 27, 2008 at 04:02 AM : Charleybird,...

Charleybird,

First off, Indian Hill is NOT a part of our Property Owners Association. They do not enjoy all of our amenities, not even the owners, but we do share Arosa Road with them. We have six or seven properties that butt up against our 5000 acres of Alpine Forest and need to use our roadways to access their properties.

You're right we do have a rule about conducting commercial businesses within our boundaries, especially if they create a noise disturbance or they damage our roadways.

I agree with your theory on moving the guard shack and I think it should be looked into again. It all sounds very simple, but nothing ever is, one other thing, I think we would have to widen the road to accommodate the guard shack and traffic on both sides.

I like your comment," if people can't obey our rules, then they won't be invited back." I've always advocated that if we're going to put all this money into maintaining our roads we should have more control over who uses them. I can think of a few people over the years that I would not have invited back.

For the cameras, I think (my opinion ) we need four outdoor,wireless, high resolution, low-light cameras hooked-up to a recorder but able to be accessed through the Internet by any computer, like a web cam. That way we would always have a recording of what's happening at our dumpsters and what traffic is going in and out of Alpine, plus anyone who feels like looking, can access the site and see for themselves. In this age of security cameras I think this technology and cost would be in our grasp. I don't want to advertise here but I use to look at a web-site for X-Cams, it was a geek site for security cameras. They had everything, cameras, monitors whatever was needed. I'd look and read for hours, then I'd have a blond moment and decide I wanted to go walk my dog, I could only take so much. I do think the answer is there though. If we started out with four cameras, one at each guard shack and one at each dumpster site and proved the theory that this will work, we could then expand to cameras outside the chalet and cameras by the barn. We'd have twenty-four hour surveillance without the added cost of man hours.

Feb 27, 2008 at 11:02 AM : Sounds like the...

Sounds like the Dumpsters are an immediate issue and the Guard Shack is not a priority . Both need addressing but the one is more easily fixed and not as costly.

Feb 27, 2008 at 03:02 PM : Hi Gillfish,...

Hi Gillfish,

Yes, the dumpsters are an immediate issue. I think cameras would really help there. Then after we identify the "abusers" we need to have a substantial penalty for them. Just my opinion, but when someone blatantly fills our dumpsters with trash or empty (non-collapsed) boxes from their moving day or maybe their in-town business, I think they should be fined for that weeks dumping fees. What $600?

Another thought, maybe we could set up a recycling center. We have a lot of trash going out of here 4 times a week? That leaves a lot of questions, who would oversee it, how would we control it

The dumpsters are a costly necessity. If we didn't have I'm sure we'd have a lot of illegal dumping all over Alpine.

Everyone knows that if you have a big trash day like stuff from the garage or cleaning out a shed, you can dump household trash for free at the dump.

Feb 27, 2008 at 03:02 PM : I bet a Green Waste...

I bet a Green Waste dumpster would be of great use as soon as spring hits. Maybe a fenced dumpster site? Then you have the cost of keys & fencing. People losing their key. I can see it now. Good idea but maybe not feasable?

Feb 27, 2008 at 06:02 PM : You'"re...

You'"re right a place to put green waste is a great idea. We have alot of gardeners here that love the mulch. There's an area over by the chalet where we have chipper day. It's where we had the christmas tree drop off.

If people put their bagged leaves and grass clippings there then others could take them home as mulch. I say bagged cause it would contain the material, if it wasn't bagged it may end-up all over the parking lot. Oops!

I know I'd be happy to take it.

People losing keys??? Yeah, I can see that being a problem.

Feb 28, 2008 at 11:02 AM : moday-I just...

moday-I just registered but wouldn't I have recieved a confirmation by now that I'm registered? Thank you for putting up the website!

Feb 28, 2008 at 02:02 PM : Have you seen the...

Have you seen the dumpster area in Stalion Springs ? They have the area for the dumpster dug in the ground and you drive up to the side of the 40 foot, roll off dumpster and through your trash in, the 40 ft. containers are cheaper than many little ones and hold alot more and the trash men will like us better because of only having to pick up 2 containers at each site . The area by the maintenance bldg. would be easy to convert, the other one would have to be moved to the slop up to the chalet some how. The idea is to cut the cost of the dumpsters, if we had two 40 ft. containers at each site it should be way less $, and at the chalet site we could add a 40 ft. green waste one. The Stalion Springs site seems to be a much better system than what we have.

The camara's on the internet is a great idea but in the future I'd like to see pictures from all over our neighborhood so that any one looking at our site can see great trees, snow, kids partying, wait I don't meen that, our kids don't party. Thanks Moday but I'm not "hosting this blog it's just on my name, THANK YOU ! for the web site !!!!

Feb 28, 2008 at 02:02 PM : I would feel spied on....

