Highlights of the April 8, 2010 meeting.

Highlights of the April 8, 2010 meeting are below:

- The treasury is now at $342.72 after renewal of the articles of incorporation for the Lake Sarasota Community Group ($61.25), new Yard of the Month signs ($75 - kindly desist from stealing them), and reimbursal to Sandy Allen for printing and misc. expenses of the Yard sale ($102). A $500 charitable contribution at Christmas was the major other expense.

- Three new homes were chosen for Yard of the Month. (By the way, we do not publish names or addresses of those homes because we have not received permission to use them, and do not wish to violate privacy. If you would like your home or name listed, just get in touch or leave a note in the comments thread below.)

- Beautification: Ray and Connie are taking names to volunteer to help mulch and improve the Mauna Loa Entrance and median on Saturday, April 17th, from 9 to noon. If you can lend a hand, please let them know -  their email.

- Ray also noted that there's a "Lakeview Estates" sign on Wake, but there apparently is no longer either a Lakeview Estates, or an identifiable legal owner of the somewhat dilapidated sign.

- Sandy has a social event planned for April 14 at Madfish Grill on Cattlemen from 7 - 9 pm. It will be outside, with free appetizers - a chance to get to know your neighbors. Try to make it.

- Sandy is gathering info about a way for the LSCG to benefit from fliers that could be taken to Appleby's or Sweet Tomatoes that offer discounts to diners. More to come on this.

- We might have a hurricane expert come to next month's meeting (It will be on Thursday, May 13th).

- Developer Richard M. Fischer came to the meeting and presented an informal idea involving 23 acres that lie between Lake Sarasota and I-75. The 100+ unplatted lots could be used as park, environmental land, stormwater, etc., he said.

He has spoken to some Commissioners about possibly working out a deal by which the county would pay half the cost of the land (Fischer says he personally owns only 6 of the lots, which are owned by various legacy owners), and Lake Sarasota would pay the other half through a Special Taxing District.

All the info here is not official, just estimates. Fischer said if such a district were sit up, it could levy roughly a $25 tax per year per home in Lake Sarasota. Lake S. in turn could, he said, have a say in the decisions made about the use of and access to the land. The deal might also involve a buffering wall along the highway, reducing noise. Fischer noted that if the state DOT needed to buy some of the land for stormwater, that could reduce each homeowner's annual bill by perhaps $10.

Resident comments: "You put a park in there and I'll never get out of my driveway," said one resident who lives on Friendship. Another person asked whether the annual charge per home would ever be able to be altered, i.e., raised. Fischer said that no, these are special funds used solely to pay off the purchase - once that's done, the district and charges go away. After Fischer left, another resident wondered who would be responsible for the maintenance and cost of same for the new park. Good Question!

Fischer said he'll try to come to the next meeting, May 13th, with maps and perhaps more precise calculations and information.

- Ted said the Sheriff's report for March listed 7 incidents for the neighborhood, 2 on Palau, 2 on Mauna Loa. Curiously, two break-ins reported on Luawanna were not found in the report. Ted urges everyone who knows of or experiences a break-in or tampering to report it to the Sheriff.

Ted also offered this advice regarding external garage door keypads - PLEASE READ:

Here's a thought on our power-assisted garage doors.  The newer door operators have a keypad outside the garage to allow opening and closing from the outside.  A real convenience--but!!  Most of these keypads use a four-digit security code that we assign.  Here's the problem.  After a while the commonly-used numerical keys will show wear or smudge marks indicating use.  A sharp individual with a good feel for numbers and probabilities, and a little time, could note the worn or smudged keys, and with a maximum of 24 tries, open the garage door and have immediate access to garage and house.  What tipped me off was finding the hinged cover of my keypad open, when I know I closed it.  I've deactivated mine by removing the battery.  I use the transmitter from my car now, when I'm working around the property out of sight of my garage door.  Another trick would be to smudge or wear three or four more additional keys.  This greatly increases the number of combinations a potential housebreaker would need to try.  An alternate to marking additional keys would be to change the code every few days.

Next Meeting: May 13, 7 p.m., Sarasota Alliance Church