Special Announcements

Traffic Calming Update (AKA: Mourning Dove Project)
Many residents will remember several years ago that the City of Raleigh's Transportation Department sent out letters concerning a city wide project called "Traffic Calming". This is a program designed to slow down motorist in neighborhoods that have had the highest number of complaints. You may remember that there were two meetings held at the Optimist Center to show residents the proposed plans and to gather feedback. Both meetings were well attended and had a positive outcome.

Update as of November 2008: Mourning Dove Traffic Calming Project is a GO!
After much discussion at the Public Hearing on Nov 4, the City Council has approved the Mourning Dove traffic calming project to continue to move forward. I talked with David Thompson today and he said they have added a four-way stop at Running Cedar and Mourning Dove and will take a close look at the size of some of the curb extensions on Mourning Dove between Six Forks and Old Deer Trail. They may move forward with our project without bundling it another street. I will try to get an estimated time-line from him in the near future. Thanks to everyone for voicing their opinion on this project.

Update as of October 2008: Some neighbors have stressed concerns regarding the markings for the traffic calming devices for Mourning Dove. Most pertain to the size and/or location of the curb extensions and medians. The City has kept a log of these concerns from neighbors and intend to modify the current design. The Mourning Dove traffic calming project is grouped with the Anderson Drive traffic calming project. I believe they have also had some concerns. Per our contact, David Thompson: "Some of the council members have received calls opposing the projects and made the decision to give the public a forum for stating their concerns. The city council always has the right to pull the project if they feel it is not in the public’s best interest. The hearing is November 4th and I would certainly encourage you and your neighbors in support of the project to come and voice your opinion. I personally have not received many calls in oppositions to the project, but according to some of the council members they have received several calls and emails."
Mourning Dove Traffic Calming Public Hearing
Tuesday, November 4, 7pm
City Council Chambers, 222 W. Hargett Street (corner of Hargett & Dawson in downtown)

Update as of August 2008: Many of you may have received a postcard from the City of Raleigh stating that they will be pre-marking the proposted locations for the new traffic calming devices during the week of August 18-22. I believe this means we are still on track for construction to begin in early December (our date had been pushed back slightly from late Nov). View Traffic Calming Map here.

Photos of Traffic Calming Devices installed by the City of Raleigh on Plaza Place:

Median at street entrance

Median at center of street

Curb Extension/Bump Out

Update as of May 2008: Our newly assigned City of Raleigh Project Engineer for the design and construction of the Mourning Dove traffic calming project has given us a status update as of May 2008. Currently, we are still scheduled to be grouped with the Anderson Drive traffic calming. They are in the design stage now. They plan to open the bid process in early August 2008 and will award the job in early October 2008. Construction is estimated to start in late November 2008.

Update as of November 2007: The City of Raleigh Project Engineer for the design and construction of the Mourning Dove traffic calming project has given us a status update as of November 2007. The two other projects that the Mourning Dove traffic calming project was to be bundled with did not fulfill their requirement with the petition signatures. The Project Engineer informed us that the Mourning Dove project alone would be too costly (ie. the contractor would charge a premium for such a small job), so they have another traffic calming project on Anderson Drive which just passed the petition process and design is about to begin. Mourning Dove will be grouped with that project. Both projects are now set to go to bid some time in late spring 2008, with work estimated to being in the summer of 2008.

This is awesome news for our neighborhood! Anyone that lives on Mourning Dove can tell you that too many people speed down the road. The traffic calming includes the use of "medians", "curb extensions", and one "golf cart path" to slow down traffic. These changes DO NOT include any of those temporary speed-bumps that you may have seen in the Brentwood neighborhood. The medians curb extensions, and golf cart path are all attractive and landscaped (the stakeholders have pictures of these).

Pros and Cons
Pros:
* Increased Safety for our children and all residents
* Increased property value (modification are attractive!)
* Will hopefully push "cut through" traffic to Newton and Strickland Road
* A wonderful chance to have some of your tax money work to directly improve your neighborhood.
Cons:
* You will not be able to drive as fast on Mourning Dove
* Mourning Dove will have more curves in it (the curb-extensions are designed to slow down traffic creating a "serpentine" effect)

Traffic Calming Map

Remember, Mourning Dove would not even be on the Traffic Calming list if there weren't a significant number of complaints registered about people speeding. This is something that will significantly benefit those that live directly on Mourning Dove and will benefit the neighborhood as a whole by hopefully getting rid of cut through traffic.

