SEPTEMBER, 1996
BROMELY HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION
NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM NEW BHA PRESIDENT

	As the new president of BHA, I have enormous shoes to fill. Sandy
Arlinghaus
and the Bromley Board have done an outstanding job making BHA an active,
visible organization, which seeks to continually impove the quality of
life in
our community. Rather than taking a negative approach of banding together
only
when there is a problem, BHA has taken a more positive approach, and is
visible within city government and the police department. My objective as
president will be to continue taking a positive approach with Ann Arbor's
infrastructure, and extending our sense of community.
	Sandy initiated electronic linkages in our community, and created
an
electronic archive of BHA's activities on the World Wide Web. I intend to
increase our electronic presence on the Web, and would very much like to
see
our community electronically linked via email. Toward that end, I have
established an email account at , and would be
happy
to provide a free email account for anyone in the community who wishes
one. We
will continue to publish a directory of homeowners, to which I would like
to
add email addresses as part of the directory listing for those who wish
it.
Nonetheless, BHA can only be successful when YOU, as a homeowner in this
community become involved. I will make every attempt to be as accessible
as
possible to everyone in OUR community, and I encourage you to call me, or
better yet, email me whenever you have any ideas on how to continue making
Bromley a great place to live.

William E. Arlinghaus (Bill)
Home phone:             313/761-1231
Home voice mail:        313/913-9751
Email:                  bromley@cyberspace.org
Work email:             warlinghaus@umi.com

MEETING OF BROMLEY HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION
AGENDA, SEPTEMBER 6, 1996, 7:30 P.M. THURSTON SCHOOL LIBRARY

1.  INTRODUCTIONS
2.  MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS...PRINTED IN NEWSLETTER.
3.  TREASURER'S REPORT...
4.  OLD BUSINESS
	A.  Pool issues...Kroger fundraiser continues and is going
well...continuing need to advertise it in the Newsletter.
	B.  Possible considerations, should pool renovation occur...Fuller
pool is being renovated; at a recent Planning Commission meeting, comments
about this renovation suggest the possible need to address standards for
persons with disabilities, particularly when renovating a relatively old
structure.  Items that might arise could include the need to provide ramp
access into the pool itself, as well as providing separate, private, areas
in each locker room for "family changing" should a disabled individual
have a caregiver of the opposite sex.  Fuller pool is apparently about 30
years old and information that comes from their renovation might provide
valuable insight, on a variety of topics, now or in the future.
	C.  Concerns of various sorts along Huron Parkway...truck traffic,
possible environmental deterioration arising from a variety of activities
along the edge of the Parkway.
	D.  Friends of Huron
Parkway...http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/huronpkwy
	E.  Thurston Nature Center...liaison work might continue.
	F.  Bromley Park issues
	G.  Old computer recycling...an on-going effort that will
continue--involves commercial establishments, political figures, and so
forth.
	H.  Consideration of indemnification of BHA officers and other
neighborhood organization officers.

5.  NEW BUSINESS
	A.  CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION ISSUED:
	As in the past, it is a pleasure to issue so many certificates of
appreciation, reflective of the great interest people in Bromley have
shown, and continue to show, in their community.  Of course, it may well
be the case that someone has been inadvertently overlooked; please be
assured that BHA wishes to rectify any errors.  Report omissions to any
board member, and a certificate will be issued along with an addendum in a
forthcoming newsletter.  Appreciation is for all deeds, great or small.
It is the sum that works well--when people set aside their differences and
work together, in a constructive and cooperative manner, to build a better
community.  The Bromley Homeowners' Association thus honors the following
individuals:

Sandy Arlinghaus, Rajeev Batra, Elfriede Hofacker, Joan Johnstone, Ron
Sakowski, Howard Schafer, Irene Stock, Colleen Thurston;

Charles Engle, Phil Zaret, Joseph Gasiorek, Scott McConnell;

Sheryl Manning Anderson, Therese Anderson, Mary Kay Barkley, Julie Barr,
Myra Dennis, Wendy Keeney, Beverly Kraker, Maureen Levens, Ed Lewis, Linda
Lake McCall, Linda Petrie, Jackie Rice, Carrie Sercel, Jo-Ann Socha,
Priscilla Spencer;

