Volume
I Issue III
Embarking
on a Journey Together
In this Issue:
Neighborhood Watch,
Avalon Real Estate, Expecting the Unexpected, Social Neighborhoods, Yard
of the Month
(Any Neighbor can
contribute by sending their article to Publishing@apgazette.com for
consideration)
Neighborhood Watch: This Past Month
written by Eddy Solon,
Lic. Real Estate Agent, Keller Williams Realty
Northwest Village
Welcome
neighbors. Since last issue, we discussed the transition that is
taking place in our neighborhood watch program. We have found ourselves
back in the forming stages and are excited to continue the great work of
building our community together as committed stakeholders. In the
following issue, we will discuss a summary of incidents for the Month of
October, update on the transition of the program, and Neighborhood Watch
basics. Before giving the October statistics, we must understand
as an active community that these statistics/ information are here to help us
proactively engage in the safety of our community and not foster a sense of
danger/ insecurity. Comparatively, Avalon Park is one of the safest
places to live, so as we discuss safety in Avalon Park always keep this in
mind. It is certainly OK that some may not be able to receive
periodic updates because it may adversely affect their perspective, but for
others, I would encourage you to use the information to engage your neighbors
and build community. It's statistically proven that communities
with involved neighbors have significantly lower crime.
October Statistics
Number
|
Incident
Reported
|
Disposition
by Off duties/ Update
|
1
|
older male riding bikes talking to
small children and purchasing beer and tobacco for minors ive wittnessed this
sevral accations
|
Validating report
|
2
|
Be on the lookup for
counterfeit bills. I had a lady come to my yard sale yesterday and bought
$17.00 worth of items and received change back for a counterfeit $50.00. I
worked for a vault for 6 years and I am very aware of what a counterfeit is just
by looking at it. Unfortunately my sister wasn’t and by the time she had me
look at it the lady had already drove off. She was driving a black Chevy
Suburban and she had her 8-9 year old son with her. She bought alot of
toddler clothes. Lesson learned for us....so unfair
|
General Notice
|
3
|
Saturday evening, Oct. 13, between
8:00 and 11:30 pm, someone broke into our backdoor using a crow bar and stole
cash and jewelry.
|
Currently being Investigated by Orange County Sheriff Office
|
4
|
Burglary on Three Rivers Dr.
Allegedly two men were in a standoff with police and ultimately
surrendered
|
Confirming Accuracy of
Report
|
5
|
Bicyclist Fatally wounded struck
by vehicle on Avalon Park Blvd
|
Notice, Drive no more then
25 MPH within AP, Currently being investigated
|
6
|
Our car has been
broken into 2 times, most recent was last night. They got away with a camera,
binoculars and a gold necklace (sweet 16 pendant on it, and the chain was
broken). car was parked right in the driveway.
|
|
This month and every
month after, we will report a summary of incidents and any updates from our off
duties in a table like above.
As we move forward,
there are several opportunities for residents to get engaged in our award
winning program. We continue to have Five Key opportunities:
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator working under the NW board, Social Media
Coordinator, Events Coordinator, Village Coordinators and Block
Captains. For the Social Media Coordinator, Events
Coordinator, Village Coordinator and Block captains there are very little
effort needed on your part except to be the point person to forward emails to
your neighbors. You are simply keeping your neighbors informed, however
for the Neighborhood Watch Coordinator, it will require a bit more time
coordinating quarterly meetings and strategically posturing our organization to
successfully reach the safety needs of our community.
We have had several
interest in the Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Position, however only one so
far that has confirmed their intent to be a candidate.
Brian Jones is the
block captain for strawberry tree lane/three rivers and also is the coordinator
for village 4. He's been an Avalon resident since 2006, became a home
owner in 2007 on Silver River Trail, moved to carriage lake drive in 2009 and
recently moved/purchase a home on Strawberry Tree lane in September 2011.
My family and career are his drivers. He love spending time with his
family around the house visiting with neighbors. He's a district manager
with Public Storage and have been employed their since 2009. Before that
he was an area manager with Enterprise Rent A Car for 15 years. His
involvement with NW started recently as he stated "I truly love my
community and wanted to help the neighborhood and Avalon Park
residents." He is happy to help the team and if that is being
the overall coordinator or village 4 coordinator, he is up for either
challenge. He has extensive experience with management and safety.
