Update: Crime Watch - First Meeting

Despite the weather, the residents of Devon-Aire HOA #1 held their first Crime Watch meeting this past Wednesday and it was a success.  We want to thank all residents that attended in spite of the light rain & wind. We would also like to thank everyone who went door to door to find those willing to participate.  You should have already noticed the Crime Watch signs have gone up at all three entrances.  The Police officers in attendance went over crime statistics, crime trends as well as safety tips.  They also went over what we should be on the lookout for.

If you attended the meeting, but did not receive a contact list, please let us know and we will get that information to you.  If you find any information on the contact list incorrect please let us know and we will update it.

Here are a few important notes:

• Please report any suspicious activity to the Police.
• Please do not engage individuals exhibiting suspicious behavior.  Let the Police sort that out.
• Report any non-emergency suspicious behavior by calling (305) 476-5423 or (305) 476-5423. Only call 911 if it's an emergency.
• Provide as much detail about what you observe when calling the Police.
• After calling the Police, please contact your block captain or contact Jeff Kaslofsky or Carlos Amézaga with what you saw so we can alert other residents.
• Stay alert for cars which may be slowly circling the neighborhood.

We will schedule another meeting with our Crime Watch partners in 4 to 6 months.  We would like to thank Alina Lopez from Citizen's Crime Watch and Officer Aluart for facilitating Wednesday's meeting.

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Devon-Aire K8 Center Town Hall Meeting Regarding Florida Turnpike/Killian Parkway Ramp Project

We have been notified by the Devon-Aire K8 PTSA that School Board Rep. Carlos Curbelo  will be holding a Town Hall meeting regarding the proposed Florida Turnpike/Killian Parkway express lane ramps.  This proposed ramp is expected to divert 7,500 cars to Killian to use these new ramps at a cost of up to $6 a trip.  Its is of course inevitable that the increased traffic will have a negative impact on our community and to children attending school there as well as those using Devon-Aire Park for extracurricular activities.  The meeting is scheduled for October 28th at 6PM and will be held at the school.  Please support our local school by attending this very important meeting.

As an update regarding the Florida Turnpike/Killian Parkway Ramp Project, we have been told that the project has been temporarily put on hold, however this does not mean that the project has been canceled.  We want to thank all Devon-Aire Estates, Devon-Aire Villas & other surrounding community residents that attended the October 3rd public hearing.  In all, 190 residents showed up despite FDOT/Turnpike complete lack of community outreach.  Those individuals that showed up did so by mostly by word of mouth.  Because of the overwhelming negative reaction FDOT received at that meeting, they have temporarily postponed the project.  This is of course why residents will need to continue to express to our local elected officials that this proposed ramp is not in the best interests of our community.

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Updated: Notice of Annual Meeting & Budget Meeting

UPDATED

Mailings have been sent out to all residents of Devon-Aire Villas HOA #1 advising them of the upcoming November 5^th Budget Meeting and the December 10^th Annual Meeting for elections.

The November 5^th Budget meeting will be held at 7:30PM.

As for the December 10^th Annual Meeting, sign-in will commence at 7:15PM and the meeting will promptly start at 7:30PM.

As part of the mailer, you will have also received the a candidate form as well as the 2014 proposed budget.  If you have not received a copy of this notice by postal mail, please Contact Us or our property manager, Scott Galya, by calling (305) 251-0777.

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Burglary Devon-Aire Villas #1 West 10/8/2013

A burglary has occurred at 12212 SW 110th Lane.  The resident's children returned home after school to find that the back sliding glass door had been smashed.  The resident reported that the burglar took several valuables from the home.  Anyone with any information is asked to please contact MDPD at (305) 476-5423 as well as Contact Us.

We will be having our first Crime Watch meeting Oct 23rd at 7PM.  We are asking for as many folks to show up as possible.  Click Here for more information. 

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Crime Watch: First Meeting

It has been a few months, but members of the community have managed to organize the first Crime Watch meeting for Devon-Aire Villas HOA # 1.  The meeting has been tentatively scheduled for October 23rd at 7PM.  It will be held on the West Side parking lot.  Click Here for location.  Organizers will be calling those of you who indicated that you would be interested in attending.  The meeting will be short and we encourage everyone to attend. A representative for Citizen's Crime watch along with an MDPD Officer will be at this meeting to discuss details.

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Metro Dade Citizens Police Academy Graduation

Jeff Kaslofsky, our Board President, recently attended and graduated Metro Dade's Citizens Police Academy.  The Citizens Police Academy is designed by Metro Dade to give individuals a better understanding of police work within the county. Jeff attended each class once a week for 13 weeks and did so after the recent crime wave which hit our community several month ago. His goals was to get a better understanding about police work which included the understanding of tactical and philosophical approaches to crime used by law enforcement. During the course, Jeff accompanied a patrol officer during an entire 8 hour shift. Jeff graduated from the course on September 23rd, 2013.  Congratulations Jeff!

