Email Archives
BCA Meeting and Neighbor Needing Help
Date Sent: July 15, 2020
UPCOMING EVENTS
Virtual General Meeting
Thursday, July 16, 2020
via Zoom Video
Dear Neighbor:
I hope that you are well and staying safe. This is a reminder to please attend our next Bannockburn Citizens Association meeting on Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 7:30 pm. For the first time, due to COVID-19 and thanks to Matt Koll, we will have our meeting via Zoom video.
BCA Activity Reports and New BCA Board Member. As usual, the meeting will be an opportunity to hear reports on BCA activities from our several Committee chairs. I will also entertain a motion to elect Matt Koll, our Website Committee Chair, to the BCA Board.
Featured Speaker. The featured speaker next Thursday will be our neighbor Pam Fessler, an award-winning correspondent with NPR News, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues. She will discuss her impressive new book, “Carville's Cure, Leprosy, Stigma, and the Fight for Justice.” Carville, Louisiana, was the site of the only leprosy colony in the United States for much of the 20th Century. There, generations of afflicted Americans were isolated—often against their will and until their deaths. Though shunned by their fellow Americans, patients surprisingly made Carville more a refuge than a prison, and many carved out meaningful lives finding solace, brotherhood, and even love behind the barbed-wire fence. The irony is that leprosy is one of the least contagious diseases. “Carville’s Cure” shows the need to combat misinformation and stigma if we hope to control the spread of illness without demonizing victims and needlessly destroying lives. It is a story that provides important lessons for today. More details are contained on the publisher’s site: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631495038.
Website. Matt Koll, our Website Committee Chair, arranged our BCA meeting via Zoom scheduled for next Thursday. Matt also applied his tech smarts to resuscitate and update our BCA website, http://bannockburncitizens.org/. Let us know if there is anything on the website that appears to need updating or if you have other suggestions to make it useful.
Construction/Trees. Our Covenants Committee chair, Mark Pollak, continues to monitor construction and permit applications in the neighborhood and communicates with owners and builders about compliance with the BCA covenants, which address front and side setbacks and any change to the footprint of the house, among other matters. There is also the issue of tree removal, which is often associated with construction. Many people are concerned with the character of the neighborhood and with global climate change. County regulations and our BCA policies encourage developers and homeowners to preserve the tree canopy in the neighborhood. See the attached link to our website: http://bannockburncitizens.org/covanants-constitution/covenant-faqs.php. If you learn of, or have questions about, a new construction, renovation or sale, email Mark.
Welcome Committee. Gala Voyt and Cecily Abrams visit and welcome new BCA neighbors. You will often know about new neighbors before we do. If you learn of new arrivals to the neighborhood or would like to help on this committee, please email Gala.
Neighborhood Security. The committee, headed by John Hannula, works with our block captains and the county to monitor incidents and make suggestions improve neighborhood security. John also passes along information from the county police. If you have suggestions or wish to volunteer to be a block captain, email John Hannula. Remember: if you see something suspicious, call the police non-emergency number 301-279-8000 or 911 for a crime in progress.
Best Wishes,
Ted Garrett,
BCA President