As I start my third year as LNA president I wanted to take this time to highlight various successes and challenges from the past, plus share with you a few neighborhood goals for 2008.

First and foremost: My continued thanks to all the wonderful volunteers, fellow board members, block captains, crime watch and LNA members. Without your support, I would not be very effective!

Looking back, one of the most significant changes involved Lakewood Life, our monthly newsletter. From the beginning, it was a priority to ensure that we publish ten issues each year.......and it was no small task by not having an editor for most of the last two years! As the temporary editor, I developed a deep respect for all newsletter editors everywhere, and particularly editors of community newsletters! And I'm thrilled to hand the reigns over to our new editor, Elizabeth Hogue.

Our newsletter is the central means to communicate to our neighborhood. In 2006 I realized that many Lakewood residents were not receiving the newsletter on a regular basis, if at all. In fact, some of you were unaware that there was a monthly newsletter! For many years Lakewood Life was hand delivered to your front door. After much research I decided it was time to mail the newsletter to all residents. It costs approx $1,800 per month using bulk mail - which does not guarantee prompt delivery. Feed back from residents have been positive and your personalized mailing label reminds you of your membership status each month. Please review your mailing label and let us know if the information is incorrect . . . . and considering joining LNA if your membership is past due! For now, e-mailing the newsletter is not a viable option because less than one third of the residents are LNA members.

Imagine what our neighborhood can look like if we had 1,000 LNA members - which is only one third of our household count! With the measured success and added safety of our already accomplished crime watch program, imagine if we had the means to hire our police officers 24x7. Membership is growing but there are still many residents that I hope will consider joining LNA and Crime Watch this year.

Our beautification efforts have been on the rise. We continue to raise funds primarily with a series of Charity LNA Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournaments (to date we have raised a net total of $24,000 towards this effort). Membership dues help to pay for the monthly landscape maintenance - which costs us approx $1,750 per month.

As a result of the Whole Foods discussions, a variety of neighborhood traffic issues have been highlighted and I hope to continue the momentum to identify areas we may be able to improve.

Lakewood Goes Green is a way for us to create awareness on how to think greener and our April 8th general meeting will showcase a panel of speakers on a variety of greener living.

And I hope that we can finally publish a 2008 neighborhood directory!

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