BHA NEWSLETTER--February, 1996

MORE AND MORE KIND NEIGHBORS!!
	Stella Steiner is yet another "mystery" snow-blower person who unselfishly
helped many of her neighbors this winter.  A big thank-you to Stella, not 
only for her
winter-time activities but also for her continuing efforts during the 
rest of the year to
beautify Nixon Road.

From Erich Hofacker:
     Just to let you know that good things have been happeining not only 
on Briarcliff
but also on Prairie.  For more than a few years, some fortunate home 
owners on
Prairie have been benefitting from the generous assistance of Gene Dennis 
when the
snows come.  It certainly creates a warm glow to step outside, snow 
shovel in hand,
only to find that both the walks and the driveways ahve already been 
cleared.  Many
thanks to Gene from some appreciative neighbors.

From BHA Board:
     All year around Charles Engle is there, faithfully making the BHA 
Newsletter a
composition of which we are all proud.  Thanks so much Charles for your 
kindness in
sharing your expertise!

Indeed, we might all look to these models of helpfulness and consider how 
we might
make life a little bit better for someone else.

APRIL THANK YOU NOTE IN THE NEWSLETTER
	In April, this column will be devoted to thanking each household 
that has been
considerate enough to pay the $5.00 dues to BHA; so, if you have 
forgotten, and
certainly it is easy to forget, please remember to turn your dues in to 
Colleen Thurston,
2819 Briarcliff, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; mail them or leave a check in an 
envelope in
the drop box on Colleen's front porch.

ALL-BROMLEY GARAGE SALE
by Mary Ann Gasiorek
     The Bromley Neighborhood Garage Sale Day will be Saturday, May 18, 
1996, 9:00
a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Homeowners run their own garage sales and keep all 
profits.  The
Bromley Homeowners' Association will pay for the advertisement in the Ann 
Arbor
News.  Signs will be put up at every entrance to our neighborhood.  You 
will need to
put a sign and/or balloons in front of your house to indicate you are 
having a garage
sale.  With this kind of publicity, you can have a full-scale garage sale 
or just put out a
few things in your driveway.
	If you would like to participate, please call Mary Ann Gasiorek 
at 996-4633
with your name and address.
	Thurston School's Cub Scout Pack 160 will be selling coffee, lemonade,
cookies, and other baked goods at 2144 Prairie to raise funds for Pack 
activities.

THURSTON COMMUNITY PLAYERS
by Mary Ann Gasiorek
	The Thurston Community Players will present their 22nd Annual Production:
"Smart Chocolate: on March 21, 22, and 23.  This original musical comedy 
is about
children who form a candy company with the help of the Mario Brothers.  
They market
the candy with the slogan "Smart Chocolate"--The More You Eat, the 
Smarter You
Get!:  Is the slogan true?  Competitors try to uncover a hoax.  The 
performances are at
7:p.m. at Clague Middle School Auditorium.  Tickets are $4.00 for adults 
and $3.00
for children 12 and under.  Advanced tickets will be available at 
Thurston beginning
March 12.

LETTERS RECEIVED:
Disclaimer.  The opinions expressed in this section are solely those of 
the authors of
the letters and do not necessarily reflect, explicitly or implicitly, the 
views of the
Bromley Homeowners Association or residents of Bromley.

From Anne M. Dake, Librarian, Thurston School Library.
	Dear Bromley Homeowners Association,
	Thank you so very much fo rthe gift of $25.00 for Thurston 
Library.  We are
delighted to have it and are going to use it for books for the library.  
Our focus this
year has been on books about the States of the United States, and we plan 
to use this
gift toward more books about the States.
	It is important that the community and school work together and 
support each
other.  We are grateful to have your support and this wonderful gift.  On 
behalf of the
staff and students at Thurston School, thank you again.

From Office of  Police Chief:
	Request to update Neighborhood Watch files; sent them a directory.