David Ager, Alfonso Bonilla, Barbara Chamness, Ken and Rebecca Crawford,
Gene Dennis, Tony Gasiorek, Charlie Heldsinger, Larry Jaffe, Mike and Mark
Lovdahl, Connie Mahowald, Joe Mahowald, Orchard Hills Athletic Club,
Dorothy Parker, Howard Parker, Derwin Passan, Janice Pierce, Alan Riggs,
Jan Riggs, Gene Rye, Dave Thurston, Cosmas Vandeven, Sally Vandeven;

Ray Anderson, William C. Arlinghaus, William E. Arlinghaus, Rosalyn
Barclay, The Beechler's Household, Paula Campbell, Mary Ann Gasiorek, The
Hewens' Household and Rose garden, Erich Hofacker, Jane Immonen, Carol
Kell, Shari McConnell, Sharon Mudd, Dora Reader, Lillian Rogers, Jeanne
Schafer, Stella Steiner, Janice Tice;

Ron Collins, Anne Dakes, Jody Linn, Richard Teske;

Adele Akouri, Andrea Brown, Jean Carlberg, Alicia Green, Karen Popek Hart,
Jane Lumm, Wendy Rampson, Ingrid Sheldon.

	B.  STATE OF BROMLEY
	This year, instead of the customary recapitulation of the various
success over the past year, we offer a more abstract statement of the
State of Bromley.  The impetus to write it came from Ann Arbor City
Council Member and Planning Commissioner Jean Carlberg, who asked if we
had some sorts of materials for neighborhood association guidelines, based
on experience.

PACKET FOR NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS, BASED ON A SEVEN YEAR TRIAL IN A
NEIGHBORHOOD OF 231 HOUSEHOLDS IN NORTHEAST ANN ARBOR (BROMLEY HOMEOWNERS'
ASSOCIATION).

SUGGESTIONS BASED ON COMMON SENSE AND DIRECT EXPERIENCE

UNDERLYING CONCEPT--COMMUNITY UNITY:
	Success as a community arises from bringing individuals together
as an informed unit; it is the union of individual effort, that comes when
people set aside their differences and work together, in a constructive
and cooperative manner, that yields community unity.  Any activities that
foster such unity are of value.  This concept is likely to apply to any
community of any size; the manner of implementation of the concept may
differ, however, depending on size of the community entity.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

 Register the neighborhood organization with the Planning Department in
City Hall.  The city maintains a list of all organizations and informs
organization contact people about events in or near (within 300 feet) of
their neighborhood.  It is useful to have the contact person have a
computer and to be the person who writes about the content that is sent
out by the City.  When the contact person changes, make certain the new
person calls immediately and registers the change of address.

 Hold well-organized meetings, with a formal agenda.  Keep them short and
to the point; consider inviting guest speakers from the City (a Council
person, a police officer, and so forth; many governmental, public, and
private organizations have outreach facilities for providing speakers).

 Styles of topics
 	Reactive:  often neighborhood organizations are active only when
the neighborhood is upset--well organized neighborhood organizations can
exert a great deal of clout in such matters, especially when they consult
with other neighborhood organizations and spend time talking to each other
prior to trips to City Hall.
 	Creative:  often overlooked, this approach can do much to prevent
the need for an organization to become reactive.  Study the issues
surrounding the neighborhood.  Get to know the people outside the
neighborhood that are involved, including representatives in City Hall and
staff in City Hall.  Adopt a viewpoint that all who live in Ann Arbor are
naturally interested in the welfare of the city are are probably not
likely to intentionally cause great difficulty within any single locale.
Remember, City Hall is staffed by people, too.  Indeed, good manners are
appreciated by all...try a thank-you note when you are helped by a city
staff person.  The networks that are established by a neighborhood
organization, when it is not functioning in crisis mode, are likely to be
of great value on a continuing basis.

 Establish the neighborhood organization as a non-profit organization with
a Board of Directors and officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary,
and Treasurer, or some such categorization).  Create By-Laws for the
neighborhood organization--consider collecting existing By-Laws from
similar neighborhoods.

 Allow volunteers (board members) to do what they are good at.  Do not
require them to each take a turn at something most dislike.  Find a way
around the disliked task, or find someone who likes it.  An unhappy
volunteer is likely to soon become an ex-volunteer.  

 Reward volunteers--have a picnic; have them at a board member's home who
enjoys entertaining for coffee and dessert, or some such.  Develop a
spirit of unity on the board, itself.  The spirit at the center will
diffuse to the rest of the neighborhood.

 Reward anyone who helps the neighborhood in any way, great or
small...consider a certificate of appreciation awarded by the neighborhood
organization to the individual.

