Dear Sorrento & Meadows Homeowners,

 I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year! 

A new year brings new beginnings and a fresh start.  It also brings a time for change and opportunity.  For the next few months I would like to utilize some sources for our community to communicate with the current board and other community members.  One of these sources is the blog on our website.  I hope by using the blog it will give you the opportunity to be heard and allow other community members to engage in constructive conversation.

 My first questions to my fellow community members:

What is the biggest issue you would like to see changed or improved upon in our community in the coming year?

Any input will be appreciated but please remember this is a public forum and responses will be viewed by the entire community.

Thank you in advance.  I wish you all the best in 2010.

Melissa Centeno

Sorrento HOA President

As you know, the whole country is in a financial crisis.  Our Association is just a small part of the world economy.  We are far from immune from the economic downturn.  Some of the property owners inside of our community are not paying their dues on time, if at all.  This is putting a huge strain on our budget.  The Board of Directors is looking at ways to save money from every line of the budget.

The biggest proportion of the budget come from three areas; Landscaping, Security, and water usage.

We are looking at ways to save money in all areas, not just the top three, but the biggest savings can come from the biggest areas of the budget.

One proposed savings would be to close the Meadows Gate to visitors at night, from about 10:00 PM to about 6:00 AM.   After 10:00 PM visitors would have to enter through the Sorrento gate.  A recent survey shows that we get less than 5 visitors per night at the Meadows gate during those hours.  Before we even consider making such a change, the Security Committee and the Board would like to know how our residents feel about it.

We would have to put a new alarm system on the Meadows gate and increase the video surveillance of the guardhouse and Meadows pool.  We would also lengthen the hours of the patrol we share with two other communities in Porter Ranch.

How do you feel about this?  How so you feel we should modify this plan?

Please indicate which street you live on in your post.  People living near the Meadows gate may have a different viewpoint than those who live near the Sorrento gate.  We are trying not to make one area of the community, or one area of the budget bare all of our budget issues.

Please be polite and respectful of your neighbors when you make your post.

Pat Pope

President

Sorrento HOA

I sent the letter below to LA Police Chief Bratton thanking him and his officers for their help after the tragic event on Como Lane in October.  A couple of the Board Members thought it was worth sharing with the rest of the community.   I will share any response from LAPD with you too.  If you would like to make a comment, feel free.

Patrick Pope

November 28, 2008

Chief William Bratton

Los Angeles Police Department

PO Box 30158

Los Angeles, CA 90030

Dear Chief Bratton:

As you know, this has been a very unusual autumn in the north San Fernando Valley.   I know this has put an unusual strain on the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as many other agencies.   Still, a time of great stress and trauma often brings out the best in people.  You must be very proud of the way LAPD has reacted to the Metrolink disaster, and all of the major fires.

I am the president of the Sorrento Homeowners Association in Porter Ranch.  On October 6, 2008 LAPD officers responding to a welfare check in our community discovered a horrific crime scene.  They found six dead bodies in the house, all apparent gunshot victims.  Through evidence gathered by LAPD officers, it became clear that the father of the family, despondent over financial losses, killed his whole household before taking his own life. 

About 9:30 that morning, our security manager, Bill Wallace, called me to inform me of the shootings.   I met Bill at the scene and we talked through the options concerning media interest in this crime. Our biggest concern was to reduce the media impact to the surrounding neighbors already traumatized by the crime and the growing number of police vehicles and officers.

My first inclination was to tell the media they would have to stay outside of our community on public streets.  Bill had already been contacted by Mary Grady from LAPD Media Relations.   Mary came to meet me and described the problems encountered on private property with some members of the media during the Metrolink crash.  She made it clear to me that I had the right to keep the media out of our private property, but considering the nature of the story they would find a way to get their pictures, whether it was by sneaking over fences and through yards, or using hovering helicopters.   Mary advised us to let the media in, but to direct and funnel them to the crime scene.   I agreed to that and with the aid of your officers, our security allowed the news crews into our community, but did not allow them to wander nearby streets.  I also instructed our security to have the media out by 6:30 PM. 

At least two of my neighbors were very upset that we let the media in at all.  I got several calls and one e-mail threatening me with a Temporary Retraining Order from a resident who is also an attorney.   I contacted Mary Grady and she spoke with LAPD Captain Steve Ruiz from Devonshire Division.   Captain Ruiz contacted the residents and patiently listened to their concerns.  I don’t know exactly what Captain Ruiz said to the attorney to calm her down, but she wrote me a very nice letter the next day thanking me and thanking your department for working with us to minimize the impact to her family.  She was very impressed that a high ranking LAPD official would call her and explain the issues to her.

