Editor: Candy Helber Advisor: Isabel Shaffer

For those great chili chefs among us, put on your apron and start cooking. Bring a pot of chili to be judged and shared with your neighbors. This is our first chili cook-off and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of volunteers taking on the hard task of eating and judging. Mark your calendars for Saturday October 27th to relax, meet your neighbors, or renew old friendships. Our 10th annual cookout is here. The menu will be grilled hot dogs, beans, salad, chips and drinks

provided by the Pride Civic Association. New this year will be a chili contest. Anyone who has attended our past cookouts will agree it is a wonderful 2 hours of fun. Games will be provided for the children and of course the big hit will be door prizes. Please bring a chair, a dessert or side dish to be shared and most importantly yourself, family and neighbors. If you are new to our neighborhood, please come and allow us to welcome you and

introduce you to some of your neighbors. Hope to see everyone Saturday, October 27th from 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. at 1369 Irving Avenue.

Special points of interest:

Neighborhood Cookout and Chili Contest — Saturday, October 27, 2001, 4-6 p.m.

Next Committee Meeting — October 4, 2001

Next Newsletter ~ December 2001

Treasurer’s Report by Linda Bassett

We are gearing up for the beginning of our busy season. First will be the October Cook-out. We are fortunate in that many people donate door prizes, food items, and of course their time. But we still have expenses. If you have

yet to pay your membership dues, it is not too late: $5.00 per household. For our new neighbors, the dues help defray the cost of our newsletters, flyers, October Cook-out, Christmas home decoration awards and garage-sale promotion. If

Welcome New Residents

2

National Night 3

Annexation Issue 3

Inside this issue:

Chili Contest Highlights the 10th Annual Neighborhood Cookout, Oct. 27 by Judy Carey

October 2001

Volume Issue

you are not sure that you have paid your dues just call me, 442-0818. A membership form is included in the newsletter for your convenience.

God Bless America!

The Pride Civic Association would like to welcome you to our neighborhood. Our neighborhood borders are to the north-Lakeview Road, to the east-Keene Road, to the south-Nursery Road, to the west-Lake Avenue. We offer free house number stenciling on your driveway at the curb. This helps EMS or delivery people easily locate your house. Just call 443-6917 to set-up an appointment. Also your Pride Civic Association offers many

social events during the year including a neighborhood garage sale, March membership meeting, October cookout and holiday decorating contest. Everyone can participate if they wish. Volunteers are always welcome for each of our events. For the Cookout we need help with setup, door prizes, entertainment, kids fun zone and clean-up. Judges are needed for the holiday decoration contest. Helpers are needed for the garage sale, assistants to the

block captains for newsletter distribution 4 times a year and for National Night Out activities. If you have an interest in the web and web page design, we are also looking for a Webmaster to create and manage our website. If you have an interest in volunteering, please use the form below or call one of the committee members below to let us know!

Welcome New Residents to the Neighborhood! by Suzanne Claessens

Page 2 Pride Civic Association

March 2001 - March 2002 $5.00 Donation per Household Annually Name __________________________________ Address ________________________________ Phone __________________________________ e-mail address ___________________________

I would like to Volunteer for the following . . . (check as many as you would like) Block Captain Distribute Newsletters Telephone Alert System Newsletter Articles Garage Sale Committee Christmas Decoration Committee Cookout Committee Other _____________________

Pride Civic Association Membership & Volunteer Form

Mail Donation to:

Linda Bassett, Treasurer Pride Civic Association 1303 Norwood Ave Clearwater, FL 33756

Please do not send cash in the mail !

Pride Civic Association

Committee Members Chairman: Bob Yunk 461-5473 Secretary: Mary Larsen 443-4061 Treasurer: Linda Bassett 442-0818 Communications Coordinator: Paul Fessler 442-9113 Newsletter Editor: Candy Helber 441-3824 Zone Captain Suzanne Claessens 443-6917 e-mail: pridecivica@hotmail.com

“Thank you” to all who have donated newspaper for Plumb Elementary School students and teachers. Your continued support is appreciated. You may take newspaper to Plumb Elementary school. (on the west side straight back to the big green dumpster marked “Newspaper Only”) They also have bins for clothing and cardboard. Or call 443-6917 for newspaper pick up.

