OCT. 12: GHNA Neighborhood Meeting

OCT. 21: Chili Cookoff

NOV. 4: Pine Straw Sale

NOV. 23: Thanksgiving

NOV. 20-24: Fulton County Schools Holidays

DEC. 21: Last Day of Semester Fulton County

DEC. 22-29: Fulton County Schools Winter Break

Calendar of Events

Fall 2017 www.GlenridgeHammond.com

GHNA FALL 2017 EVENTS

Our GHNA Annual Meeting will be Oct. 12 from 7:30 – 9 p.m. at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church, 471 Mount Vernon Hwy. Our brief agenda includes approval of

the 2018 GHNA Board of Directors and Officers and approval of GHNA Bylaws Revisions. Our guest speaker, Principal Chuck Gardner of Riverwood High School will share insights on education in Sandy Springs.

2018 GHNA Board Nominations are being accepted by the Nominating Committee. If you would like to make our neighborhood a better community by serving as an officer, board member or committee member please contact me at oppyga@gmail.com.

Go to www.ghna.net/bylaws to review our proposed bylaws. Please email me at oppyga@gmail.com with any comments and suggestions.

Thank you to GHNA’s Board and volunteers whose work promotes community identity, pride and security. The fabulous work of The Yardian Angels, the GHNA newsletter, social gatherings, Thirsty Thursdays, the GHNA FB page and our entrance sign give GHN a sense of place.

• GHNA fights to protect our families’ quality of life and preserve the single- family-home character through the City’s Next Ten Zoning Process and the defeat of proposed high-density townhomes on Hilderbrand Drive.

• The GHNA Board engages with Sandy Springs to represent our interests, improve the appearance of Hammond Drive, and reporting code violations, one of which ultimately led to the demolition of a hazardous and condemned home on Hilderbrand Drive.

• GHNA held its first program with Sandy Springs Detective Cory Begeal about how we can increase safety, heighten neighbor awareness and prevent crime.

• The first fact finding “Traffic Calming Meeting” was held with the City Sept. 15 to learn we must work collaboratively among GHN neighbors and Sandy Springs’ Traffic Department to increase safety. Five neighborhoods are already underway with this initiative Positive outcomes are a process of GHN neighbors working together. For your concerns to be addressed, you must participate as part of GHNA’s Traffic Calming Committee. We too wish traffic issues would magically go away with a FB post or an e-mail!

I hope to see you Oct. 21 at 12-2 pm for the GHNA Chili Cook Off at the Hammond Hills Pool. Come greet neighbors and enjoy festivities ... for children and adults. On Nov. 4, the GHNA Fall 2017 Pine Straw deliveries are scheduled — place your orders ASAP!

Thank you to Board members and volunteers who have accomplished so much to make our neighborhood a better place to live!

Steve Oppenheimer, GHNA President oppyga@gmail.com

President’s Message

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Do you see something suspicious, or something that just needs fixing? There’s an app for that.

To report non emergency issues to the city of Sandy Springs, you may either call the Sandy Springs Response Cen-ter at (770) 730-5600 or download the Sandy Springs Works App. The App lets you report and track non-emergen-cy issues by dropping a marker on the map where you notice a concern and/or sending a picture and answering a few questions.

Search for the Sandy Springs Works App on iTunes or visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sandy-springs-works/id913359744?mt=8

For all suspicious behavior, please call 911 immediately.

Neighborhood Alert

The Yardian Angels took a well-deserved break during the hot summer months but are back, beautifying our neighborhood. The Yardian Angels is a

benevolent volunteer group of neighbors helping neigh-bors in order to enhance a sense of community in Glenridge- Hammond. We work for one hour on Saturday mornings

helping our neighbors-in-need with a bit of temporary assistance in their front yard. We undertake a multitude of chores and charge no fees. When our help is not requested, we tackle other

areas in need of improvement for the beauti-fication of our neighborhood. We meet on Saturday mornings, 8-9 a.m., and welcome new volunteers. A special proj-ect we have launched this fall is a neighborhood competition to find the most vine-covered trees. Nominate a tree (or 2 or 3) and The Yardian Angels may select it for vine removal. To learn more about the competition and how to submit an entry, contact Karen at karenwilkens@bellsouth.net. Entries need to be submitted by October 15.

GHNA Board of Directors & VolunteersSteve Oppenheimer, PresidentBob Lepping, President-Elect and VPRebekah Barr, VPFax Reynolds TreasurerElizabeth Graber, SecretaryDoug Faciglia, Past PresidentErik Boemanns, ParliamentarianMembers at Large: Karla Avery, Michael WilliamsEditor: Liesl MerkelYardian Angels: Karen WilkinsPine Straw Sale: Ernie HarrisVolunteers: Lynn Wyatt

Neighbors,It’s me, Sandy Springs Fox. As many of you know, I have recently been

ordered to complete a fairly significant amount of community service following an unfortunate misunderstanding regarding a neighbor’s trash (and some quite frankly offensive allegations about a missing squirrel). Accordingly, I’m here to offer my services to assist with any of your Sandy Springs related queries. Got a question about local wildlife? I’ve got an answer. Want to know who is legally responsible for the tree that fell from your neighbor’s yard? I can tell you. Curious about the potential socio-economic implications of a conflict with North Korea? Like all foxes, I can explain that. Starting with the next publication of the Glenridge Hammond Neighborhood Association’s critically acclaimed biannual newsletter, I’ll be sharing my responses to some of your more interesting concerns. In the meantime, I’ll also be providing occasional updates via our facebook group. I’m here for you.

Please submit your questions to AskSSFox@gmail.com.

