GREENVILLE - BELMONT - HENDERSON - CENTRAL - GOODWIN

P.O. BOX 720192 DALLAS, TEXAS 75372 VOICE MAIL: (214) 967-5134 WWW.VPNA.ORG

Happy New Year!

HELP PLANT TREES AT GOODWIN PARK
VPNA's long planned park for the intersection of Goodwin and Central is beginning to become a reality. On Saturday, February 2^nd, 48 new trees will be planted on the two parcels of land that will make up the park. The trees will be furnished by the City of Dallas' Urban Reforestation Program. This is the same program that furnished trees for last year's project on Belmont. Twenty-eight Bald Cypress and 20 Magnolias will be planted. VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED! Contact VPNA voicemail (214-967-5134) or the website (www.vpna.org) and sign up, or call Project Chairman Morris Smart at 214-350-8757.

The tree planting will be just the first phase of the plan designed by the University of Texas Arlington's Landscape Architecture Department. Shrubbery and groundcover will be added in the future. Plans are being developed for an irrigation system and a marker on the northeast corner to identify Vickery Place.

Come One, Come All!

To the VPNA "Open House"

January 10, 2002

Time: 7:00 pm

Place: Vickery Towers at

Belmont and Greenville

The January Monthly Meeting will be an open forum for everyone to come and express their wants, needs, and desires for the neighborhood association in 2002. The purpose of VPNA is to represent everyone in the neighborhood, and we need to make sure that we are representing everyone in the neighborhood. What are the hot button issues in the neighborhood? What do you think the neighborhood association should be working on? What kind of programming should we be planning for this year? What are your long-term goals for the neighborhood? Crime prevention, code enforcement, alley repairs, school improvement, traffic problems, neighborhood preservation? We need to know. We need you. The meeting will start with a brief overview of our current activities and 2002 programming that is already planned. We will then break up into small "interest" groups for the rest of the night—your opportunity to meet with VPNA officers, board members, and committee chairpersons and get involved. So whether your are a homeowner or a renter, an old resident or new, a young person or old, come one, come all!

HENDERSON AVENUE PROBLEMS DISCUSSED

In recent weeks, members of the VPNA Planning and Urban Design Committee have met with their counterparts from the Cochran Heights NA and with business owners from Henderson Avenue to discuss traffic, noise and crime issues.The growth of the commercial district on Henderson from Central to Homer has created an overflow of traffic and parking problems into the surrounding residential blocks.

Residents of Cochran Heights, on the south side of Henderson, have suffered from late night crime and noise problems brought about by bar patrons walking and driving on the blocks just off of Henderson. In VP, the area around Willis, Richard, Miller and Homer has become a parking area for bar and restaurant patrons as well. More restaurants and bars are in the planning stage for Henderson, prompting the meetings with business owners. Additionally, representatives of Police and Public Works Departments have attended some of the meetings. The City is currently conducting a parking study in the area to identify the parking available for each business. Other measures are being implemented in an attempt to avoid more problems.

A discussion of this issue will be a part of the January VPNA meeting. Please plan to attend and participate.

CRIME STATISTICS

All listed are for 2001 unless otherwise indicated. If you are a victim of a crime, or witness a potential crime or suspicious activity, call 911, no matter how small, or seemingly insignificant. Let the police determine the level of severity or importance. The amount of police patrol in our area is directly related to the volume of 911 calls from our neighborhood.

Crime Date Time Address Rape 10/10/01 12:00 Withheld Burglary 10/11/01 0:00 55xx Richard Ave Theft 10/19/01 23:00 55xx Vickery Ave Vandal 10/9/01 4:45 55xx Belmont Ave Vandal 10/17/01 16:00 56xx Belmont Ave Tel Harassment 10/4/01 11:00 55xx Miller Ave Burglary 10/1/01 2:45 28xx Greenville Theft 10/19/01 15:00 56xx Goodwin Ave Auto Theft 10/27/01 1:00 56xx Goodwin Ave Auto Theft 10/5/01 23:55 55xx Vickery Blvd Assault 10/8/01 2:06 28xx Greenville Ave Assault 10/8/01 2:06 28xx Greenville Ave Assault 10/8/01 2:06 28xx Greenville Ave Vandal 10/4/01 20:05 28xx Greenville