 Charge nominal dues to join the neighborhood organization--$5 or $10 a
year can go a long way when many households join in.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVITIES TO FOSTER UNITY:

 Newsletter--a monthly newsletter, delivered to all residences (whether or
not they pay dues) does much to promote unity--it keeps people in touch
with established neighborhood organization, with networks outside the
neighborhood, and of course informs neighbors of successes and problems
associated with the neighborhood.  It is just as important to share the
positive as the negative (perhaps more so); hearing of the positive, on a
regular basis, helps to build interest and pride in the community.  When a
problem arises, there is an interested body of individuals who already
know where their strengths lie, ready to work together to solve the
problem.  Thus, frequent publication of a newsletter, rather than a large
packet a few times a year, is important.  Neighborhood resources can work
together to produce the newsletter--children to deliver it (pay them),
people with computer graphics expertise to produce it, and so forth.  It
is easier to produce a newsletter when a number of neighbors pitch in what
they are good at.  Annual dues can cover this cost.

 Neighborhood Directory--an annual directory, arranged alphabetically by
last name, and by street address, is a useful tool.  Deliver it to all
households.  The directory can be made to be self-sustaining, and not
funded by annual dues, if local merchants (not from franchises...they
often have some other firm do the advertising) are offered the opportunity
to purchase a quarter, half, or full page (for, say, $25, $50, or $100).
To make the offer attractive, the merchants should know that all homes in
the neighborhood will receive the directory, that they may put a coupon on
their ad (then produce the advertising single-sided or someone else's ad
might get cut), and that funds collected from advertising will be used to
produce the directory and that extra funds will be used to develop a
program of neighborhood grants.

 Neighborhood Grants--extra money can be used to improve the neighborhood.
Advertise a grant program in the newsletter.  Use the money to give a book
to the local school library with a bookplate indicating that the gift is
from the neighborhood association; use it to plant extra flowers
somewhere; use it to take out newspaper ads for neighborhood-wide
functions such as garage sales and the like.  Grant monies might also be
used to give neighborhood-wide parties or to sponsor other social
activities that foster unity.  The possibilities are endless, and once the
Neighborhood Organization makes it known to the neighborhood that such
monies are likely to become available, the calls from interested people
are likely to start coming in.

 Extra care--involve young people in neighborhood activities, at as early
an age as possible.  Offer free advertising in the newsletter for young
people who wish to mow lawns and the like.  Learn where homes are with
individuals who are infirm; if there is a power outage, call a neighbor to
check on them.  Indeed, if there is a power outage, call a number of
widely spaced homes to see if each has power...then the community
organization can call Edison and report a whole block of outages and
improve Edison's efficiency.  Extra care can be varied in numerous ways in
response to highly localized needs.




LINKAGES WITH OTHER NETWORKS THAT FOSTER UNITY

 Maintain an active Neighborhood Watch group; consider having an exposed
(rather than a clandestine) network and publishing the names of the block
captains and their phone numbers in the newsletter and the directory (with
a map in the directory showing the locations of all homes in the
neighborhood--with the idea that an informed neighborhood is a safer
neighborhood).  Work with Adele Akouri in the Police Department; with her
help, designate a head in the neighborhood.  The head should learn to know
community police officers, as well as Adele.  Try to maintain a set of
homeowners who form a line-of-sight network to serve as block captains.
Have the Homeowners' Association work closely with the Neighborhood Watch
Head in the neighborhood and with Adele.

 Other neighborhood organizations.  Consider investing grant monies in
other neighborhood organizations--a local swimming pool or other common
facility.

 Maintain an active, useful archive of neighborhood materials.  One way to
do this is to put old newsletters on-line:  on a Web Page or available by
File Transfer Protocol (ftp).  Other ways might involve local libraries.
All too often, neighborhood archives become scattered and lost as
volunteers move or become overwhelmed.  It is a shame to lose track of
what went before; studying archives can help new people not to re-invent
the wheel and help them to channel their creativity in focused, useful
activity.  Bromley Homeowners' Association archive:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/bha

6.  ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS FOLLOWED BY (IF DESIRED) ELECTION OF NEW
OFFICERS FOR 1996-97 (September to September).

Up for election for a two year term---vote for not more than four:

Bill Arlinghaus
Rajeev Batra
Elfriede Hofacker
Howard Schafer
Other:  write in below

The four above were elected.  Thus the current board includes the seven
who were previous board members and Bill Arlinghaus (replacing Sandy
Arlinghaus).