From Richard G. Teske, Chair, Orchard Hills-Maplewood Homeowners Assn.
	Dear Neighbor,
	The Orchard Hills Maplewood Homeowners Association Board of Directors
recently learned that the owners of the Plymouth Orchard Office Building, 
the mirrored
building at 3055 Plymouth Road, are using the basement space in a manner 
prohibited
under the terms of a deed restriction they signed when that buildilng was 
first approved
by the City.  The deed restriction was signed by them together with a 
number of
neighboring home-owners on Prairie Street and Georgetown Boulevard.
...
	The agreement between the neighboring homeowners and the 
building's owners
specifies that the basement area may only be used for non-commercial 
storage.  We
have discovered that the basement of the building has been designated a 
"Lower
Level," and has been rented to several organizations for office and 
conference space.
The effect of this illegal use of the basement is to increase the size of 
the building by
50%, from approximately 18,000 sq. ft. on two floors to 27,000 sq. ft. on 
three.  A
result of more intensive use of the building can be decreased traffic 
safety at the
Plymouth Road curve, and unwelcome annoyance for the immediate neighbors.
	Deed restrictions are "provate law."  Whenever one party to an agreement
violates any section of a deed restriction, the other party must act 
expeditiously to
enforce it, or else that particular section becomes null and void.
...
If there are questions you would like to raise, please call ... me at 
665-9368.

From Jody Linn.
	Celebration of Diversity, Thursday May 9, 1996, Thurston 
Elementary School,
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Dear Parents, Families, Friends, and Neighbors,
	We would like to cordially invite you to participate in this 
year's Celebration of
Diversity.  Join us in celebrating the cultural richness of our community.
	Pick up a passport as you enter the building and travel from 
continent to
continent experiencing the different games, looking at displays, tasting 
foods, and
watching slide and film presentations and student performances.
	The event starts promptly at 6:30 with a parade through the 
parking lot.  Mark
your calendars, and hope to see you there!
	If you would like to contribute food, have items to display, or 
other ideas to
share, please contact Jody Linn at 995-2081.

DOLFIN SWIM CLUB
	If you have not already done so, please remember to pay your 
yearly assessment
of $35 to Connie Mahowald, 2980 Burlington, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; the 
funds from
each household cover property taxes, insurance, and maintenance.  Please 
remember to
pay your own way on this, rather than having your neighbor cover for 
you.  Questions?
Connie's phone number is:  663-0971.

KROGER FUNDRAISER CONTINUES.
	Let Kroger help support our neighborhood; when you shop at 
Kroger's use
Kroger certificates.  For Dolfin's Pool, contact Sally Vandeven 
(996-0652)--a Dolfin's
representative will deliver them to your door in exchange for your check. 
For Thurston
School, purchase them at Thurston School.

AGENDA FROM BHA MEETING
BROMLEY HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Thursday, January  25, 1996
2790 Briarcliff, 7:30 p.m.

Agenda
0.  Introduction of guests
1.  Minutes of Previous meeting.
2.  Treasurer's report.
3.  Old business.
4.  New business

Expanded agenda.
0.  Introduction of guests--group from Orchard Hills

1.  Approval of minutes--based on BHA Newsletter.  Need to elect a secretary.

2.  Treasurer's update.
Colleen Thurston

3.  Old business
a.  Interview with first President of Dolfins Pool--move to determine 
ownership of
pool--as related to home ownership within Bromley--was given name of 
attorney who
formed original paperwork--follow up with letter to attorney; attorney 
replied and said
that they no longer had records.
b.  Thus, it would appear that BHA involvement with Dolfins is likely to 
remain as in
the past--with a grant.  The Kroger fundraiser is going well and if that 
possibility
remains in place over a period of years, the pool is likely to do well.  
It is therefore
important for BHA to continue to encourage Bromley residents to buy Kroger
certificates.
c.  At the October 4 meeting, with Adele Akouri and Alicia Green, we 
discussed the
issues of development of an electronic neighborhood watch network, 
recycling of old
computers, and the idea of encouragement of Bromley youth in community 
service.
The follow-up on each of these is discussed under "new business."

