San Tan Heights Community Watch

Google+

2011-07-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

With the coming out of Google+ and how Google seems to keep everything in one spot as far as social media and connectivity is concerned, we may be coming back to this [new] platform.

We will keep our current website fresh and changing while we contemplate this change.

Safety Tips: Got one? Send it our way and we'll post it here.

2009-03-15T07:39:00.006-07:00

One way to keep your car safe in your driveway over night is to tint your windows. If a thief has to spend extra time looking in your car window they will move on.

------------------------------------------

USE ENERGY SAFELY TO KEEP SAFE AND WARM THIS WINTER

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nearly half of all home-heating fires occur during the winter months. Many are caused by home heating devices and many are preventable by following basic energy safety tips including:

· Space heaters need space and should not be left unattended, and
· Devices that are not meant to heat a home, such as your oven, should never be used to “take the chill out”.

On those chilly winter nights when deciding how to heat your home, think comfort, think warmth, but first and foremost think SAFETY!

For more information on using energy safely, visit mesaaz.gov/energy.

------------------------------------------
Put a lock on your outside fuse box. This will prevent anyone tampering with the electricity of your home which could kill your land line based home phone if it is a wireless set up.
------------------------------------------
If your car has an alarm system hooked into your key chain, keep your keys by your bed. If you hear someone break in through the night you can press the alarm button and hopefully avoid being a victim. This can also be used for the elderly in case of a medical emergency.
------------------------------------------
As we near the summer months remember that when you go on vacation leave your contact information with a neighbor that can watch your house. A little ease of mind when you're trying to enjoy yourself is a good thing. And let the Sheriff's office know, too. They can send a patrol to your house when possible.
-----------------------------------------
If you witness or know of a crime which has occurred please let us know the area or address, time of day and any other descriptive info. We can get it on a Bing map the PCSO and Posse use. If they see an area with increased activity they will have more patrols out in that area. We've used this for some time and it really works well.
------------------------------------------
It's tough being a working parent, and it's usually both parents that need to work. The worry that goes along with your children being home alone never goes away. But if your child has a cell phone, you can take a break at work and "walk" your child home over the phone. This way you're in constant contact on that trip home.
_____________________________

If you've got decorative windows alongside your front door you can get decoupage glue and a small sponge to add a frosted effect to the inside. This adds a nice expensive look at a low cost and keeps unknown people from looking into your house.
_____________________________

It is important to know who your neighbors are. They are the first ones to notice something suspicious. If every house got to know the neighbors on each side, and those neighbors do the same, then before you know it you've created a phone tree for your street and everyone can get in contact if something happens.

We've moved to MSN

2009-01-18T15:07:00.002-07:00

Please update the contact info for San Tan Heights Community Watch.

EMAIL: sthcw@live.com
BLOG: http://sthcw.spaces.live.com/

Community working together...

2008-12-20T14:28:00.008-07:00

With the help of 37 volunteers (including seven children)we cleared a section of the Thompson parcel and removed graffiti in 1 1/2 hours.

CCMC was there as well as our Board and their families. Plus a H & N Landscape, whose time and gas was paid for by Tefsa USA. H & N put up the downed trees, although some were dead and had to be removed. All the trash around those white stacked dumpsters was cleared and H & N will be disposing of it themselves. Those dumpsters should be gone in a few days, too.

Everyone did a wonderful job and it was just more testimony that a community that works together is a better place to be. So thank you Warren for coordinating with H & N, thank you CCMC for showing commitment to our community and thank you to our Board for all the hard work you do behind the scenes and showing us that you can hit the ground running when we need you. But most of all, thank you to all of our neighbors that showed up to make a difference in San Tan Heights.

Highest Regards,
Jeff and Arline Studley

Thompson Parcel Clean Up

2008-12-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the plan for the Thompson parcel clean up this Saturday the 20th.

We meet at Mountain Vista K-8 located at the corner of Mountain Vista and San Tan Heights Blvd. 10 am Saturday morning.

We will split up into three groups. Trees, trash and graffiti.

• Trees. We will right the trees at two locations.
o San Tan Heights Blvd. and Mountain Vista
o Mountain Vista and Occidental

• Trash. We will be cleaning up around the abandoned dumpsters.
o We will be hauling trash from this site to the dumpster on the lot where the CCMC trailer is.
o The abandoned dumpsters should be gone in the next couple of days.

• Graffiti. There is graffiti on Occidental which needs to be painted over.

Tools to bring: PLEASE MARK YOUR TOOLS
• Flat shovels
• Paint brushes – paint provided by CCMC
• Trash cans
• Tarps
• Wide brooms
• We’ll need a couple of trucks for hauling

Closed For The Holidays

2008-11-13T13:36:00.002-07:00

Our normal meetings will be suspended until the first of the [new] year.