Metro Dade county offers up the Citizens Police Academy once or twice a year and the course is free to the public.  We highly encourage you to attend this course.  For information on how to attend, you can contact Sergeant Joe Bermudez at the MDPD Public Information and Education Bureau at (305) 471-1716.

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Florida Turnpike's Proposed Killian Parkway Ramp: The Creation of Designer Roadways

The Board attended the second public hearing that was facilitated by Florida Representative Frank Artiles on Oct 3rd. From what we learned at their presentation and what we already knew, the Board spoke out in opposition to the project as it would have an adverse affect in our and other surrounding communities.  What we have learned is very disturbing and we urge you to contact Rep. Frank Artiles and express your concerns.   We also urge you to visit http://rollbacktolls.com get more information related to the proposed Killian Parkway ramp as well as their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollbacktolls to voice your concerns.  It is important to also remember, that this not only affects us at Devon-Aire Villas, but all surrounding communities.  Please pass this on to anyone that you know will be affected.

This is what we knew up until October 3rd.  On August 15th we were notified by Devon-Aire PTSA, that they were made aware a proposed Turnpike Ramp right in the middle of a residential area.  Apparently FDOT held a public hearing on August 6th at a meeting place in Bird Road about 10 miles away from the affected area and did not adequately notify local residents which would explain why only 5 residents showed up to that meeting.  They later claimed on the Oct 3rd meeting, that they sent out 67,000 mailings to alert the community of the project which is not true.  When the DAK8 PTSA notified local residents, many were very mad because of the lack of information regarding the project and secondly the proximity to the school and surrounding homes.  To put things in perspective:

• The proposed ramp will be constructed at the top of the turnpike overpass.
• DAK8 is just 300 yards away from Killian Parkway.
• DAK8 is about 600 yards away from the proposed ramp.
• Between the proposed ramp, there are already two traffic signals to which they propose to add a third right traffic signal at the top of the overpass.  That would mean that all three signals will be about 400 yards apart which will slow traffic further.
• That would of course further congest an already congested roadway, slow down traffic more and make things even more dangerous for pedestrian, joggers, children, etc... which either cross Killian or use the overpass on a daily bases to get to and from the 117th Ave shopping center.
• The new proposed ramp would be another accident magnet.  Any accident occurring on this ramp will trap cars between 122nd Ave & 117th Ave traffic lights with no way of escape.  That will of course only serve to further back up traffic as their are no routes that can get around that area without heading towards Kendall Drive or 120th St.
• Traffic on Killian Parkway in morning rush hour already extends to 137th Ave in the morning alone.

What I have listed above however is something you hear all the time when communities try to fight roadway expansions.  We contacted Representative Frank Artiles office when we first learned of the project and he was successful in facilitating the Oct 3rd hearing, but FDOT again did very little to communicate this new meeting to affected residents.  With some word of mouth and some community involvement we did get a lot of people show up, but the FDOT still provided little information or provided few answers to those attending.  What we did learn there really pales in caparison to what we now know about the project and how a State Government that claims they are pro consumer are actually attempting to gouge their own citizens.  So here is what we now know:

The Turnpike is a very congested roadway and the FDOT has done nothing to add new expressway systems further west as the population expanded there over time.  That of course leads to mass congestion in existing expressways.  Their solution for the Turnpike is to add designer express lanes on an already tolled system.

• The ramp they want to add to Killian would only be for access to an express lane system within the Turnpike expressway.
• The proposed Killian parkway ramp alone is set to cost over 26 Million dollars.
• The cost for this one way ride on the express lanes can be tolled up to 6 dollars for a one way non-stop ride to the 836 with some stating that over time that dollar figure can go up.
• There are already two ramps within 3 miles of each other which sit between the proposed Killian Parkway ramp in non-residential areas of which FDOT is refusing to consider for these express lanes. That would be the ramps at Kendall Drive & SW 120th St.
• Each of these two existing ramps receive about 45,000 cars daily, but this proposed ramp is only expected to receive 7,000 vehicles which would use these express lanes.

So therein lies the problem.  The FDOT is catering to the more affluent in the community which would be willing to shell out up to 6 dollars a trip while the rest of those using this toll road would remain stuck in traffic.  We, just like those who can afford this exorbitant toll, have to go to work everyday to feed their families but can not afford to spend up to $240 a month on a gouging toll.  The FDOT has chosen to create designer roadways for the more affluent in the community to bypass the less affluent.  This is outrageous and it’s not what the government should be doing.

What I described above is a trend that State Governments nation wide, pinched for cash, will being doing more of.  We are just the guinea pigs in this very expensive & ill conceived experiment.  RollBackTolls took video of the the Oct 3rd meeting and will be placing segments of the meeting online soon.  Please contact Florida Representative Frank Artiles to express your concerns.

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