Burglary 10/18/01 8:30 54xx Vickery Blvd Theft 9/28/01 22:00 51xx Goodwin Ave Burglary 7/30/01 12:00 54xx Goodwin Ave Theft 7/8/01 21:00 55xx Goodwin Ave Theft 7/5/01 23:30 56xx Goodwin Ave Assault 7/26/01 1:00 28xx Greenville Ave Assault 10/22/01 19:35 53xx Belmont Ave Assault 10/5/01 2:25 28xx N Henderson Assault 10/12/01 1:40 54xx Willis Ave Burglary 10/4/01 5:40 28xx N Henderson Burglary 10/15/01 5:30 28xx N Henderson Burglary 10/17/01 1:30 29xx N Henderson Burglary 10/24/01 4:15 29xx N Henderson Burglary 10/30/01 4:06 29xx N Henderson Theft 10/28/01 19:45 52xx Bonita Theft 10/4/01 21:25 28xx N Henderson Theft 10/13/01 9:00 28xx N Henderson Theft 10/10/01 21:00 25xx Madera St Auto Theft 10/29/01 11:45 54xx Belmont Ave Auto Theft 10/25/01 4:45 54xx Miller Ave Assault 10/3/01 1:30 28xx N Henderson Assault 10/28/01 7:00 54xx Richard Ave Assault 10/7/01 0:05 51xx Willis Ave Fraud 10/1/01 2:59 53xx Miller Ave Vandal 10/12/01 23:30 53xx Belmont Ave Vandal 10/14/01 2:00 29xx N Henderson Vandal 10/2/01 22:00 51xx Miller Ave

We are looking for a newsletter carrier for the 5300 and 5400 block of Belmont. If you are interested, please call 214-967-5134 and leave a message.

BERRY MOCHA FUDGE

1/4 lb. Butter

12 oz. can of evaporated milk

3 1/2 Cups of sugar

1 heaping tablespoon of INSTANT COFFEE

10 oz. Hershey's Raspberry chocolate chips

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

7 oz. Marshmallow cream

1 tsp. vanilla

In a heavy saucepan melt the butter. Add evaporated milk, sugar, and coffee. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 235 degrees. Remove from heat and and raspberry chocolate chips and the bittersweet chocolate. Stir the mixture until all ingredients are melted. Add the marshmallow crème and stir until blended. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into a lightly greased 9 X 13 inch pan. Cut in bite sized squared when cooled.

Recipe from http://www.merry-christmas.com

KROGER CARES PROGRAM

Vickery Place receives funds every time you use your Kroger Cares Card. With the introduction of Kroger's Shopping Card you need to give the checker both cards.

The amount received by VPNA is based on a sliding scale. The more we spend, the more we receive. This is a painless way to help your neighborhood.

Cut along dotted lines

During the third quarter of 2001, the people using the Vickery Place Kroger Cares card bought in more than $16,000 dollars.

Please use your cards. If you do not have one, cut out the scanned coupon above, call 214.967.5134 or send an e-mail to VPNA.org. Thanks for your support!

MESSAGE FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT

Welcome to 2002 and a new year in Vickery Place. My name is Tim Oliver, and I have the responsibility of leading the neighborhood association for the next year. It is a big job, and 2001 will be a tough act to follow. Last year was another great year that included a wildly successful National Night Out, our 5th Annual Home Tour, the completion of the Belmont Avenue Trees project, a monthly newsletter that continues to get better and better, significant progress on code enforcement issues, the Goodwin Avenue Park, and conservation protection for the neighborhood. Whenever you have the chance, please thank those people that have worked so hard to make these activities a success. I would especially like to thank our outgoing president, Leah Holly; departing longtime board members Daron Tapscott and Beth Timpson-Clark; and our departing newsletter editor, Matt Simons; for all of their hard work over the last year. Luckily for us, they all still plan to be actively involved in neighborhood activities.

2002 looks to be a challenging and exciting year. We have a successful newsletter, National Night Out celebration, and Home Tour that will continue this year. But although we have made significant progress on code enforcement, urban design, and conservation issues in the last year, there is still much work to be done. New issues arise every month regarding the development of Henderson Avenue, Lower Greenville, and Lowest Greenville. And despite our progress and success in the categories highlighted above, we have made little or no progress in the areas of crime prevention or school improvement. Crime rates in the neighborhood continue to rise, and Bonham Elementary continues to be a low performing school. Did you note in the crime statistics that there was a murder just south of Henderson Avenue last year? These facts worry me, and I hope that they worry you too.

To continue improving, we will need your brains and your brawn. Are the issues highlighted above important to you? Should we be working on other things? I need to hear from you. One opportunity will be the monthly meeting in January. If you can't make it, please call the VPNA voicemail or send a message via the VPNA email address. Are you interested in getting involved? Did you make a New Year's resolution to do more for the neighborhood? We always need more volunteers. The VPNA isn't a secret club: everyone in the neighborhood is already a member!

I hope to see you or hear from you soon.

Tim Oliver

VPNA President

TODD McCAVIT Treasurer

Todd and his wife, Laura, moved to Miller Ave. three years ago. Their home was featured on home tour this past October. CPA by profession, Todd has agreed to serve as treasurer for VPNA. He lists Crime Watch, Code Compliance and Beautification as priorities.

(Meet the Board continues on next page)

MEET THE BOARD

CANDY HEARN Vice President

Candy and her husband, Richard, moved to Vickery Boulevard in 2000. Upon moving to Vickery Place Candy immediately became involved in the neighborhood association and has been active in selling advertising and getting prize and food donations for National Night Out. Priorities for 2002 include Code Compliance, especially bulky trash, and Beautification of the neighborhood

SHELIA HUFFMAN Secretary

Shelia moved to Vickery Place in 1990 and lives on Richard Avenue. She has served as board member at large for three years, block captain for crime watch in 91 and 92 and secretary in 1992. She has been active in home tour since it's inception three years ago and has served on the history committee. She lists Conservation, Home Tour and Alley Clean Up among her priorities.