Interested in getting
to know more about Brian, please email brianj4u2@gmail.com
If you are interested
in being a candidate, please send it by October 31, 2012 to Thesolonfamily@yahoo.com
The Neighborhood Watch Coordinator will begin his/ her activities in January
2013. Voting by neighbors will take place December 6 should there
be more then 1 candidate. All other opportunities are filled immediately
when requested. Please do not forget to forward this newsletter to your
neighbors.
So what do you do when
you see something suspicious? First, you contact the non emergency like
at 407-836-help or 911 if needed. Secondly, you submit an online incident
report so neighbors who live in your area can be notified. You can
submit an online incident report at
http://www.avalonparkwatch.org/incident_report.htm Please only monitor
and report suspicious activity....Do not engage any criminals or suspicious individuals.
Once the new Neighborhood Watch coordinator is in place, he/she will
coordinate the distribution of incident reports on a daily basis to
coordinators, whom will forward it to their block captains and then the
neighbors. The new Neighborhood Watch coordinator will actively build
the distribution network so neighbors will have immediate awareness.
Until filled, the only Neighborhood Watch updates the community will receive is
through the monthly article in this gazette
Have a safety concern?
feel free to email our off duty deputies Sal.Saldano@ocfl.net
He is very responsive! What does off duty mean? It really does not
mean they are completely off duty. They are hired by funds set aside by
our HOA dues, on their off duty hours, to help secure the safety of our Avalon
Park community. We have 4, and Sal is the primary coordinator.
The Pulse of the
Market: The Steady Climb
written by
Brenda Kolbrich, Remax Avalon Park, Village Two
brenda@TopOrlandoHomes.com
The market continues to
be strong and prices continue to gradually climb especially for
Townhomes. As of September 20 there were seventeen active properties for
sale in Avalon Park. There are over 3800 properties in Avalon so this is
a very low inventory of homes. We have less than one month “absorption”
rate here in Avalon Park. This means it would take one month to sell all
of the homes for sale in Avalon. When a home comes on the market, if
priced correctly and shows well, there are usually multiple offers and the
offers are often over the asking price.
From September 1 to
September 20 there are sixty pending properties (many are short sales waiting
to close) and nine properties have Sold and closed in this same time
period. New guidelines have come out for short sales which are very good
for the sellers.
Expecting the
Unexpected: One Neighbor's Story
Submitted by Stephanie
Hodson, South Village
stephanie@avalonparkgroup.com
Brielle is the 2 year
old daughter of Derrick and Jarrin Warren, who both live and teach in the
Avalon Park Community! They have three beautiful daughters (6, 4 and 2yrs of
age) and on April 5, 2012 their lives were changed forever! Their
youngest daughter Brielle, 2 yrs old, was diagnosed with a Leukodystrophy
called Alexander Disease.
Alexander disease is a
very rare disorder that slowly progresses and is a neurodegenerative disease
that is potentially fatal. It mostly affects infants and children causing
developmental delays and changes in physical characteristics. In some
cases it will also cause hydrocephalus (abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal
fluid and cause pressure in the skull) and dementia (a serious loss of global
cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person). Alexander Disease
has no cure or standard procedure taken for treatment. The prognosis is
poor and with early onset, death usually occurs within 10 years after the onset
of symptoms. Alexander Disease is so rare that there have only been
approximately 500 reported cases since 1947. Addtionally, there is only one
researcher in the United States, at the University of Wisconsin, that is solely
working on this particular Leukodystrophy, (which there are 30+ other types
than Alexander’s)!
The weekend of January
14, 2012 Brielle started losing her balance which prompted her parents to
contact her pediatrician, who referred them to a pediatric orthopedic, who then
referred them to a pediatric neurologist, who immediately sent them to Arnold
Palmer Children’s Hospital for testing; all in a one week time frame!
As of now there is no
funding (that the family can find) and there are no clinical trials for
Alexander Disease. With a referral from the United Leukodystrophy Foundation,
the Warren’s continued researching and found a facility in Maryland, The
Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) that agreed to accept Brielle as a patient.
There is a Neurogenticist team there that specializes in Alexander Disease.
Brielle and her parents flew to Maryland immediately and will need to fly back
and forth every 3-5 months +/- depending on how Brielle is doing. With
the numerous doctor visits and flights to the Institute, this is going to be a
very expensive disease to fight for the rest of The Warren’s/Brielle’s life!
