President's Message

By Mike Anderson

I'd like to start by recognizing our outgoing board members for their leadership and friendship throughout the past years. Please join me in thanking Karen Willis (President), Ashley Samuelson (Social), and Sandy Carlson (Treasurer) for volunteering their time and energy for the benefit of our neighborhood. We should also extend our thanks to the many volunteers who have served our community in the past - and who continue to do so. As the newly elected president of the civic association, I'm excited for 2010. We welcome Laura Turner (Secretary), Barbara Balentine (Treasurer), Brian Miller (Vice President), and

Murali Varadarajan (Webmaster and Directory) to the team.

We are committed to being good stewards with your funds. To reduce costs, the annual directory will be limited to a supplemental insert this year, with a full publishing in 2011. We considered an electronic version only, but we realize there are many that do not have email. We'll focus a lot of our energy in 2010 on communication, and beautification and lighting for the common areas. Unfortunately, without a social chair, our social events may be limited.

The board welcomes your feedback and suggestions. Please visit the website and call or email us.

Hello neighbors!  Aren't you glad that it is spring?  When the sun starts to shine and the weather gets warmer it always seems to make me smile!  Mountainbrook has a lot to look forward to this year with a new playground and lots of great events and initiatives.  Just the other day, my daughter and I went to the park in the afternoon.  I was delighted to see the area full of kids and families enjoying the weather and the new playground!  It's amazing to see that one improvement can bring so much to so many people!  I hope that we can continue to work with the Anne Heinig Park Board to continue improvements to our beautiful park!  Thank you to all who were involved in bringing this project to fruition.  Keep in mind we are still selling bricks for Phase 2.  See our website for more information.  www.mbcivic.com

 

Our board met the first week of March and discussed our priorities for the year.  Guided by our Mission and Vision we outlined our priorities to include planning for Beautification Projects, increasing our volunteer pool, planning for advertising income, and continuing with our communication efforts to all of you, the Garden Club, the Park Board, and the Swim and Tennis Club. 

 

As I stated, one of our goals this year is to increase our volunteer pool.  If you happen to find yourself with some extra time on your hands this year and need a break from the day to day, why not volunteer some time here in your neighborhood.  We have a need for all types of skills.  Maybe you could help deliver directories/newsletters, write an article, do some legal research, help with beautification efforts, participate in the yard sale, hang signs, volunteer for social events, there are lots of opportunities!  Interested?  Please contact me.

 

We are excited to welcome our new co-board members Elizabeth and Sandy McGregor who will be heading up our Safety committee.  We know this has been a hot topic this past year and Elizabeth and Sandy have a lot of great ideas and plans to "keep everyone in the loop".

We would also like to extend a warm welcome to Sandra Moore who has joined our newsletter committee.  Sandra negotiated our exciting new deal with our corporate sponsor, Nova Office Solutions.  She will continue to interview neighbors and write interesting news pieces for our newsletter.

 

A special thank you goes out to Bill Martin, Camille Coers, Glen Drysdale and Jennifer Carwile who have left our board this year.  We have truly appreciated their time and commitment to our neighborhood.  Bill has generously served our board for a number of years in different roles and Glen was our past Safety chairperson.  Although Camille is leaving our board, she will continue to work on Mountainbrook beautification efforts?Thanks Camille!  We wish Jennifer much success as she moves back to Louisiana in the fall. 

 

Lastly, this past month, as the president of our Civic Association, I was invited to a movie premier hosted by "Crossroads Charlotte". The goal of Crossroads Charlotte is "to choose and pursue a future for Charlotte, not just arrive in one."  The movie was thought provoking and inspiring and a very collaborative dialogue followed. What do we as a neighborhood and individuals offer to our city?  Take a moment to check out Crossroads Charlotte and see what it's all about.  www.crossroadscharlotte.org

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter and we look forward to hearing from you soon! 

 

Karen Willis

President, Mountainbrook Civic Association

 

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Anthropologist, Margaret Mead

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Dear Neighbors,

 

As our summer begins and we never seem to have enough time, we wanted to give you an update from the Moutainbrook Civic Board.

 

First, thanks to all who attended the Anne Heinig Park informational meeting on April 27^th and to those who provided feedback via the park survey.  Your opinions were greatly appreciated!

 

The Civic Association Board, after reviewing all of the feedback, have voted to pursue a fundraising initiative to support new playground equipment and park maintenance.

 

We will continue to work with the board members of the Mountainbrook Club and the Anne Heinig Foundation for an equitable solution that meets the current and ongoing needs of the park without the YMCA Soccer Program.

 

In the coming days, volunteers will be reaching out for your support of our fundraising goal.  Your support is needed either through the Buy A Brick program (http://www.mbcivic.com/playground) or other cash donations. More details to come at www.MBCivic.com.

 

Lastly, we would like to inform you of the resignation of our president Kim Millican.  Thank you Kim for your time and commitment to our Mountainbrook community these last few months.  You have been a great asset to our Neighborhood, and you will be greatly missed on the board!

 

Sincerely,

Karen Willis

President, Mountainbrook Civic Association

 

 

 April 2008

 

Dear Mountainbrook neighbors,

 

My name is Kim Millican, and I am the president of the Mountainbrook Civic Association.  By now, you may have heard about the recent proposal from the Harris YMCA to lease Anne Heinig Memorial Park for its youth soccer program.  There's a lot of talk and rumor swirling around this issue, so I wanted to share some background and bring you up to speed.  

Background

Currently the Mountainbrook Club (the organization that oversees the swimming pool and tennis courts) is maintaining the park grounds including grass cutting and other maintenance items, and is also maintaining the liability insurance for the park.  This arrangement is the result of an agreement with the Heinig Foundation in return for an easement that was set years ago.  This is a costly financial obligation.  Everyone agrees that the park is a wonderful asset to the Mountainbrook community, but it needs help.  The field is in tough shape and the playground equipment desperately needs repair and/or replacement.

The YMCA Proposal

The Harris YMCA sent a proposal to the Heinig board to rent the field for its youth soccer program for four months per year -from mid-March to mid-May in the spring, and mid-August to mid-October in the fall during the hours between 4:30 and 7:30 pm Monday through Friday.  The original proposal was a 10-year contract term.  In return, the YMCA would provide an "in kind" donation for some new playground equipment and would take over the maintenance of the park as well as the liability insurance.   The Heinig board did not want to enter into such a long term agreement without understanding exactly how it would impact our neighborhood.  The proposal was renegotiated with the YMCA for a trial period of one year.  The thinking was that this would allow us to assess the impacts and make an informed decision when the trial was over.   The agreement would come with a yearly rental fee of a $3,000.00, as well as maintenance and liability coverage.   The Heinig board voted to move ahead with this proposal. 

Current Status

However, as word spread through the community, many residents have voiced their opinions both in support and in objection.   Based on this feedback the Civic Association board asked the Heinig board to table the one-year trial to ensure we had more time to share the facts and take the collective input of residents of the neighborhood and members of the Mountainbrook Club.  The Heinig board has graciously agreed to table the proposal for a reasonable period of time.

Next Steps

At this time, the Civic Association board will hold an open forum for Civic Association members on April 27 from 7-9 pm to obtain input more effectively.  Please rest assured that all of us the boards of the Civic Association, the Mountainbrook Club and the Heinig Foundation want to make a decision that most benefits our community and improves our quality of life.  There may be some disagreement right now on which path to take, but we will work through it together.  Thank you for your continued input and support. 

 

Sincerely,

Kim Millican

Mountainbrook Civic Board President