Have you ever heard the term house poor? To me, it means that you have too much house and are just barely making the payments let alone doing any maintenance or having a life. Maybe it’s time to think another way. Wouldn’t it be better to own a home, have a life and keep the house in nice condition or even improve the home? Smaller might be the new better! Smaller means less heating and cooling. Smaller can mean a smaller mortgage too.

What does this have to do with sidewalks - snow and ice? Owning a home goes all the way to the curb and gutter. That means maintaining the sidewalks, taking care of the leaves and yes, removing snow and ice. I know some people think the world is melting but I think the chances of having winter again next year are probably 100%. Wow, I forgot to buy a shovel, I don’t have any ice melt, I don’t have a scraper/brush in my car. Hello, winter comes every year.

I know a local business that is just barely making it. They advertise, they work their tails off. But how about a little common sense. Their parking lot was a skating rink today. All day yesterday it was slush. EASILY shoveled off so it actually could have been dry and the people trying to shop there would not be taking their life in their hands trying to cross the threshold.

WAKE-UP PEOPLE. If they can’t get in your door, how are they gonna spend money in your business. Worse, if they fall in that parking lot, they OWN your business. I saw neighborhood kids walking around with shovels yesterday, they could have done this parking lot in a few minutes.

Owning a home goes all the way to the curb - trees - clean up the leaves, remove the trees when they die or pose a danger to pedestrians and cars, sidewalks and curbs - maintain them for safe walking - somebody falls, they are gonna own your house. A tree limb falls on them, same thing. Snow and ice - needs to be removed. How about a New Year’s Resolution - I will remember winter and have a shovel, ice chopper and salt or other ice melting mix to keep my sidewalks clear and safe for my neighbors.

Ok, I’ve had it with bad news on the 24/7 news shows. It’s time to have some fun. I’m declaring today officially NbNW Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day! We will have other days for other funny stuff throughout the year. Please send me suggestions.

This is from the movie Elf. If you haven’t seen it, go buy it and watch it immediately. It’s funny and it will give you some Christmas Spirit! We should all be a bit more like Buddy!

Have some fun with it!

Here are some gang members posing in front of Liberty High School in front of a police car flashing gang signs and wearing gang colors. This picture was posted on a myspace page of one of the members.

Yes, there are gangs in Bethlehem.  Gangs that you have heard of: Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings and some local groups that usually end up affiliating with a national gang over time.

The danger time for entering a gang starts around 10 years old. The Bethlehem Gang Task Force Members would be happy to do another presentation so parents can see what to look for at home and teachers can see what they should be looking for at school. Perhaps we could do that prior to a movie night or maybe at Nitschmann or Northeast MS.

One teacher was grading some homework and there were doodles on the pages. The teacher wrote a compliment about the “artwork”. Turns out it was the crown for the Latin Kings. Parents and teachers need to know what to be looking for and what to do to keep your kids out of gangs.

While you’re out viewing the lights, visit Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Third Avenue. The church will welcome neighbors, offering cookies and beverages between 5and 6pm.

West Side Moravian and Bethany UCC (corner Market & 5th ) will also be lighting candles, as well as a number of businesses along Broad Street will also be participating.

Come out and enjoy!

C Roysdon

The meeting is set for 7:00p.m. at the Lehigh County Government Center on 7th Street in Allentown on the first floor meeting room directly to the right of the entrance.

If you have any questions, please call me at 610-997-5732.

Wires that attach to the house - you likely have an electrical connection, a telephone connection and at least 1 - 6 cable connections. Yes, I have counted 6 seperate wires attaching to a single building. How those wires are run to your property and to your neighbors can make a difference in the Design of the Streetscape of your block and the value of your property. Wires can come from the street or maybe the alley in the back. Wires should come in perpendicular to the street, not at an angle across your neighbors air space etc. You should only have the connections you need, trying to minimize the duplication etc. Wires go the property and then wire is used INSIDE the building to run to various rooms.

Sidewalks are part of the facade and part of the streetscape of the block. Some people have very nice sidewalks. Some people don’t. Not only does it affect your property value but the value of the whole block. Talk to your neighbors with bad sidewalks. You can save money by all doing it at the same time if everybody needs it!

Street Trees - I recently walked around just about the entire western half of the NbNW Neighborhoods to get the Tree Inventory started. There are some beautiful mature trees….and there are some trees that might cost you your house and your kids college money if it comes down and takes out your neighbors house. PLEASE take a look out the window at the trees that are 36-42 inches wide that are leaning heavily toward your house, the neighbors house or the street, split trunks, all the growth on one side…..DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! Get those looked at by a tree person as soon as you can.

Satellite Dishes - yes, they get rid of the wires and I like that part. What detracts from the facade is when the dish is placed in the easiest possible place for it to make the connection. Dishes belong on the roof - not on the porch or just outside the bay window. How about 1 to a building rather than one for every receiver you have?

Porches/Steps/Doorways/Exterior Lighting - most of the properties in the North by Northwest Neighborhoods are probably at least 75 years old. They have some nice architectural meat on their bones. Don’t dumb down the property by stripping away that detail. Go the extra mile and do it right. Concrete steps should get replaced with poured concrete steps, not wood, not prefab concrete steps that don’t match. Railings should get replaced with what was there originally, not deck sticks for a suburban deck, not plastic. Doorways, I’ll take some pictures today of some doorways I have in mind. You tell me which enhances the value of the property.

Bay Windows - The right windows can make a giant difference in the qualify of life. They can save you money on heating and cooling as well as virtually eliminate outside noise. Double and triple pane windows with argon gas and varying glass thickness can literally repel sound. Restoring the woodwork on your bay window and painting with a multi-colored theme in historic colors can do alot for the value of your house. If your neighbor across the street does it, it can do alot for your view.

Go outside today. Take a fresh look at your block through a visitors eyes. What do you see that can be improved. You would be amazed at what happens when one person does something….other people start doing other things and suddenly, it looks alot better.

This data and the maps that come from the data help us satisfy grant requirements, plan our next planting effort, keep track of trees in case they are removed and not replaced, monitor species in case of infestation or some sort of species blight or other threat, and let’s the City Urban Forester know of trees that need a look that might be a danger to pedestrians, cars and homes.  Look for tree inventory pics once we wrap it up. Hopefully by the end of the year!

Maybe in 3-4 years when we have planted maybe another 500+ trees some of those properties will have changed hands and the new owners might be more receptive to a new tree. Maybe it’s still the same owner and they have changed their minds and will accept the tree.

The registered letters cost $5.71 cents each. The mailing cost for this planting was $1427.50. That’s the cost of 3 trees. I think we had about a 6-8% refusal rate so that’s about 16-18 trees that were refused. You will be able to see who refused by driving down these streets and looking for obvious gaps.  Sometimes it’s just not possible to plant a tree given sidewalk width issues, proximity to driveways and corners etc. so factor that in as well.

Anyway, just wanted to say that we will come back around again and see if we can fill these gaps.