Letters from the President

Firstly, I would like to thank the residents of Lazybrook for the vote of confidence in allowing me to assume the role of President of the Lazybrook Civic Club.  Lazybrook has been home for my family for 5 years and we have become connected to the community and are excited to take our community support to another level.  I would really like to see our Civic Club become a vital part of the neighborhood as it was in past years and am willing to do whatever necessary to support that happening.

Over the course of Lazybrook’s history, the Civic Club has been integral to community activities.  Since we moved to the neighborhood, some of our more significant accomplishments included:

• Completing a significant beautification and planting project in the medians running up and down TC Jester and 18th.  Most of the younger trees and shrubs were planted during this project.
• Saving many of those same trees and shrubs during the drought a few years ago.  The volunteer time of residents aided to keep the trees adequately mulched to provide more resistant and supplemental watering both worked to preserve our investment.
• Revitalizing our National Night Out program to include a neighborhood parade and block parties which have been some of our biggest turnout nights in years.
• Piloting a mosquito spraying program to help control our mosquito populations during the summer
• Coordinating with the City of Houston to ensure our bayous and watersheds are properly maintained
• Donating and contributing to the revitalization of surrounding parks

Looking forward to 2014, we want to continue building on these accomplishments.  However, the truth is that have many challenges facing us and we need our residents to step forward more than ever.  Last year was our lowest resident participation level on record at only 36%.  We also have some critical leadership roles that help support our fundraising efforts that are vacant.  Without resident support through membership and volunteering, the future of the Civic Club will be at risk.  It is essential for us to preserve this organization to ensure that our neighborhood continues to be a vital, well maintained place with manicured medians, enforced deed restrictions, and a voice within our broader Houston community.  Without a Civic Club, it will be difficult for any of those things to occur.

I want to start my term as President with a plea to each and every resident.  If you haven’t joined the Civic Club yet, please consider doing so.  If you are a member, please consider increasing your commitment by volunteering to serve in a leadership role.  If you have any ideas on other ways to support Lazybrook and make the neighborhood and the club a better place, please reach out to me via email at president@lazybrook.org and let’s have a conversation.  The Executive Committee has met and started planning how we can change things for the better.  We are exploring ways to increase membership and reduce operating costs to begin balancing our budget.  But we can only turn our course around with your support and ideas.

As we approach our next meeting on September 24, 2013, my thoughts are on another date. That date is October 1, 2013. On that night of Tuesday October 1st, we have the opportunity to join our neighbors at block parties. This night is National Night Out (NNO) for the residents of Texas. In Texas we do things a little different than the rest of the nation. We hold our night out in October rather than August to avoid the heat and mosquitos. Our neighbors who are north of the Red River have a more agreeable climate for holding this event in August than we do.

This is the best opportunity for us to meet our neighbors and fight crime at the same time. We are hopeful to continue the tradition that was started many years ago and then faded. That is the NNO parade. Last year we brought back the parade. This year we hope to continue the tradition and build on it. The parade is usually made up of our Citizens on Patrol and neighbors who have classic cars. If you are a neighbor with a classic or antique automobile who would like to be in the parade, please send an email to Matt Herring – Lazybrook Security.

If you have not already heard from your block captain, please reach out to them to find out who will be hosting the block party on your block. If no one has volunteered, please consider hosting. This will be a fun event that will bring neighbors together.

Hello Neighbors,  I believe some of you have heard from the November Lazybrook Civic Club meeting that my family business is  relocating to Conroe TX.

I’ve really enjoyed working with LCC but my 1 hour and 15 minute commute each way starting March will be too hard for me.  The 1st lady is retiring this Spring and he wants to go to the lake with his retired Harley buddies.    My son lives in Conroe.  My daughter is up at SHSU.   My extended family is all around the lake.  Moving is the only real option for my family.

That being said, the Executive Board and the many committees have spent the past few years organizing our civic club to be very efficient for the volunteers.  Each LCC Committee Chair has a clear understanding of their functions and have been very organized so as not to stress out any one volunteer with too many monthly duties.  I want to thank each of the Committee Chairs and their volunteers for their help.

The President of Lazybrook Civic Club has a very clear job.  With the support of the Executive Board and the committees the job is very easy to perform.  We are seeking a civic minded neighbor  to step up and take on the Presidency.  The position has two main jobs, answer questions of the Committee Chairs and run Bimonthly meetings (6 per year) off an agenda our past President Richard Akin handed down to me. I am willing to stay on to help with the transition and train my replacement until March 2012.  I will always be available by cell phone or to help our new volunteer run meetings during 2012.  Consider taking on this prestigious position for our neighborhood.  Please contact myself at president@lazybrook.org or Richard Akin, LCC VP. at president@lazybrook.org

We are seeking a civic minded neighbor  to step up and take on the Presidency.   Please consider taking on this prestigious position for our neighborhood.