I would feel spied on. So Charlie you can just forget that one. We like our privacy. Thats one of the reasons we live in the mountains. I am not going to start policing via webcam nor should our security. only in specified areas.

Feb 28, 2008 at 02:02 PM : I realley didn't...

I realley didn't meen it that way, i ment the mountains

Feb 28, 2008 at 03:02 PM : I know-I was just...

I know-I was just clarifying for the other bloggers.

Feb 28, 2008 at 03:02 PM : There seriously needs...

There seriously needs to be something done about the dumpsters here in Alpine. I went to the dumpsters last week and some moron put a clothes washer in one of them and then the other ones had a bunch of drywall loaded in them. I had no where to put my HOUSEHOLD trash. I had to bring it back home and wait until Benz came to dump the cans which meant that I had to find somewhere to put this trash until then.

Is what it will probally come down to is that each and everyone of us will have to have cans of our own with curbside service. It is just sad!!!

Feb 28, 2008 at 03:02 PM : One more thing, I...

One more thing, I agree the guard shacks need to be moved down on Arosa. It is absurd to have them way up on Lemans!! I remember a few years back it use to be down on Arosa but they moved it up to lemans for some reason. It seems like it was because of Indian Hills campground complaining. Not too sure my memory stinks

Mar 1, 2008 at 04:03 PM : Moday, I got my...

Moday, I got my password to our webpage, thank you ! I read the 2008 newsletter and the $50.00 increase concerns me not because of the $ but there is no explanation why. Is it going in someone's pocket ? Secretly ? is it for the maintenance of the roads that they felt compelled to tell us about ? HOW ABOUT THIS ? How about the board members pay out of their own pockets to repair the roads that they tore up, obviously with a dozer while scraping the snow. Go up any of the higher paved roads and see the track marks and tore up asphalt that I saw immediately after thay did it.

Believe me, if I even cross the road with a tracked machine, and I don't care what town or city or county I'm in I would be paying BIG BUCKS for repair. Instead of Blading the snow or using a Loader like they should have they STUPIDLY used a tracked machine. if i'm wrong on who the culprits are than our board needs to find out which new homeowner building is responsible and get them (their homeowners insurance company) to pay for the repairs. NOT US !

If the $50.00 assesment isn't for that reason than what is it for ? and they still need to fine the culprit who damaged our roads, and this is alot of damage that we all will have to pay for very soon because now it will really deteriate quickly.

I'm going to make a few signs to put around our neighborhood directing all to your /our HOA webpage - when I get some time.

I want a bluebird house, we feed them all the time so why not give a house too

Mar 3, 2008 at 05:03 AM : Hi Gilfish,...

Hi Gilfish,

My final word on the dumpsters. Years ago, we (myself and the president of the Board at the time Dick Feeney) went to Stallion Springs and checked-out their dumpster set-up and location. They have the huge roll-off dumpsters set-up so you can drive above them then throw your trash down into them. Everything is secure with a locked gate and I think it's only open at a certain time of day. Don't quote me on that one I can't really remember. Anyhow, at the time most of our Alpine residents were of retirement age and we were concerned about them falling into the dumpsters. No joke, we really were. So we figured by the time we designed a safe "set-up", it would be very costly. But.........

This ties in with moving the guard shack. Cause once again we're looking at cost. I think both issues can be helped greatly with security cameras. Now someone mentioned cameras watching our children playing and views of Alpine. NOOO! We do not want to police our people we want to protect their asset's. So my recommendation for cameras would be at the entrances to Alpine and the dumpster locations. We would need cameras that will be able to read license plates in low light. We need to identify correctly the people who are abusing our amenities and prosecute them under Kern County Code. They need to be penalized in some way. When word gets out that we are doing this, I believe we will have a lot less abuse.

Gilfish, I believe you mentioned "door to door" trash service. This might work well for an added fee per homeowner in tract 3423, but in the other tracts of Alpine it wont work.

I really believe cameras are what we need. I'll spend some time on that this week.

Charleybird,

About the increase in dues. It is NOT going into any-ones pocket. Our money is looked after by our book-keeper, our auditor, our office manager and our board. Every month we print financials for the members, you can get a copy at the monthly meetings or pretty soon I think you'll be able to see them on the web. Thank you Modays.

The proposed raising of the dues is because "everything cost more now." The dues can't be raised until we have an approved new budget and reserve studies and a current certified audit. We (as a board ) have to prove to you (as property owners) that an increase is necessary. When these are in place I believe they will be posted on the web-site, they are public knowledge.

Remember the board has the authority to raise our dues $50 a year without your vote. The dues have not been raised since 2000-2001?. maybe 2001-2002? It has been a while. Your opinions and your comments mean a lot. You have a say in how this money is spent. So pay attention. It will be much easier now with a web-site. I know I like to hear your comments.

I'm not sure what road damage you're talking about Charleybird, I haven't been in the back since the snows. We do have a policy in place for new home builders that if they or their contractors damage our roadways they have to fix them to our specifications. I don't know about existing homeowners doing damage???