2002 Board from top left to bottom right - Sunnie Potter, Jennifer Bryarly, Todd McCavit, Amy Brillhart, Leah Holly, Candy Hearn and Shelia Huffman. (Not pictured - Kelly Jennings and Tim Oliver.)

VPNA CODE COMPLIANCE UPDATE

The VPNA Code Compliance Committee invites you to attend VPNA's January General Meeting and hear Scott Newlan, District Manager of the City of Dallas' Code Compliance Services for the VPNA area.

Mr. Newland will address the status of VPNA's partnership with the City, or the "Top Ten", as well as general code and animal control issues.

The Code Commitee is also looking for new members. Code Committee members meet once a month, on the Thursday of the week following each VPNA General Meeting to discuss Code, Building Inspection, and Animal Control issues.

To join the committee, or for answers on general code issues, please call the VPNA info line or e-mail code@vpna.org.

MEET THE BOARD (cont.)

BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE

AMY BRILLHART

Amy and her husband, Burton, moved to Richard Ave in June of 2000. Amy has worked on the Code Compliance Committee and includes Code Compliance, Beautification of the Neighborhood and increasing the visibility of Vickery Place within the community as some top areas of interest.

JENNIFER BRYARLY

Jennifer and her husband. Matt, moved to Vickery Place in October of 2000 and live on Vickery Blvd. Jennifer has agreed to use her journalistic skills and take on the task of editor of the VP newsletter. Additionally, home tour and code compliance are some of Jennifer's priorities.

SUNNIE POTTER

Sunnie and her husband, David, live on Richard Ave. They moved to Vickery Place in December of 1999. Sunnie has been active on the Code Compliance Committee and says that along with code compliance, she considers crime watch, beautification and animal control important issues for the neighborhood.

LEAH HOLLY

A long time resident of East Dallas, Leah moved to Richard Ave. in 1993. Currently President of VPNA. Leah's hard work and efforts helped make last August's National Night Out a huge success. Crime Watch and Traffic and Urban Planning are some of her priorities for 2002.

KELLY JENNINGS

Kelly moved to Miller Avenue in March of 1999. Code Compliance, Crime Watch and Conservation are important neighborhood issues to Kelly.

BULKY TRASH SCHEDULE

Happy New Year to all of the residents of VPNA.

I wanted to remind each of you the bulky trash schedule for the upcoming year. Bulky Trash week begins the second Monday of each month.

Please DO NOT place bulky trash out until the designated week. Let's all stick to the schedule in order to keep our neighborhood looking beautiful, and to avoid citations from the city. It might help to cut out the 2002 VPNA Bulky Trash Schedule below and post it in a convenient location, such as on the refrigerator or by the phone.

The week of:

January 14 April 8 July 8 October 14

February 11 May 13 August 12 Novermeber 11

March 11 June 10 September 9 December 9

YARDS OF THE MONTH

Even though it's January, I wanted to mention a couple of homes that displayed some lovely traditional and slightly bizarre holiday decorations.

First, the more traditional and lovely decorations at 5601Miller, the home of the Wilcox family. They've lived in this prairie-style home, built in 1912 for 10 years. They had large, lighted wreaths on each upper floor window and on each column on the lower floor, a total of 20! They also swagged multi-colored lights over the railing and around the house.

You may remember seeing this house last year when Mr. Wilcox was rebuilding the massive wrap-around porch. It is stunning.

The next winner solidifies why I love this neighborhood so much. You can find so much diversity in just a few blocks and 5527 Richard Ave the giant spider web of lights, well he has taken Christmas decorating to a new level (or dimension). I'll do my best to explain it.

Picture 200 strands or 20,000 lights all placed in very untraditional ways. He has a dead tree in the yard that's been hollowed out and stuffed with a thousand lights. More than 5,000 lights swoop from the tree to the house and another 6,000 sweeping through the porch. Four peely-paint windowpanes make up a unusual nativity-type shelter, which he stuffed with lights.

My favorite, which is now Daryle's signature, are the thousands of lights that spill from the roof to the ground, and half of them are not completely out of the packaging. Weird in the daylight but totally cool at night.

Enjoy your neighborhood. Get out and meet people. We have the privilege of living in one of the greatest areas. Get out there and discover it for yourself.

Happy Gardening,

Sandi

2002 Board of Directors

Tim Oliver President

Candy Hearne Vice President

Shelia Huffman Secretary

Todd McCavit Treasurer

Board Members at Large

Amy Brillhart

Jennifer Bryarly

Sunny Potter

Leah Holly

Kelly Jennings

The Vickery Place Neighborhood News is published by the Vickery Place Neighborhood Association.

For advertising rates and information, call the VPNA voice mail at

214-967-5134.

5601 Miller

5527 Richard Ave.