As you may recall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 700 points on that same day.  Deputy Chief Michael Moore clearly had a strong sense how our tragedy fit into the overall national picture.  His discussion with the worldwide media about how this incident related to broader economic trouble we are all experiencing was truly heartfelt.  Chief Moore was both an incredible spokesman for your department, and a concerned human being.  He let people know that there is help available even if they have experienced a large financial loss.  I have spoken with several people inside and outside of your department that found Chief Moore’s tone was what was needed at that point.  When I heard last week that a Chief Officer from your department risked his own life to help evacuate an overweight patient from the Sayer Fire, I wasn’t surprised to hear it was Chief Moore.  I’m sure you would love all of your leaders to have the skills and leadership of Chief Moore.

Over the last few weeks I have been in touch with Captain Sean Kane and Captain Ruiz.  The Sesnon fire licked the western side of our community along Browns Canyon.  I know I could write another series of commendations to express our gratitude about the management of the fires. Our HOA worked with the others in Porter Ranch to thank the LAPD and other the police and fire agencies that helped us during that fire.  I have spoke with both captains at several fire related community events in the last few weeks, and they both have expressed genuine concern for our community not just about the fires but also about the aftermath of the homicides.

Captain Ruiz and our SLO Dario del Core arranged extra patrols by the site of the homicides on Halloween.  Captain Ruiz and Detective Fajardo came to our last HOA meeting last week and answered every question they could for almost an hour about the October 6^th crime. Of course, some questions will always haunt all of us about the deaths for such a promising family.

Chief, I just wanted you to know how thankful we all are for the help we have received from these officers and many others during this string of events in our “quiet” neighborhood.  I know that there is already a plan in place for any flooding that could occur because of the fires, and the winter rains.  Please pass on our thanks to the officers I mentioned in this note.  I know that many others helped us during all of these events and they are there every day for us. 

Sincerely,

Patrick Pope

President

Sorrento Homeowners Association

What do you think of the stories and information on our website www.sorrentohoa.org?  Are the stories helpful and easy to read?  Could you open the video?  Would you like us to concentrate more on other areas of interest?

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

Do you have any comments on the existing budget and the 2009 budget? 

If the dues do not increase:

• Where do you think we should spend more money next year?
• Where do you think we should spend less?

Speed Humps

Last month your Board of Directors voted 4 to 1 to install more speed humps.   They were installed last week.

We had several goals to meet with the addition of more speed humps:

• Most clearly we are trying to reduce speeding. Several residents have loudly complained that speeding on our long downhill streets is very unsafe.
• We are trying to get people to stop at the stop signs on Sorrento lane.
• We are trying to reduce vehicle bumps to our exit gates in order to extend the life of the gates, motors, and hinges.
• We are trying to avoid collisions between cars at the exits and cars making U-turns at the Security kiosks.
• We are trying to make it even harder for unauthorized vehicles to follow residents in through the Torino gate.

Based on last year’s survey the vote was nearly 50/50 for and against speed bumps.  Many of those opposed view them as bad for their cars, and their alignment. Or they think they are unsightly, or they think they won’t do what they are intended to do. Some think they are too noisy and a waste of money.  

Those residents pressing for speed bumps view them as the only sure way to get people to slow down to 25 miles per hour consistently and drive safely.

We all tend to blame outsiders and contractors for much of our speeding problem. Of course, not everyone that goes too fast in our neighborhood is a contractor.  Some residents like to go fast.  They purchased exceptional cars, and they have great reflexes.  Others going too fast are just residents on their way to the store or work, and loose track of how fast they are going down the hill.  This is no different from drivers in other parts of the city.

Within each group there are subgroups.  Some of the pro-speed bump residents would like many more, and want them on their street.  They would like them higher and bumpier. They are concerned that the HOA does not take further action children will die.   

There is a subgroup on the other side that thinks that speed humps should not even be considered.  They think they don’t really work anyway, and that they reduce their property value.  No matter what, they don’t want speed bumps on their street or especially in front of their house.  Many have high performance, low profile cars and don’t want to see their undercarriage or alignment damaged.

The Board has tried to get LAPD patrols into our community, but the police have higher traffic volumes and more accidents on streets like Tampa, Rinaldi, or Mason.   Our security patrol has no legal standing to pull residents over.  We cannot afford a 7x24 traffic patrol anyway. 

Personally, I want to hear from as many of you as possible before we think about expanding the program.  Do you think these speed bumps will slow people down?  Should they be higher?  Should they be on more residential streets?  Should we forget going any further?   Should we put one in front of your house?

PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL of other resident’s point of view, but let us know what you think.  If you can avoid anonymously posting and confrontational language your point of view will be more highly considered.