When you see road damage tell us, if you have an opinion as to how it happened, tell us. We need documentation to back us up. Call Security (303-0449) we will take pictures and write a report which will be presented to the board. Neighborhood watch.

O.K. now for fun stuff. I'm surprised word has gotten out about the Bluebird Conservancy Program, I wrote a short article about it for our spring newsletter and I added a picture of one of my birds. I already have orders for houses . Looks like our bluebirds are appreciated. I have bluebird nest box designs that are specified for their needs, I also have a source for already built houses. If I buy in bulk we can all save on the houses and the shipping. So if you'd rather get a house than build your own, I can get you one for $15 total. Just call me at 972-4355, if I don't answer leave a message with your name, phone number and how many boxes. A good gauge would be, if you live on 1/3 of an acre, one box should be fine, if you live on two 1/2 acres two- three boxes will do. I'm also going to do an information sheet on neat facts about these native birds. If you just want the plans, e-mail me at.. marysalternative@yahoo.com I can e-mail them to you. I guess you could put your order in through e-mail too.

sorry for being so long winded

mary

Mar 4, 2008 at 06:03 PM : Hello all,...

Hello all, I'm working myself to death lately, I've read all the blogs and will respond soon (when i'm more awake)

Mar 10, 2008 at 12:03 PM : Mary, I'm...

Mary, I'm finally getting back with Y'all, and i know $ is not going into anyone's pocket, I expressed myself that way to make everyone think and to question, - never just let things be as is. I still think cutting the slop out of the dump area's and putting 40 yard dumpsters in with a slop up on either side of them is the way to go for the trash area's and a guard rail around so that some won't fall in, with camara's.

The security shacks need to manned constantly I believe and moving them should not be costly. The road I was referring to with the damage from someone tracking heavy equipment on it is, & I have to describe it to you, if you go up to Alps from LeManns & turn right on Alps it's the first left turn, the damage is at the edge of the road on both sides starting after you get past the last house on the left, all the way up to Matterhorn, where the culvert crosses the road 1/2 way up it's really damaged there.

Hello Moday, I'll contact you via alpinewirless.com

Mar 11, 2008 at 09:03 AM : your right, what is...

your right, what is the problem ? For very little $ we can have a locked gate in front of the dumpsters. Again, and I hate beating on poor old dead horses, We should still move the guard shack where it belongs and if Indian Hills Campground doesn't like it let her spend her $ to stop it, she would lose in court of course but does anyone think it would make it to court ?. This is something we as a community need, there is no good reason for her to object to having to have her guests stop and sign in at OUR security office.

Mar 11, 2008 at 11:03 AM : My opinion is...

My opinion is this-If the Guard Shack had been at the proper entrance to Alpine, the people who robbed my home would not have been able to get past the guards and I would not have lost my very valuable memories.

Mar 11, 2008 at 03:03 PM : I know the feeling !...

I know the feeling !

They may have got past the guard gate but they would have had to register with the guards first with their name, destination and license #. And of course their picture on our newly installed camara system at each entrance and exit and dump area, so that if the guard gate isn't manned 24/7 they will at least get their picture on record. Then they would have at least been caught and your valuable memories could have been recovered and you wouldn't have been victomized the 2nd. time by the pawn shop.

Mar 11, 2008 at 06:03 PM : You want 2 guards...

You want 2 guards 24/7, but don't want to pay more dues or even have an association? How will that work? Security is one of our biggest expenditures and doubling, tripling or quadrupling it would really be a substancial increase. I'm more interested in maintenance.

Personally I don't care if we have guards, but some of you do, so I'm stuck with the decision, although not totally against it. The guards do report violations to the sherrif, assist with emergency crews, relay complaints to neighbors and kids on rec vehicles, etc. You have to assume thieves will find a way. Somehow I think these discussions would be better to have on ~moday's site since info given here may assist the dishonest among us.

I recall the guard shack being down by the rear gate. Didn't last long. I don't think it was all Indian hills. The residents near the back gate wer not happy about it either. I assume there is an easment through Alpine. I don't know if it is legal to stop everyone traveling to Indian Hills. Before making any more guesses, we should investigate.

The locks and cameras at the dumpsters sound like a fine idea. Hopefully it will get implemented soon. There are some good reasons to have an association. There is no good reason to have a board though that wastes our money, doesn't care about folks, and is arrogant.

This last newsletter is annoying. I've paid my dues for the past 29 years. The newsletter is more of a threat than a newsletter. Why didn't they just send notices to those in default rather than annoying everyone who pays their share? I also think the threat of foreclosure may be wrong. I will examine that before the next meeting. It's not that I wouldn't like to see the laggards pay up, but I don't like to see bs issued by the Board. I think if anything there would be at least five year waiting period.