Reminder: Oella HOA Cleanup May 16 at 11am

Meet behind Long Brick Row (~748 Oella Ave) or organize a group in your area. We'll spruce up the street, the trail, and flower beds. More details will come closer to the event.

Refreshments will be provided courtesy of a generous neighbor.

Compiling Oella Business List

The blogger is compiling a current list of Oella owned and operated businesses to post on a page on the Oella HOA website. Many residents have expressed their interest in supporting local businesses, so we should encourage that.

If you live in Oella and own a local business (local being within ~20 minute drive) or if you live outside of Oella but run a business in Oella, please contribute the information by commenting on this post.

Please provide the business address, contact info, website (if available), and a brief description (one sentence).

Banneker Earth Day Festival Sat April 25

Be kind to the Earth by celebrating outdoors at Banneker’s Park with a free barbecue cookout. The day also includes a nature hike, an interactive recycling presentation, tree and flower planting, workshops on container gardening, hiking, compost bin and birdhouse building, a native plant sale, and an opportunity to meet live Bay animals from the Marshy Point Nature Center. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 300 Oella Ave., Catonsville, and is free. For information, call 410-887-1081 or visit the site linked above.

Etc.

A few announcements:

1) Board meetings have moved to the third Monday of each month. The new schedule takes effect in May (May 18).

2) Website improvements and updates are coming. It will take a little while to get them finished. Please be patient. We have a new webmaster who has to sort through lots of code.

3) Some members have indicated that they sent notes to the HOA along with dues payments in 2008, and they are upset that no response from the board was received. Dues payments were sent to the accounting firm, which did not have anything to do with HOA matters other than money. They did not notify the board of such notes, nor did they forward the notes to the board. Please route all requests through our community manager Ruthann Shae (rshae@communitymanagers.net).

4) Ruthann is on vacation this week. Her assistant can help with urgent matters. Non-urgent items will be addressed upon her return.

5) Grass mowing should happen this week in ALL areas. Between the rain and the fact that the HOA has a new landscaping company, some areas were skipped last week. If your area is not mowed by Friday afternoon, please let Ruthann know.

6) The management company will begin property inspections soon. These will happen over the course of a few days.

Reminder: Oella Benefit Ball this Saturday April 25

Tickets are still available. Food by the Phoenix. Desserts by Mrs. B's Confections. Music by Appalooza Band. Proceeds benefit Baltimore Cares About Pets.

$40/person. Call Chris (of Baltimore Pet Pals) 443-220-6764 or visit www.baltimorecaresaboutpets.com for tickets.

[or click on link above]

Hats off to local rescue group Spay Maryland

The blogger had the pleasure to visit the cats at Spay Maryland. This Oella organization provides low-cost spaying and neutering, and also cares for rescue cats. Many of the cats are available for adoption.

www.spaymaryland.org

Spay Maryland is doing some incredible work rehabilitating the now semi-famous Oella resident, Stewie, the cat who survived a house fire. Stewie is an incredibly personable cat who had an unfortunate brush with death. Thanks to his excellent care, Stewie is slowly getting better. For updates on Stewie's conditon, check out the Stewie blog:

http://stewieonthemend.blogspot.com/

Also, Baltimore Cares About Pets, the organization that will benefit from the Oella Ball, is raising funds to help cover Stewie's medical expenses. Find out how you can help:

http://www.baltimorecaresaboutpets.org/Home.html

It's baa-aack! Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard season is creeping up on us. Originally brought to the states for food and medicinal purposes, this highly invasive weed is taking over our forest. It crowds out native plant species, and it changes the soil chemistry. If you see it, pull it out, bag it up, and discard it. DO NOT put it in the compost pile--it will come back to haunt you.

You can actually cook with garlic mustard. Cook it as you would other greens, or try the recipe below. Who can't use some free food? Take as much as you like from the forest.


Garlic Mustard Pesto
by Jennifer Chesworth, Centre Hall, Pennsylvania

1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Pine Nuts or Walnuts
1/2 Cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese
Enough Garlic Mustard leaves to choke a horse (or to clear a forest floor)

Finely mince the walnuts and garlic mustard. An electric coffee grinder works like a charm. Add Oil and Cheese, serve with pasta or rice or other whole grain. For vegan pesto use Nutritional Yeast instead of Cheese.