Yardian Angels

Yardian Angels hard at work

Overgrown curb in need of Yardian Angels’ magic touch

Your Membership is ImportantThe neighborhood association is our advocate to the City of Sandy Springs on issues from zoning to public works to traffic and safety. The dues also improve and enrich our neighborhood through beautification projects and social events. Please help us out by paying your membership dues. Please see the insert for more information.

www.ghna.net/membership

Family fun and bouncy houses at last year’s cookoff.

Glenridge Hammond Neighborhood Association THURSDAY, OCT. 12, 7:30 – 9 P.M.MT. VERNON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH471 MOUNT VERNON HWY., ATLANTA, GA 30328

Please join your GHN neighbors for updates and Q&A. Vote upon approval of the 2018 GHNA Board of Direc-

tors and GHNA Bylaws Revision. Our guest speaker will be Charles Gardner-Principal Riverwood International Charter School. He is an innovative educational leader, speaker, and consultant with extensive experience in a variety of educational settings. This creates value for customers by building relationships and involving the community to positively impact student learning, staff collegiality, and school culture.

Riverwood High School Principal Chuck Gardner

Annual Meeting Notice

Thirsty ThursdayFor over a decade, the ladies of the

Glenridge Hammond Neighborhood have gathered on the first Thursday of each month to catch up and socialize. It is a great way to meet your neighbors, make new friends and learn about what is going on in the neighborhood. Each month, Thirsty Thursday is hosted by one of our neighbors who chooses our theme: Wine Tasting, Movie Night, Jew-elry Making or Holiday Gift Exchange. Look at the neighborhood Facebook page for information about our Annual Progressive Dinner. The date is yet to be determined, but will likely be around the holidays. I hope you’ll join us for a fun party held at three different homes.

For more information, please contact Molly Kittrell: molly.escott@gmail.com.

Traffic Calming The city has plans to work

with neighborhoods on Traffic Calming and Traffic Issues. Last year, the GHNA formed commit-tee comprised of volunteers from different areas of the neighbor-hood. The objective of this com-mittee is to identify problems and remain actively involved to

implement corrective measures once the top issues are identified. The committee will regularly work with the city on possible solutions and collaborate with neighbors on the proposed solutions. For many issues, neighbor consensus (i.e. those most impacted by the problem) will need to be obtained if corrective measures are to be taken since we do not have a homeowners association.

The first objective once the committee was formed was to identify the “problem areas” that impact our neighborhood everyday. These were related to traffic, miss-ing street signs, right of way concerns. The committee will continue to meet to solve traffic problems within our neighborhood. If you are interested in joining this commit-tee, please contact Steve Oppenheimer at oppyga@gmail.com.

Neighborhood Chili Cookoff Come join your neighbors for a fun fall event!

The Chili Cookoff & Cocktail Competition SATURDAY OCTOBER 21 AT 12 P.M.

To enter the competition, please bring a crock pot with your favorite chili (we’ll supply everything else) and/or a favorite fall cocktail.

We’ll have bouncy houses and hot dogs for the kids. We look forward to seeing you there!

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY MEETINGWe recently held a neighborhood safety meeting with Detective Cory Bengeal to dis-cuss recent crimes. We have had many cars broken into and a few homes burglarized.

At the meeting, Detective Bengeal gave us some ideas that will make our neighborhood safer and less attractive to criminal behavior.

• Lighting is a top priority — Make sure that your home is well lit at night and have secu-rity lights that automatically go on when they sense movement.

• Clear debris and bushes that hide your home. If you can’t see your home from the street, robbers can hide from passers-by and will have plenty of time to break in. We are blessed to have our neighborhood Yard-ian Angels, and they may be able to help if you cannot manage this yourself. You can contact Yardian Angels at karenwilkens@bellsouth.net.

• Fortify your door jambs by installing Longer screws to make kicking in your door much more difficult.

• Mail theft has been occurring — lock your mailbox if possible and do not mail checks

from your mailbox.

• Have door chimes activated so you will be alerted if you door is opened.

• If you have a security system (which you should), register it with Sandy Springs (it’s a law)

• If you have a safe — bolt it to the floor — or they will just take the whole thing!

• Have something handy (next to your bed) to protect yourself — a golf club might be handy.

• Have a plan with your family in case of fire or invasion.

Detective Bengeal will be happy to do a free home assessment if you email him at cbegeal@sandysprings.gov. He will schedule an appointment with you.

Other topics discussed:

• Freeze your credit with the credit agencies — especially in light of the Equifax breach.

• Register your pets with Smart911 — in an emergency they will know what animals to look for.

He closed the meeting with a discussion of how important it is to call 911 if you see ANYTHING suspicious — a person driving around, a person walking who looks out of

place, cars driving through the neighborhood that seem to be abnormal.

— Bob Lepping

FOURTH OF JULY PARADEWe were glad to see the all-American tradition of the GHNA Fourth of July Parade return to our neighborhood. Thank you to Emily Langdon for revitalizing the parade and coordinating with Sandy Springs police. Decorated bikes, wagons and scooters filed down Glenforest Road from Glenridge to the pool.

Neighbors and children of all ages partici-pated, and a Sandy Springs police officer greeted the revelers at the pool.

Spring Block Party Recap With great food, company, cocktails, snow

cones and cotton candy, the 3rd Annual GHNA Spring Block Party on April 29 was a huge success. We had great weather and an even better turn out, with both long time as well as new neighbors socializing and meeting one another. This year we added a toddler playground bouncy house to keep the little ones safe and entertained, and a cocktail competition. Congratulations again to Bob and Lisa Lepping for winning first place with their drink called The Greenbrier.

Thank you to all the volunteers who made the event the success that it was!

— Rebekah Barr

Fourth of July Parade participants

Detective Cory Bengeal joined the meeting