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General Meeting Notes 3/21/24

The CHRNA general meeting was brought to order on March 21, 2024 at 7 PM, and all were welcomed by President Damian Arocho. We had 21 Members at the meeting and 2 guests, which included the 6 board members. 

Minutes from January 2024 meeting were presented for approval by Secretary Jenny Smith. All present were asked if there were any corrections or additions that needed to be made. There were no comments at the time. Beverly Lee made the motion to accept the January 2024 minutes, and Karen Brown seconded the motion. All in attendance were in favor of accepting.

Treasury report as of March 1, 2024 was given by Stella McCoy. 

General Fund Balance has $2180.02

Petty Cash Balance has $100

Blessing Box Fund has $214.27

Benevolent Fund has $3372.58

Total Funds is $5,866.87

All in attendance were asked if there were any questions on the budget presented. There were none. Frank Vitale made the motion to accept the Budget, and Raul Luna seconded the motion. All were in favor. 

Beverly Lee gave the CHRNA Membership report, with 34 voting homes, and 1 lifetime voting home. Our goal is to have 50 new members sign up this year in 2024. We have 23 homes that have not renewed as of March 1, 2024, and we have 8 of our streets that do not have any members on them. We are a voluntary HOA, and does not demand or nitpick like your mandated HOA’s. 8 streets with no members is a lot when our goal is to work together as neighbors and come together as a community and help each other. 

The Block Ambassador report and Blessing Box Care was given by Ramona Rosales, your CHRNA Block Ambassador Coordinator. Of our 23 streets and 686 homes in Crownwood, we have 14 streets with no ambassadors, and 8 streets with no members. A block ambassador is an easy job. You talk to your neighbors on your street, answer questions about the Crownwood neighborhood, and be the smiling face and point of contact for your street. If you have questions or want to become an ambassador, contact Ramona Rosales, any CHRNA board member, or email CHRNA on our website for more information. 

The Blessing Boxes are getting wiped out, and we are hoping it is going to multiple families that are in need. We have 2 Blessing Boxes, one at the top of Serene Ridge by the ARC entrance, and one at the Forest Ridge entrance. The purpose of the Blessing Box is to “give what you can, take what you need”. If you have non perishable items, such as canned goods, pastas, pasta meal kits, rice, beans, etc. you can take the items and put them in the Blessing Box. If you would rather not “be seen” donating the items, you can contact a board member, or message CHRNA to coordinate a drop off time for your donation. Early March, one of the Blessing Boxes was stuffed full of baby food (baby foods also accepted), so Ramona split the food between the two boxes and kept a little for another day. We ask that you not make a mess when taking items, and neatly put your non perishable items in the box. Be kind, and if you see a bag of rice or beans open, clean it up if possible. If we don’t keep the boxes cleaned up of spilt food, we get critters in there and around. If you don’t have time or don’t have any way to clean the mess, please contact the board and let us know so we can get to it and clean it up. The board tries to go every few days and check to make sure there is food in the boxes. If you go to a food pantry and don’t use the canned goods, rice and beans or pasta, please bring it to our Blessing Boxes and donate it to a family that may be on the edge of not being able to receive help, but need that little boost of help with food. Donating food, funds towards the Blessing box is a huge help to our community here in Crownwood, and we appreciate all who donate that are seen and unseen. The CHRNA Board members thank you. 

The Crownwood Safety Report was given by Stanley Smith, our COP Lead for Crownwood. We need more members on the COP team badly. We still have one of the lowest crime rates in a 2 mile radius, but we still need more presence. The more visibility we have of showing COP signs on our vehicles when we patrol, wearing COP clothing if walking around the neighborhood to patrol. The more COP is seen in the neighborhood, the less crimes we will have. It’s easy to be a COP member. When you drive in and out of the neighborhood, look around for things that aren’t normal. Take a different exit or enter a different way into the neighborhood. Keep track of how long it takes you, and if you see something. If you are a walker, you would be a great asset as well to the COP team. Walking or running and looking for those regular cars and neighbors. Don’t see something quite right, that’s when we need you most. There is no confrontation, contact, nothing. It’s a simple call to 210-335-6000 Option 2, or if emergency call 911. The next COP training is May 18, 2024. You will need to complete an application and have it approved by Bexar County Sherriff. Contact Stanley Smith, or email CHRNA to get the information needed to become a COP member. You can also track the crime in Crownwood and in our area by downloading the SpotCrime app. You can have it set up so you receive daily alerts of how the crime is doing. It is good to keep watch of what crimes are going on in our neighborhood, and what crimes are going on within a 1 plus mile radius of our neighborhood. 