Suzanne Claessens

results in greater regulations. Many people believe that there is no way to stop annexation once it is proposed and brought up for referendum (vote). This is not true. The most recent annexation attempt by Seminole was voted down by property owners because of a house-to-house education campaign by a small group. A recent proposal by Kenneth City (pop. 4500) to annex Lealman (pop. 45,000) was thwarted by the efforts of one or two people who convinced city officials that it was not in their best interest politically. The county-wide referendum last November, while approved by the whole county, lost in our precinct because our members were better educated and voted. The ordinance established lines to which cities could annex, but was really only a gentleman’s agreement and has not been enforced by the county. Also, it

Your volunteer Pride Civic Association officers are trying to keep up with the annexation efforts of the cities of Pinellas County. Every home or business that is annexed decreases the unincorporated area tax base and increases the taxes of the remaining unincorporated area property owners. Even with these tax increases, it is still more economical to live in the county than in the city. There are electric, phone, cable franchise fees and utility taxes in each of the cities which are a percentage of the monthly bills and real estate taxes are higher. Annexation by a small city, like Seminole, causes a loss in services because small cities do not have the maintenance infrastructures to support their acquisitions. No matter what is said by a city or an individual pushing annexation, more government costs more money and

has been disregarded by some cities aggressively pursuing annexation. Knowing the law and making your opinions known publicly at commission meetings does help, if you are willing to take the time. The recent attempts at annexation have finally caused the county commission to worry about erosion of their tax base and they are more willing to listen to voters. Will you become involved?

Annexation Issue by Bob Yunk

Page 3

National Night Out and show our support for our law

enforcement agencies. I have been told that it was the most attention getting display for national Night Out that our neighborhood has seen for a while. Some people wondered what was going on and some were perhaps a little alarmed but certainly brought

It is with a renewed sense of gratitude for our law enforcement agencies that I write this after the recent terrorist attacks on our country. On National Night Out, the evening of Tuesday August seventh, we were fortunate to have our Crime Prevention practitioner, Deputy Jeff Strong accept our invitation and cruise the neighborhood with lights flashing and blasts of the siren. It was all in good fun to raise awareness of

people out to see what was happening. The idea was to “kick it up a notch” in the words of cable TV Food Channel’s Emeril. I would say we achieved that! If you have any suggestions for next year’s event please forward them to us. Our thanks go to our Sheriff’s Office and to Deputy Jeff Strong.

National Night Out By Clive Dowdell

Considering selling? Call Clive and consider it SOLD!

Sunshine Realty Clive Dowdell

636 South Gulfview Boulevard REALTOR® Clearwater, Florida 33767 Office: 462-2500, Ext. 312 Home: 461-5914 E-mail: cdowdell@c21sunshine.com www.c21sunshine.com

Page 4 Pride Civic Association

Others may say they can sell your home for top dollar . . . . But you know Rick & Carol will.

Amorose & Associates Realty

Tel (727) 559-7911 Cindy Archer Fax (727) 559-7810 Escrow Officer

Page 5

U

ANNUAL NEIGHBORHOOD

COOKOUT &

Chili contest

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 th

4:00-6:00 PM 1369 IRVING AVE.

VALUABLE DOOR PRIZES

BRING A POT OF YOUR BEST CHILI FOR THE CONTEST GAMES AND PRIZES FOR THE KIDS!!

BRING YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT TO SHARE MEET YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS

Page 6 Pride Civic Association

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To Arrange for your Personal Gift

Consultation, Please Contact: LINDA ROSENFELD

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Member of Monthly Mingles Member of Women in Business

Doing Business with Mary Kay since 1998