Thanks for participating!

Pat Pope

I know we haven’t presented a blog question in awhile.  Perhaps our controversial issues have subsided during the winter months, but I would like to hear from you on security.

 On May 1^st we changed Security Companies to the Centurion Group.   They promise higher professional standards and better customer service than we have had in the past.  What are your thoughts so far?  Are you delighted with their attitude and professional manners?  Do you have any suggestions for upgrades?   

If you think it’s too early to respond, check back in a few days and add your thoughts.

Pat Pope

President

Sorrento HOA

The results are in.  http://www.sorrentohoa.org/2008%20Survey%20Results.pdf

Were you surprised? 

Do you think this reflects a consensus of our residents?

Do you agree or disagree with your neighbors?

How do you think the Board should react to any of the topics you and your neighbors responded too?

The verbatim comments are being compiled now.  We can discuss those next week after they are all posted.

Pat Pope

President  

What do you think of the 2008 HOA Survey?

Pat Pope

President

What do you think of more security patrols?  You can answer now, and answer later after you have seen the patrols if you like.

Pat Pope

By now you have all received a ballot for the Porter Ranch Maintenance Association Annual Meeting on January 15, 2008 at Shepherd of the Hills.

The Porter Ranch Maintenance Association maintains our slopes on Mason and on Rinaldi, but not on Browns Canyon.  They also maintain other common areas in Porter Ranch near the Town Center and outside of some of the other gated communities.  This is what you pay $32.70 each month for.

Make no mistake, the Association is organized and run by S&S.  The two candidates for Director are S&S employees.  S&S has enough voting power in the Association to control it, and they will for years.  They do request that you send the ballot back though so they have a quorum for the annual meeting.

I found out that as President of the Sorrento HOA, I am a “Delegate” for our HOA to the meeting.  After I made a few phone calls, I found out that the Delegates just help count the votes at the meeting. 

However, this will give me a good opportunity to express any opinions or ask any questions Sorrento residents have about the Porter Ranch Maintenance Association.  I know our slopes look a little sparse right now, for one thing. 

I have found that when I reach the right person at Accell Property Management, they have taken care of the matters in a fairly reasonable time frame.  What do you think?

Pat Pope

The speed hump on Vercelli is a prototype.  Before we start installing them everywhere we need to hear from you on what you think of this one.  Your input is important for the Security Committee and the Board to make decisions on reducing speeding. 

I am sure some people will find the current speed hump wimpy, while others will find it to be too aggressive or in the wrong spot.   Let us know what you think.  We won’t have any money to add any more speed humps until next year.  So we’ll watch the blog and look for constructive comments before we add more.

In general the Board of directors will give more consideration to known residents who use Vercelli than anonymous posters.

Pat Pope

You have now received the 2008 Sorrento HOA Budget.   It has our first budget increase in the seven years that the HOA has existed.  I listed the reasons the increase is necessary in the cover letter you got with the budget.

Believe me, all of the resident Board members considered the service improvement requests of the residents and the committees before we finalized the budget.  Unlike the government we cannot spend any more money than we take in.

The budget had to be completed by November 30^th for the new fiscal year.  I personally believe that unless we have a larger than expected number of defaults and foreclosures in 2008 we will have a balanced budget at the end of 2008.  At this point, I cannot think of a reason we would need another increase, especially one of this size, in 2009.

No budget, just like no answer to the speeding problem, will please everyone.  Yet your Board of Directors has to make the tough decisions.  We hope to meet the needs of the majority of the residents.

Every member of the Board of Directors reads the blog.  We all pay attention in the meetings.  We all get copies of the correspondence to Marinel.  We would like to hear what you have to say about the budget. 

I usually try not to respond to attacks, or anonymous posts, but I will be glad to answer any other questions posed on the blog.  If I can’t answer a question another Board member can.  Please try to keep civil with your neighbors.

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

First let me explain that the blog is not censored.  The weird little letters you have to type in are to prevent “bots” from automatically spamming the site.  Occasionally, a spam entry has gotten through and they have been removed.  Nobody from the Board or the Website Committee has removed any comment about any topic facing our association.

Second, a few people have suggested that we hold all of our HOA meetings at the pool.  That just isn’t practical in the winter time.  There are too many scheduling issues that would have to be changed if it rained, or was windy or cold.   We will go back to the pool in June.   If the majority of residents would prefer a Saturday meeting, we can move the day after the next election.  Marinel and the recorder would have to be paid to attend those Saturday meetings.  The new Board would have to agree to give up a Saturday every month.

Third, let me say that I receive every comment posted to the blog.  I think the residential members of your Board take them seriously.  There have been several posts to the blog by people who don’t think that the Board or the Committees are doing enough to serve their needs.  Most of those people have the courtesy and courage to put their names on the posts.  