4.  New Business
a. electronic neighborhood watch network.
	i.  After a number of dead-end efforts, BHA found a free computer 
account for
Adele--on ArborNet--a local non-profit, community service, all-volunteer 
effort.  Both
she and Bromley have neighborhood watch accounts there now, and she is being
encouraged to generate more interest--with whatever help she wants from 
us.  Adele
may need a computer--say a 386 loaded with Windows.
	ii.  On the Arbornet segment of the network, all nbdwatch people could
communicate instantaneously with each other.  This is an active network, 
unlike, for
example, a bulletin board which could be characterized as 
passive--someone takes the
effort to send a message--there is no reference or archival character to it.
	iii.  Archival and reference component of the network.  To this 
end, a home
page has been created for neighborhood watch and also for the BHA.  Old 
newsletters
and other archival material can be stored on the website.  In addition, 
the website can
also serve as a reference shelf--photographic as well as textual material 
can be placed
on the site.  Again, will work with Adele to help her get what she wants 
with the idea
of turning all over to her once she's set.
	iv.  Letter from Mary Ann Gasiorek requesting that we post a list 
of nbdwatch
bulletins from Bromley--problem with this is that some residents might 
not care for this
approach.  Perhaps the website is a good place to do this--people would 
have to
actively seek out the information, so those who don't want to see it 
don't have to do so.
	v.  I have a separate arbornet account--will try to test current 
interest in using
this particular means of communication (in a setting outside the 
university) within a
community-oriented setting.

b.  recycling of old computers
	i.  Priscilla Spencer provided the name of a contact in the Ann 
Arbor Public
Schools.  Follow-up needed, but as part of broad picture, as detailed 
below.  If the
recycling of computers can also serve in the anti-gang idea, as does each 
component of
the electronic network, so much the better.  The idea is that 
computer-types are likely
not to be gang types.  So, one approach might be to get computers in the 
hands of
people who are current or peripheral gang types.  Thus, we might look 
beyond Ann
Arbor, to the source of gangs.
	ii.  To the latter end, have made contact with someone from 
Christ Church,
Grosse Pointe, who has been heavily involved in programs that target small
organizations or individual families in Detroit who are trying to make a 
positive
difference.  One place that might be attractive is an alternative 
organization for girls,
run by a church near Tiger Stadium.  They try to keep the girls off the 
streets by
providing attractive alternatives to them--computers might be useful.  
Then too, there
might be the added benefit that by training the girls, the boys on the 
street might feel a
need to keep up and find acquisition of computer skills a necessity to 
function to
impress young women.  Investigation is underway on this and on other 
constructive
organizations.
	iii.  Gifts of computers need to be sought.  Will contact a 
couple of
organizations.  Once we have a set of donors and a set of receivers, then 
I'll use
various means of local communication and give the set of receivers as a 
list and
forward copies to the donors--hopefully this activity will generate even 
more gifts and
receivers.

c.  encouragement of Bromley youth in community service.
	i.  BHA could offer a set of awards--say, gold, silver, and 
bronze medals for
community service to Bromley.  We might also be able to get local 
merchants to donate
prizes.   "BHA Community Service Olympiad."
	ii.  Identification of possible areas in which service is needed:
		clearing out cut-throughs and creative use of them;
		maintenance and creative use of Huron Parkway Facade;
		maintenance and creative use of the Dolfins empty lot;
		clean up in Nixon Road barrier;
		contact the Parks Dep't and see about painting the 
playground in
Bromley Park or for other ideas.
	iii.  The problems above are some obvious ones of a continuing 
nature.  It is
perhaps even more desirable to encourage people to identify problems.  
Thus, we might
need to have some general guidelines for evaluating efforts, that we 
announce ahead of
time.  For example:
	Judging will be based on, but not limited to:
		identification of  the problem (need for a service of 
benefit to the
community);
		analysis of the problem;
		action taken to resolve the problem.
	Judging will be done by members of the BHA Homeowners' 
Association who
have no conflict of interest.  Awards will be presented at the annual 
Fall meeting of
BHA--three medals and a certificate for each participant.  Perhaps we can 
invite a
political figure to present the awards; videotape the whole show and 
present it on
Community Access TV.