Which is good timing as our HOA Board have moved their meetings to the 3rd Thursday for the holiday schedule. So don't forget to go to San Tan Mountains Regional Park for our meeting with the Board of Directors.

There is alot of information which is very important to us coming out and we all will need to make some decisions in the near future.

Have a great and safe holiday!

2008 Community Safety Day

2008-10-26T11:56:00.015-07:00

Well as far as events go, the true gauge of a success is the willingness of the vendors to return again. And using that ruler we had a 100%, so we are pretty happy with how it turned out. And as we build this year to year we will be adding more things to it. The Community Safety Day will also be moving from community to community every year.

Did we want more people? Yes, but we did get 500-600 attending. And the cost was absolute zero. That was a totally free event made possible by volunteers and donations from businesses in the Greater San Tan Area.

Arline and I would like to thank the people that helped make the Community Safety Day a success.

Tisha Castillo - Johnson Ranch Block Watch Coordinator

Dena Larson - Pecan Creek and Cambria Block Watch Coordinator

(The people above work with us on the Community Block Watch Association and help keep ten plus communities down the Hunt Corridor connected with a network of Block Watches).

Jennifer Codd - San Tan Heights Board member and employee of Mesa Gas

Phyllis Fraiser of Circle Cross

Pat Dowd - Principal of Mountain Vista K-8

Ellen McConville - President of the SouthEast Vally Optimist Club

Firkin - These guys gave up a Saturday to bring music to this event at no charge! So thanks Kyle, Mark, Pat and Vinny.

Gordon Brown - Gordon has been an area resident for years and has helped us along on many things. He can get more done with one phone call than most people can with a week of meetings.

All the Volunteers from the school and San Tan Heights HOA Board of Directors. All your help is very appreciated!

Firkin donated over $700 to Childhood Cancer Research and will be playing at our Family Safety Day Event October 25th

2008-09-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Community Wide Family Safety Day October 25 -- 10am to 1pm

2008-09-22T19:03:00.006-07:00

COMMUNITY WIDE FAMILY SAFETY DAY – The Community Block Watch Association is partnering with the PCSO, Mountain Vista Elementary and Optimist International to bring, well, a party to Mountain Vista School. Bring a blanket, beach chairs and a picnic lunch and listen to classic rock by Firkin. They played at our Battle of the Bands earlier this month. Firkin brought in the most donations for battling Childhood Cancer at the Battle of the Bands! This is a group of guys that rock on many levels! And the drummer is the kid of one of the guitarists. He started drums at the age of five and I was blown away at his performance. Firkin puts on a first rate show and I know you'll like them.

The organizations we have in this area are numerous so we decided to bring as many as we can to you. We expect about 35-40 total, including a bicycle obstacle course, kid ID, local sports groups and the list really goes on. So come on out to Mountain Vista School October 25 and lets party!

Meeting Update for September 2008

2008-09-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

At our meeting this month Sheriff Vasquez suggested a program by which communities can get grants if they come up with a program for public safety. And it's not taxpayer money, but assets and money seized by the Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Vasquez has no problem redistributing this money back into the community and I personally have zero problem taking it!

All we need to do is come up with a program for public safety, have an accounting structure in place and submit a proposal to the Sheriff Vasquez. San Tan Heights can receive up to $1000 after approval.

If you think you have an idea that can help San Tan Heights become a safer place let us know and we can start process of proposing it to Sheriff Vasquez.

Email suggestions to San Tan Heights Community Watch at sthcw@mchsi.com.

Project Challenge helps out at San Tan Mountain Regional Park

2008-08-31T16:29:00.004-07:00

This weekend Arline and I had the pleasure of working with a group of kids from Project Challenge, which is a military style educational center in Queen Creek. Unlike it's close counterpart, Canyon State, Project Challenge is a volunteer admission instead of compulsory by the courts.

Our mission Saturday was to:

Clean up the road of trash leading into San Tan Mountain Regional Park
Clear the area around the visitor center and the memorial of weeds
Build up the tortoise habitat
But most importantly we wanted to create a "tortoise" out of the engraved pavers that local residents have purchased to help fund the park and feed the animals inside the visitor center.

The young men from Project Challenge really made it all happen. Not only hard working, but very happy to be helping in our community. All of them were kind, courteous, helpful, thoughtful and more than willing to do whatever was asked of them. I can't say enough praise for the them, Larry their instructor and the academy. What a wonderful addition to our area. These kids are committed to community service, so if you are in an organization that could use them we can recommend them highly.