Honeycut Creek Greenway
This greenway trail has been constructed along the Mine Creek corridor north from Crabtree around Shelley Lake and further north along the East Tributary to Long Street. The Honeycutt Creek Greenway project continues this trail along Mine Creek to West Millbrook Middle School/Park and Honey Park north of I 540. Part of this section of the greenway will go through Summerfield North along the creek between Running Cedar and Clear Brook. The trail will then continue and connect to Falls Lake at Raven Ridge Road.

City of Raleigh Park & Greenway Planning web page for Honeycut Creek Greenway.

See map of Segment 1 which runs through part of Summerfield North.

How Much Water Am I Using?
You've probably heard that Mayor Meeker has suggested that we all try to reduce our water usage to 25 gallons per person per day. So you are probably wondering how much you are using now.

Your water bill will show a value, but does not show the unit. That value is per 100 cubic feet of water, which is equal to 748 gallons of water usage.

To calculate your usage:
Look at your most recent water bill.
(number of units) x 748 = number of gallons
(number of gallons) / (number of days in cycle) = number of gallons per day
(number of gallons per day) / (number of people in your house) = number of gallons per person per day

For example, if your bill shows 27 units:
27 x 748 = 20,196 gallons
20,196 gallons / 67 days = 301 gallons per day
301 / 5 people in household = 60 gal/day/person

It will take a concerted effort to reduce from 60 gallons per person per day to 25. Here are some tips from WRAL on how to reduce your household water usage:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/page/1948511/

Raleigh Reduces Water Restrictions
October 2008 - For the first time in 13 months, Raleigh water customers may water their lawns and plants three days a week. The City Council voted 7-1 Tuesday to return to the rules it had in place before last year's drought took hold. The council decided to keep the time restrictions that limit when a customer may operate a sprinkler system and a hose-end sprinkler.
Under the rules that go into effect today, residents with odd-numbered addresses may water lawns and landscapes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Those with even-numbered addresses may water Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Sprinkler systems may operate between midnight and 10 a.m. Sprinklers attached to garden hoses are allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Watering with a hand-held hose is not restricted. Read more details here.

April 7, 2008 starts Stage 1 water restrictions. Read more details here.

February 15, 2008 starts Stage 2 water restrictions. Read more details here.

Secure Your Home Wireless Network
Wireless internet in Raleigh can be had for free at Bear Rock Cafe, Breuggers, Cup-A-Joe, Panera Bread (the list goes on and on), so anyone parked in front of your house with a laptop isn't there for the internet - they're there for your financial data. Home wireless networks in nice neighbohoods are a target for financial and identity thieves.

50% of home wireless networks are secured with WEP, an older wireless security protocol. 25% are secured with the newer WPA protocol. The remaining 25% are not secured at all. As of April 2007, WEP can be broken in less than sixty seconds by any kid that can download "Airsnort" from the internet. Thus 75% of home wireless networks are wide open.

To Do:
1. Secure your home wireless network with WPA. When you set up WPA, use a strong key and be sure to enable MAC-address filtering.

Here are a couple of How-To articles:

http://www.connectedhomemag.com/HomeControls/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=49176

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1277020,00.asp

2. Record the license plate of strangers parked and using a laptop, call the police (911) and email Community Watch at communitywatch@summerfieldnorth.com.

For those of you that aren't computer savvy, there are several high school age SNNA kids that would be willing to lend you a hand. Contact Community Watch and they'll get you in touch.

Please Pick Up After Your Pets
Calling all dog owners! Please remember that City of Raleigh has a leash law and scoop law. We know a majority of our neighbors are responsible and law abiding, however this reminder is for the few that are amiss. Be considerate of your neighbors, their lawns and the law - please keep your dogs on a leash and pick up after your pets. Thank you.