Thank you, Shane Davis

Dear Neighbors,

I hope this newsletter finds us in cooler nights and wetter days.   The draught has been a stressor on our Beautification Chair Carolyn Lehnert and the Beautification Fund.  Lazybrook committed to plant trees the last 3-4 years in our esplanades and Carolyn agreed to keep’em alive for all of us to enjoy. With the Executive Board’s permission she has paid for watering the younger trees (and a few older small trees) throughout the draught and it seems to be working very well as we have lost only a few small trees.  My THANKS for her efforts to keep an eye on our situation and make the difficult decisions to spend your money to pay for the extra watering as needed.

Lazybrook worked across the summer, meeting bi-weekly, and is now paired with 8 large and small surrounding neighborhoods to organize into a Super Neighborhood Council for the Lazybrook/Timbergrove Super Neighborhood.  They meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Kojak’s 6PM.   Our volunteers on the Council are neighbors Joel Copeland and Jorge Sera.  This council will bring the will of the people for city improvements to our section of Houston at the city’s expense.  Via the SN Council, we now have a STRONG voice at Houston City Council to receive funding on projects (such as irrigation, trail improvements, trash bins, park benches, overlays).

If you would like to run for the Executive Board, now is the time to contact me.

Advertising Chair Position Available
Are you interested in spending a little time to help support your neighborhood?  I am no longer able to do this volunteer position and we are looking for a replacement to chair the position of Lazybrook Newsletter Advertisements.  This position doesn’t take very much time throughout the year but it truly has an impact in our neighborhood.  The advertisements that are sold and posted in our bimonthly newsletter, and now on our website, Lazybrook.org, help to pay for the cost of printing the newsletters that are distributed by our volunteer block captains.

Shane Davis

Hello Neighbors – I hope this newsletter finds you all healthy and happy.  Your 1st lady, Richard Cade, and I enjoyed a few weeks off from our hectic lives to tour Italy in May.  We enjoyed our time away from the daily grind plus learned three things; Italy has great wine for cheap, the Vatican is unbelievably RICH and we two need to slow down our pace in life to make more memories.

Your LCC Executive Board was busy this summer helping fine tune the Architectural Review/Deed Restrictions Committee as this is the committee we take the most calls on.  I would like to thank Gregg Kalba, Committee Chair, and his committee as they are doing great work and the board appreciates the long hours it takes to work out the details to help us become user friendly.

Neighbors/Block Captains: your ONLY point of contact for anything construction is Gregg Kalba  architecturalreview@lazybrook.org phone 713 864 7369.  He will keep the LCC master log and delegate to his committee.

September 27th LCC Meeting will have guest speaker on Identity Theft and members will start discussions on stopping delivery of Lazybrook Civic Club newsletters for LCC non members.  This meeting will be a lively one and last from 7-9PM as we have much to cover.  Come on out, stay as long as you can and share your thoughts on our agenda.

Best to you and yours, Shane Davis

Hello Neighbors!  The March 2011 Lazybrook Civic Club meeting was well attended.  Thank you all for showing up and participating.  Your attendance is encouraging to our volunteers.   I really enjoyed the 290 Hwy expansion discussions.

This is my first year to take on mail pick up duties at our PO box in Oak Forest.  WOW – March and April was a busy month at the LCC PO Box due to the Membership Drive our Membership Chair, Janell Bryans, and our Block Captain Chair’s,  Ilya Martinalbo, team of Block Captains organized.  Thank you very much for your hard work and dedication to our club.  If you have not sent in your dues, please consider paying to allow your Block Captain to attain 100% participation for their block and receive recognition for their hard work.    The 1St Lady, Richard Cade, is still missing a few from our block and it is really hard to believe.

I want to say THANK YOU to David Long for 3+ years of service to our community as your Yard of the Month Chairperson.  He is relocating and will be missed.  Jim and Mary Gorab of the 2000 block of Millwood have graciously stepped up to fill his position. So another Thank You for the prompt reply to my EBlast requesting help.  You can reach Jim at yard@lazybrook.org or (281) 881-4800.

We have a new “Around the Neighborhood” reporter for the newsletter. Please call or send your information to Julie Kleine jkleine@stewart.com (832) 971-4731  or drop a note to her address @ 1703 Tannehill.

Thank you to Melissa and Mark Cougle for taking on 5th Friday Social while RC and I were in Europe for a few weeks!

Best wishes to all, Shane Davis