There are others who like to shout down others in meetings or post attacks to the blog anonymously.  I understand their concerns, even though they have little respect for the concerns of others.

I spend at least 20 hours a week on Board business.  The HOA and the Board of Directors cannot be concerned with just  one issue.  While some issues are more important than others there are many facets to our operation that must be tended to.  That is why we have committees.  I was appointed to the Board a little more than a year ago.  During that time the previous president attended one HOA meeting and missed 5.  Two months after the last election our treasurer resigned.  We have just now gotten back to a full five member Board.  Two of those members are S&S employees that do not work with our committees.  Despite being shorthanded during much of my time on the Board, I think we have accomplished a lot in the last year.

Accomplishments

We have acting working committees.  The people on those committees volunteer their time and expertise to improve the neighborhood.  Before I was president there was one committee that had little guidance from the past president.

We have a new property manager, Marinel Agbunag.  Replacing the old ineffective property manager was one of my first priorities.  If you have ever had to call Ross Morgan before Marinel or since she has been here you know the difference

We have a web site and this blog.  I believe they have been a great source of information.

We have a Hospitality Committee that has put together great events to bring your neighborhood together

We put up arms, and improved video collection at the Torino gate.  S&S offered to pay for the arms to the previous Board for over a year before I was on the Board.  It takes time, leadership and people skills to accomplish projects with many vendors involved.  It is true that the arms have been smashed a few times, but the camera system has caught who did it, and the people who damaged our property have been caught or volunteered to pay for the damage.

We have forced a change with the Security Service.  The previous security company president knew that we were considering a change due to residential complaints about customer service.  He sold the business and we have new level of customer service from Ace Security.  It far from perfect today, but we are making progress.

We have a new look and more neighborhood content in the Newsletter.  The old Newsletter often had one article of news and a bunch of filler recipies.  For the last several months we have had to decide which news articles made the paper and which had to be left on the cutting room floor.

Challenges

Still, like most of you I am not satisfied. Speeding is an issue here.  We have long downhill streets. We have people with low profile, high performance cars.  We have residents who have no regard to the safety of others.  We have kids in the neighborhood.  These problems aren’t new or unique to our association.  The same people speeding down Vircelli speed down Mason and Rinaldi too. 

The speeding problem was not addressed by previous Boards or Association Presidents. I think it is a little disingenuous for the anonymous posters on the blog to blame this board or me personally for a problem not address for the previous five years.   We are making progress, but like many problems it takes time and money.  Speed humps, stop signs, and security enforcement of the rules are part of the answer.  Some residents don’t like speed humps.  Some residents still think LAPD will place a 7 x 24 motor officer here.  There is no excuse for driving 50 miles an hour on residential streets.  There is no excuse for rolling through stop signs.  There is no simple answer to the problem that will please everyone in the community.  If there were simple solutions  this would not be an issue facing this Board or myself, the previous president would have dealt with it.   We are working on reducing speeding here.  We will reduce speeding here.  It is highly unlikely that we will completely eliminate it.

I have mentioned the budget in several notes to the Association and on the blog.  There are demands on the budget from several directions.  Several things will drive up our expenses next year.  The current mortgage crisis will have an impact on revenue.  As long as I am on the Board, we will continue to have a strong collection policy.  We will continue to hold down costs.  We will look for new sources of revenue.  We will continue to maintain beautiful surroundings.  We will make the neighborhood safe and secure.  We will do our best to reduce dues increases, but we aren’t Congress.  We don’t print money here.  So rising costs and increased demands for service and infrastructure improvements by our residents will mean some sort of dues increase in 2008.

Board of Directors

There will be a Board Election next summer.  There will be four seats up for election, including mine.  The new Board will elect the officers next year.  I hope you have seen more action from this Board of Directors and from me than the previous Board and president. If you haven’t seen the improvements you think are necessary or would like I encourage you to run for the HOA Board yourself.   I’m sure there are several residents have very good ideas on improvements and how to manage our budget and safety.  If I am not re-elected or choose not to run again I know that I will be supportive of the new Board and President the tough decisions they will face every day.

Thank You

Finally, I want to thank Shahla Sadighi, David Sobel, and Neil Estrin for working with me to improve our HOA.  I also want to thank Gigi McGregor and Debbie Montero from S&S.  They have worked with us and helped us in many ways to increase safety, and improve our already beautiful neighborhood. 

I also want to thank all of the Committee Chairpersons, and all of the Committee Volunteers for volunteering many hours in their area of interest.  I think together we have made a huge improvement in a great place to live.

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA