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Minutes of the General Membership Meeting of the Westmoreland Association

May 21, 2012

Officers Present:
President � Walter Mugdan
Sheldon Rosenblum � Vice President
Secretary � Charles Manna
Treasurer � Gary Savage.

Board Members Present
Victor Dadras
Robert Timmerman
Philip Toscano
Peter Reinharz

President Walter Mugdan called the meeting to order at 8:05 P.M. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously adopted to waive reading of the minutes. (Mr. Mugdan noted that the minutes were available for review on the Westmoreland website.) Gary Savage gave the Treasurer�s Report indicating that the balance-on-hand was $18,487.01 as of May 21, 2012. A motion was made to accept the Treasurer�s report. The motion was seconded and the report was unanimously approved.

Also present:
� Captain Jason S. Heurta
� Officer Bill Conway, Community Affairs.

Captain Heurta started his rotation as the C.O. of the 111th Precinct on January 30th this year. He replaces Ron Leyson, who was promoted to the rank of Inspector and now heads the 110th Precinct. Captain Heurta was the C.O. of the Impact Zone (sooth of Roosevelt Ave) previous to this position. He was promoted after a successful tour there.

Captain Heurta reported that the current crime statistics for our precinct continue to be very positive. There have been no murders and very few violent crimes. There is a very slight uptick in Grand Larcenies, but the police have been successful in solving many of the crimes and have arrested the people who they consider to be the main perpetrators of the crimes. He mentioned that Ford Econolines and Dodge Caravans seem to be the prime target for thefts. They are used to help the criminals steal motorcycles.

Walter Mugdan spoke about the two parks in our neighborhood. He reviewed the history of our efforts to eliminate illegal use and sales of drugs and alcohol there by locking up the playground after dark. The illegal activity has stopped for the past several years, but we wanted the police to watch for any such activity. We have not locked up the playground for several years because the quality of the people who use the playground has improved dramatically. We just wanted to inform the Captain of the situation so that if things ever deteriorate, we still want the option to lock up the playground again. The Captain seemed to be fine with that.

Discussion with the members of the association followed:
� There is an issue with the Armenian-American Hall located on Little Neck Parkway just north of the LIRR. There have been parties in the hall on Saturdays in the past. The noise has disturbed the neighbors when the music continued into the late night. The captain said that they will respond if and when a neighbor calls in a complaint. The sound equipment can be confiscated if the noise continues. Victor Dadras agreed to communicate with the hall owners if noise problems arise again.
� 254-17 40 Ave. The house is in derelict condition. A neighbor has been parking two commercial vehicles in the driveway recently. What can be done about the situation? The Association has complained through 311 on two recent occasions (the first resulted in a violation being issued, but the vehicles are still parked there.) The captain says that the property owner would have to complain. He will talk to an official in the Department of Buildings to see what can be done about the condition of the building.
� Q: What can be done about dumped and/or long-term parked cars? Call 311 to complain about the car (or, better yet, call the Community Affairs Officer of the precinct). The police will mark the car to see if it has moved. After seven more days, it will be towed.
� Officer Conway remarked that the 311 response record has improved markedly in the past several years. The local precinct gets notification of complaints that have been filed with 311 and have to follow-up and respond.
� Captain was asked about modifying the signal at Marathon Parkway and Northern Blvd to include left turn arrows for vehicles entering Marathon Parkway from Northern Blvd. He will present the question to the DOT so that they can run a feasibility study. (Currently, there are left turn arrows for vehicles entering Northern Blvd from Marathon Parkway only).

Captain Huerta and Officer Conway were thanked for their service to the community and for their taking the time to meet with us.

Old Business �
Taxi Cabs are disturbing the neighbors on occasion. The boisterous behavior at the LIRR station, on occasion, late at night has caused concern. We will keep and eye out and, if necessary, contact the owner of the business.


New Business �
We received an anonymous letter from a member of the Association complaining that a neighbor is conducting a business out of a house on Glenwood St. A fairly large quantity of boxes is being picked up and delivered daily by UPS and FedEx. The address was not disclosed in the letter. Several members surmised the house in question. We will look into the situation to see if there is indeed a problem with traffic flow being blocked by the delivery trucks. It is a violation of the Westmoreland covenants to conduct a business from a house within the residential section of the Westmoreland development (which is most of the area). However, there is no actual evidence that a business is, in fact, being conducted at this location. The situation does not appear to present a significant problem for the community.

The Westmoreland Association will once again march in the annual Little Neck Douglaston Memorial Day Parade. Any members or friends who would like to join us are encouraged to assemble before 2:00 p.m. on May 28 next to the Starbucks on Northern Blvd. east of the City line.

Our next meeting will be held on September 17, 2012.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted

Charles Manna, Secretary