The “Screwy Team” was also in attendance with Frank Vitale and Stanley Smith. They will come around to your home and replace those short 1/2” to 1” screws that are in your door strike plate, and replace them with a 3” screw. There was a video on Nextdoor that showed some man trying to break into a home (not in our neighborhood) and was taking a pry bar to it, and was not successful. There were kids that started screaming as well that I’m sure made the man leave. The point is, the long 3” screws go through to the actual frame of the home, and enforces the ability to break into your home. Contact Stanley Smith, Frank Vitale, or message CHRNA to get the contact information to get those screws replaced at no cost to you. We are a neighborhood watching out for each other. With that said, COP and the Screwy Team presented the “9 O’clock check”

9PM ROUTINE:

At 9PM each evening, do a security check & verify.

LOCK IT- car doors, residence doors & windows. 

TURN ON- keep exterior residence lights on or use motion detecting lights.

HIDE IT- hide or remove valuables from your vehicle.

REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY: 210 335-6000 or 911

Let's all do our part to keep Crownwood safe & crime free! 

Damian had asked when, or if we can have another COP Civil Action Patrol done in the neighborhood. That’s when various COP members from the community and Bexar County Sherriff come and do a training patrol of the neighborhood looking for general suspicious activity, and laws broken. At the end we gather and report what we saw. Crownwood has 2 things that we have or have done that are in the COP training program. We have various trail cameras up in the neighborhood watching things, like around mail boxes and entrances. We also have the gate that was put up a few years ago on Ridge Mile Dr. We had a lot of theft at one point going on around Ridge Mile Dr area. The trail cameras caught the people and items being taken from that little water way. With the help of the trail cameras and getting approval to put the gate up, we have had very little theft since. At least in that area, of items being stolen from homes. It is pretty rewarding to have your neighborhood in a big training program like COP. Please consider filing out an application and becoming a COP member. You don’t have to be a COP member to call in something suspicious. An attendee said a home on Serene Ridge near her was just sold, and has squatters in there. These are not reported specifically on the SpotCrime app, but all you need to do is call 210-335-6000 option 2, and report what you see. We don’t need things like this in our neighborhood. If you SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. When you call something in, ask for a case number. You never know when that may come in handy in the future. 

Damian Arocho read our calendar of events, and reminded attendees that if they have “C6, which is now Republic” we have a bulk trash day coming up May 6-10, and to have your bulk trash neatly stacked and bound by March 5th to guarantee pick up. Again this is for Republic trash customers only. *The Calendar of Events will be posted at the end of the meeting notes.  

Damian also presented and ended the evening of information with an update on our Community street project. Crownwood has fought for 4 years for the cement block that was placed at the lower Serene Ridge exit. As everyone has seen, it was removed and filled in with cement and white lines painted over it. There are signs and rumble strips warning that it is a Right Turn Only Lane now. There is also a 20 MPH blinking warning sign before the corner to slow down because of the danger of that entrance. Please pay attention to your signs, roads, and what is around you. Damian has mentioned to paint the lines yellow instead of white to bring more attention to the area. Bexar County will do it’s best to come back when Crestway is finished and do a few “Speed” audits. The speed of cars on Crestway has and will continue to increase with the new smooth road. Please be careful and follow the posted speed limit of 35 MPH. Please obey the signage for your safety and others. There are signs posted “Right turn only” onto Crestway, yet we see people making left turns all day off of lower Serene Ridge. There have been too many accidents at that intersection, one reason we fought to have something placed to restrict people from making left hand turns out onto Crestway. A few days after the cement block was removed, there was a death at the light intersection at Gibbs Sprawl and Crestway. Be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood. Get plate numbers and description of the car and call them in to 210-335-6000. It may be convenient to turn left, but it is risking you and other’s lives by not following the signs of the law. Please be careful and be vigilant when driving. 