To start this project the guys had to dig down about 6 inches in an area about 8X10 feet. Then they brought in several wheelbarrows of sand from a wash and refilled the area so the pavers could be properly placed. It was a lot of work. After all that then we could start placement of the pavers.

The finished project.

Again, on behalf of Joan and David and Friends of the San Tan Mountain Regional Park we'd like to extend our gratitude for all your help. You guys Rock!

Meeting Update from August 21st

2008-08-23T06:19:00.004-07:00

Briefly, our meeting this month we discussed a gas powered paint sprayer to help the volunteers who take down the graffiti and the possibility of a fund raiser to help out, the increased presence of the Sheriff's Office in our community, the murder in Cambria and how it relates to STH and the newly elected Board of Directors for our HOA. News article on the election.

MyBizNow also did a demo of a surveillance system they offer through Logitech. It's pretty slick. If you're away and it's motion detector goes off, the recording begins, you get an email sent to your Windows based phone with internet access and you get a live feed of what's being recorded.

Poll Results

2008-08-02T07:02:00.004-07:00

Thank you all for taking the poll last month. The reason for that was to get an understanding of what the people here in San Tan Heights feel about the main issues facing our area.

These were issues brought up in GSTAC meetings, nothing official in our area. Maybe you have concerns in other areas, and if you do please leave a comment here and let us know. If there is enough response maybe we can take another poll and be more specific to San Tan Heights.

The questions poised in last months poll we were asking the level of importance that certain issues were to you; Highly Important, Important, Somewhat Important and Don't Care. The results of last months poll follows:

Community Development

Highly Important: 54%
Important : 45%

Economic Development

Highly Important: 80%
Important : 20%

Education

Highly Important : 80%
Important : 10%
Somewhat Important: 10%

Transportation

Highly Important : 70%
Important :10%
Somewhat Important: 10%

Please feel free to leave comments on the poll or if you'd like to see other issues addressed.
Thank You.

July Meeting Update

2008-07-21T16:21:00.003-07:00

Well for not having an agenda due to travel, we had a pretty good meeting that covered a lot of topics. You can down load the PDF at the community center.

We are looking for volunteers for a few projects so if you've got some free time and want to help the community please let us know. The details are all in the PDF.

Just a reminder that we are conducting a poll here relating to a few key elements that affect our area. If you haven't yet done so already just scroll down to the bottom of this page and take the poll. It's anonymous, and only takes a minute (four questions). The poll ends on July 31st.

Meet the Candidtates!

2008-07-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder for everyone that you can meet the candidates who are running for the seven positions on the next San Tan Heights Homeowners Association Board of Directors.

There are 15 people in all vying for those seven posts so it’s up to us as a community to decide who is the best qualified to lead our community to better things.

Next Thursday, July 24^th 6:30 pm at Mountain Vista K-8 located at 33622 N. Mountain Vista Blvd.

This is leading up to the Annual meeting when the actual vote happens on August 19^th.

WE NEED A QUORUM OF 10% OF THE HOMES FOR THE ELECTION TO COUNT! That’s 350! So please tell your neighbors to get out and to vote in the next Board of Directors on August 19^th.

If we don’t hit that number the whole process starts over… and it’s been a long process.

Hope to see you all there to meet the candidates!

Meeting Update from 6-19-08

2008-06-20T17:31:00.004-07:00

You can download the pdf at the Community Center home page under Files. To go to San Tan Heights Community Center just click the link.

To take an on line poll regarding issues in this area, please go all the way to the bottom of this page. The issues are:

transportation
education
economic development
education

The polls will end on July 31st. Thanks for participating!

Please check out San Tan Heights Community Center - Let Us Know What You Think

2008-06-19T15:42:00.002-07:00

San Tan Heights Community Center

We thought we'd try something new in creating a site where people in San Tan Heights can post announcements of any kind, post messages and pages.

All we ask is that a level of civility is maintained as we are all neighbors and this is just an extension of our community.

Hope to see you there!

Ambers' Ride & Drive 2008

2008-06-03T07:31:00.003-07:00

We are having another motorcycle and car run on June 22nd. Please visit Amber's Ride and Drive 2008 to find out how you can help fund the PCSO Justice Foundation.

Amber's Ride For Change

2008-05-26T13:46:00.003-07:00

This will be the second annual motorcycle and car run in memory of Amber Hess. Last years run was to help cover the funeral costs for Amber, who was a victim of senseless violence. This year Amber's parents would like to continue and have the funds go to the PCSO Justice Foundation.This program has wide reaching effects in our community that can make it a safer place to live and play.