In an effort to raise
money for the family, future awareness, research and hopefully one day to find
a cure, Avalon Middle School along with The Avalon Community is joining
Brielle’s Brigade and hosting a family 5K walk/run November 10, 2012 at 8:00am
(registration at 7:00am).
To Register, please
contact Stephanie Hodson at stephanie@avalonparkgroup.com.
We would like to thank
everyone in advance for participating in this event. Your support and
generosity will not go unnoticed!
Social Media: Using
Social Media to Keep Your Family Tuned In
written by Marisa
Ramiccio, Insight Magazine
In the old days, when
people wanted to sell something, advertise an event or just find out what’s
going on in their neighborhood, they would turn to the classifieds section of
the newspaper or read the fliers nailed to the nearest lamppost. But times
have changed, and social media has become the main source of this type of
information. Knowing this, many communities, including Avalon Park, have begun
to use social media as a means of sharing important information with neighbors
and friends. “We have found that the Facebook and Twitter accounts for
Avalon Park have been very effective in communicating events, news and specials
to the residents,” says Stephanie Hodson, the marketing director for Avalon
Park Group who is in charge of the Avalon Park social media pages. “We also
have a free app for Downtown Avalon Park that helps with that as well.”
Hodson says the Avalon
Park Facebook page is used for marketing, spreading the word about special
events and getting last-minute information out as quickly as possible. The page
was created two years ago and already has grown to 5,000 likes. “Of
course, that’s not all of us in Avalon Park, but that’s a pretty significant
number,” says Hodson. Avalon Park is also tuned into Twitter, which gives
the community an additional source of info as well as an additional audience.
“Some bigger pages
will retweet our stuff and that helps us bring in traffic,” Hodson adds.
To gain their own
audience, certain organizations in Avalon Park, such as the Kiwanis Club, have
also set up Facebook pages to introduce themselves to the community and promote
their activities. According to Jennifer Englert, president of the Kiwanis Club,
members use their page to communicate with one another and share information
with the community. The Avalon Park Garden Club also has a Facebook page,
which members use to share information with each other and promote the work of
their volunteers. “For anybody who volunteers, it’s a great way to post
and thank them for what they’ve done,” says Lauren Schonk, president of the
Garden Club.
Schonk says the club
originally had its own website, but since members had to login and keep track
of their password, the site didn’t get used very often. She says that, so far,
having a Facebook page has been a good experience for the club. Through the
page, they can promote the club in a positive way and have even had a group of
high school students volunteer their time. Unfortunately, people don’t
always use social media in a positive way and this has led to the closing of
some Facebook pages, including the Neighborhood Watch page. The Avalon Park
Neighborhood watch was created in 2008 with the mission of providing safety and
safety education through a network of neighbors. To expand its efforts,
the Neighborhood Watch set up a Facebook page, but quickly abandoned it after
several problems arose.
“Our commitment to the
mission statement began to be compromised, ‘to positively promote the safety of
Avalon Park,’” says Eddy Solon, the Neighborhood Watch coordinator. “Negative
comments and neighbors’ disputes appeared frequently, which required some time
in editing [and] administration.” As a result, the page was shut down.
Solon says that
paranoia became a problem because some residents would see incident reports
online and take that to mean the community isn’t safe. Because communication
was based online, some residents wouldn’t get to know the block captains or
they would post irrelevant information on the site, more reasons that
contributed to the downfall of the Facebook page.
But one bad experience
didn’t hold the Neighborhood Watch back. The club currently operates a gazette
on apgazette.com, where residents share
information and discuss community issues.
AP Gazette
Opportunities
As a new and growing
newsletter, we have many opportunities for neighbors to contribute and
volunteer their writing talents/ time to help build community. Below are
several positions still needing to be filled:
1. Reviewers- to
Review final submittal of newsletters prior to publishing
2. Political
Contributor- To introduce community and discuss activities of our Board,
commissioners, orange county, and POA, and keep neighbors informed of upcoming
important dates to remember
3. Education
Contributor- An article written by an Educator in one of Avalon
Park's school. Topics may be anything to do with Education and teacher,
student, and parent awareness. This will be a good place to highlight top
achievers in our school (teachers and students).
4. Sports
Contributor- To discuss Avalon Sports, anything from little league and
up
To be able to participate,
you must be an Avalon Park resident, if writing, submit an article prior to 3rd
Thursday of the Month 12 pm, and send your interest and brief description of
your background to Publishing@apgazette.com Keep in mind, any
neighbor can submit an article.