Beverly Lee, former President, had made the comment that 4 years ago they asked what could be done help with protecting drivers at Lower Serene Ridge. She was given no real answer because there have been no deaths at that intersection, a light nor a stop sign could be placed there. The cement block was the solution to help protect drivers. If drivers follow speed limit signs and road signs of directions, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. The Project Manager that was on the Crestway project and our neighborhood road project from 4 years ago is the same Project Manager today. Between Damian and Beverly, they have submitted a lot of questions about Crestway and Crownwood roads up to today. The Project Manager has a lot of questions to answer. When we get them, we will present them as needed to keep everyone up to date. 

CROWNWOOD STREETS ARE GETTING DONE. Fear not, we are still on the books and money has not gone anywhere for our roads. We have been delayed for different reasons. The Crestway Road project is one reason our project is delayed. Some may have seen or heard that our money is going to Ventura. THAT IS NOT TRUE. That was a typo on the counties part, with a copy and paste information from page to page. The money for our roads is still allocated and paid to get our roads done for Crownwood. There are many different deadlines for things to happen for our roads to get done. This is a ROUGH timeline that has been given of Crownwood streets. Designs for our roads are to be presented and final by May. Bidding for roads is to start in June to July and the court is to approve by September. It is to take approximately 9 months to complete phase 1. SAWS will be coming is during construction to replace old water lines while construction is going on. That is all the information we have. As we get more information on time lines and completion of time lines we will update Crownwood at the meetings. 

Damian opened the meeting up for comments and questions. 

Beverly reminded residents to not plant things next to the sidewalks as we are getting 5 foot sidewalks put in when the road gets done, just like Crestway. Yes, our water meters and Google Fiber boxes will be moved during the road project. She also reminded residents that while the roads are being done, there will be no mail delivered where there is construction. The mail boxes will be laid down, and we will have to go pick up our mail at the Post Office located at 11119 Landmark 35 Dr, San Antonio 78233. That is located off of O’Conner Road and Randolph Blvd, near Dollar General on Randolph Blvd. The elderly and disabled can file for mail to be brought to their door. It is an application that will need to be filled out by your doctor to prove that you are not able to go pick up your mail from the Post Office. The question about the option for our driveways to be fully done during construction for a cost to the owner was asked. As of now, Damian has not been presented with that as an option, but he will address it to the project manager and bidders for the future plans. Some residents do not have actual curbs in front of their homes, and we will be getting actual curbs in the entire neighborhood. A resident asked if we could get more BCSO patrolling done in the neighborhood. Stanley said he would talk to the COP and BCSO, but that is also where we need more COP members in our neighborhood to help. Someone asked if we are contacting construction regularly. Damian is in contact with multiple people about our road project and safety. He is contacting them regularly with same and different questions, but we can only push so much, people aren’t listening or are just shutting us down. Damian is climbing the ladder and going to the top with questions. 

Someone asked about yards that are not kept up. Anyone can contact and turn in yards that have grass longer than 3 foot high to Bexar County Environmental. Take pictures and email them in with the address. We as a “board” have stopped walking around as much to “find” what’s wrong in the neighborhood. We as a board want the neighborhood to be involved as well. It doesn’t look good when just the “board” is taking care and calling in everything wrong. We want our neighborhood to be a friendly and close community that helps each other, and are there for each other. We don’t want it to be just another place to live. 

We had a 6 “pot of gold” door prizes that were given away. 

We had a motion to end the meeting at 8:05 PM by Karen Brown, and Stella McCoy seconded the motion with all in agreeance. 

Calendar of Events

* GENERAL MEETINGS

American Legion Post 593 in Converse, Texas from 6:30-8 PM

May 16 July 18 September 19 November 21

* BULK TRASH PICKUP: For Republic (formerly C-6) customers

May 6-10 Have your bulk and brush out by May 5 to guarantee pickup. 

*SENIOR LADIES COFFEE

For those who are 50+. Location to be announced via CHRNA E-News

April 18 June 20 August 15 October 17 December 19

* 50/50 RAFFLE SALES

The 3rd Saturday’s prior to the General meeting at Upper Serene Ridge Entrance.

April 27 May 4 May 11

* JUNE YARD OF THE MONTH CONTEST

Entry deadline: May 31 @ 5:00 PM