The ride is scheduled for Sunday, June 22 with a 6:30 am registration time. We want to be on the road by 7am due to the heat. Our route this year is pending. We are waiting for Maricopa County to get back to us about assistance along the route. We finalized the end point this weekend. Big Daddy's in Copper Basin will be serving breakfast (included in your donation - the bracelet you receive will be your meal ticket). We will also have a 50/50 raffle as well.

Each vehicle is $25. Motorcycles with a passenger is $30. Each additional passenger in a car is $5 each. Please come out help support the Hess's and the PCSO in their endeavor to make our county a safer place to live and play.

Please check back for updates as this is a work in progress and more info will be posted as we get it.

Update from May meeting

2008-05-20T14:50:00.007-07:00

This months meeting was quite different from our normal meetings.

As you probably already know, CCMC (our HOA) is transitioning from a developer controlled Board to a homeowner controlled Board.

CCMC had asked several residents to participate in a Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC). Once the NAC was formed, the members were asked to chair several sub-committees. Those committees are:

GOVERNANCE
CONTRACT REVIEW
BUDGET/FINANCE
ELECTION
BUILDING/GROUNDS
COMMUNICATIONS

So the focus of this months STHCW meeting was to get more residents involved in the transition process by asking for volunteers to assist in the committees. And it went pretty well. Each committee was slated to have between 3-7 members and that's what we got.

Also announced at the meeting was a call for volunteers for this years ride honoring the life and memory of Amber Hess. Amber was a local teenager that fell victim to senseless violence last year. We've been talking with Mr. and Mrs. Hess and our hope is to make this an annual ride that will benefit a charity whose focus is working with kids that are in trouble and turn the situation around before it's too late.

The scheduled date for the ride is June 22, however we are still working out the details.

You can go here:
Amber Hess Memorial Run to view pics from last years ride. It's hard to tell from the inside the car shots, but we had two miles of cars and motorcycles.

Junior Optimist (JOI) Sports

2008-05-03T14:23:00.005-07:00

The first Saturday of every month there will be sports clinics at Mountain Vista Park. This is the first month and we had basketball and volleyball. The kids had a good time and we'd like to thank Coach Steve and Coach Danielle for all their help. If you're interested in coming to the next sports clinic you can contact Phyllis Frasier at phyllis@sevoc.org.

San Tan Heights Teen Club

2008-04-19T13:21:00.014-07:00

This is the Teen Club of San Tan Heights that volunteered their time to help out at the Build a Teddy Bear Picnic in the park today. They were all so eager to help out and volunteer their time that the SouthEast Valley Optimist Club (SEVOC) donated two $25 gift cards to Amazing Jakes for their community spirit. They even raised about 30$ on their own to help fund their next line of activities. You guys and girls did a great job! If you're interested in finding out more about the Teen Club please email Deidre Garber with CCMC. The link for SEVOC is under Community Links at the right.

At our last Community Watch meeting Phyllis Frasier with the SEVOC was promoting sports clinics on Saturday mornings in San Tan Heights. Some of the Teen Club hung out for our meeting and offered suggestions of what they'd like to do Saturday mornings. We got five adult volunteers to help out plus Phyllis has numerous other coaches who are willing participate. It will be Saturday mornings so if anyone else is interested you can contact Phyllis Frasier at phyllis@sevoc.org.

The second half of our meeting Jack Malpass introduced the Greater San Tan Area Coalition (GSTAC) to our group. GSTAC recognized that our area has a population of 46,000 people... and growing. They also recognized that in order to have developers and county officials speak to us on how we want to grow our area, they need someone to talk to. Simply put, GSTAC defined an area and split it into nine districts to balance population. At this point GSTAC is actively seeking two representatives from each district to conduct district level meetings to get input from those residents and businesses. District Two comprises San Tan Heights and Borgata. For more information on how you can become more involved in this click the GSTAC link under community links.

A whole community of block watches will be coming online soon.

2008-03-26T17:11:00.012-07:00

In an on going effort to reach out into the community, we've decided to start not only this blog, but a series of web sites for every Community Watch in our area. Several have signed on and we hope to have them all online very soon.

The original intent was to find out what was working in other areas, and of course what was not working. In a meeting with several coordinators a few weeks ago we had an open and candid discussion on the workings of a Community Watch and pooled everyones good ideas. And there were many!

We as a coalition not only strive to make every group in the county stronger by education, but also by being more connected. These new groups will now have a means by which to feed off the successes of the others as well as learn from their missteps.

As a united group we can have a bigger impact to promote, facilitate and help guide new Block Watches. We can in effect become an entity which recreates in new communities good ideas with proven results.