Harvesting Garlic Mustard: take out the entire plant including the roots early in the season before it has a chance to flower. Young first leaves are best for pesto (and for salads or as a steamed green). Use only the leaves for this recipe. Remove the roots from the area you are clearing as they will re-establish themselves if left in a pile on the ground. If you pull up garlic mustard after it has flowered beware as it will develop the seedhead even after it is pulled from the ground.

Landscaping to-do list

Mowing was to begin today, but had to be pushed back because of the rain. It will probably be done Thursday or Friday.

The HOA has a very long landscape maintenance/improvement wish list. Good landscaping helps property values, and beautiful plants improve quality of life.

Here is a list of pending landscape items (completion subject to budgetary constraints, dues collection):

-removal of dead poplar tree at Stone Row; removal of two dead willows at Spring Street
-possible replacement of Spring Street trees with redbuds
-possible planting of three small flowering trees at Long Brick Row
-possible removal of Spring Street forsythia bush and Pleasant Hill steps bush
-receiving estimates to fix Mary Jo Way>>>Short Brick Row drainage problem (water gushes down the hill from MJW to SBR) possible planting of more trees & plants on slope

Should our landscaping grants come through, and depending on the status of the landscaping budget in the Fall, other work may be completed this year. Numerous landscaping issues need to be addressed in the coming years.

Oella HOA property inspections in early May

The management company plans to perform property inspections over the course of several days in early May. They will be looking for maintenance issues such as peeling paint, weeds, damaged wood, untidy yards, and vehicles with expired tags (or no parking tags at Short Brick Row, Long Brick Row, and Spring Street). They will also be looking for unapproved architectural changes. Residents whose properties have violations will be notified by the management company. Failure to comply may result in fines.

Tidy homes in good repair help keep property values up---an important consideration in this economic climate.

You can further help your housing value by contributing to the neighborhood common area cleanup on Saturday May 16 at 11am. Grab some neighbors and neaten up the street, parking lots, mill race trail, and flower beds.

Tonight's board meeting agenda (April 13)

1. Call to Order - 7:00pm
2. March Meeting Minutes - Discuss/Revise/Approve
3. Treasurer's Report
a. Delinquency report & status of legal action.
b. Monitor budget in light of delinquencies.
c. Monitor "wish list" of upcoming projects & prioritize.
4. ARC Update
a. ARC Members
5. Guidelines Committee
6. HOA Landscaping & Common Areas a
7. Parking Committee
8. Old Business
a. Mill Liaison-Trail connection
b. Tree at Stone Row
9. Discussion with American Community Manager Ruthann Shae
10. New Business
a. Website: neighbor at $25/hour
b. Garbage can streetscape
c. Quarterly dues & Coupons may not work
d. Letter to community to remind of ARC approval before
starting projects
e. Add trees at Spring Street (removal of dead willows, replace
with redbuds) and Long Brick Row (3 small trees) and removal of forsythia at Spring Street.
11. Questions, comments from residents.
12. Move to adjourn

Happy Easter, Passover, or just have a nice weekend!

Second quarter HOA fees due by April 30

Just a friendly reminder that HOA fees are due by April 30th.

Click on the link above for direct debit requests, or send your payment by mail along with the coupons provided by the management company (American Community Management).

We are still experiencing a number of late or non-payments. The HOA cannot proceed with maintenance and improvement projects without prompt payment of fees. Your prompt payments are appreciated.

There is also a credit card payment option, but ACM charges a 5% fee:

http://www.communitymanagers.net/OwnerServices/payments.htm

Oella featured in book about the Patapsco Valley

Click on the link above to view information about the book.

Oella Ball April 25 to benefit Baltimore Cares about Pets (Oella)

Please join us at Westchester Comm. Center
2414 Westchester Ave in Oella, MD
For the annual

Oella Benefit Ball
April 25, 2009 7:30pm-midnight

Great Food & Open beer & wine bar

Live music by Appaloosaband

Attire: Thrift shop formal

Tables of 8 available

$40 per person

Buy your tickets:

1.Online at www.baltimorecaresaboutpets.org or

2. If you are in the hood (cash only)…Lesli Morrison has a stack, call 410-750-7339 or email karmalesli@yahoo.com to arrange

3. Call Chris 443-220-6764 or Scott 443-762-1819

4. Or stop in Spay Maryland (spaymaryland.org) or Jay’s Country Corner Store

Volunteers needed for Project Clean Stream

From Friends of the Patapsco Valley & Heritage Greenway:

Join us for Project Clean Stream 2009 – Rain or Shine

When: Saturday, April 4, 2009 9 am – 12 pm
Sunday, April 5, 2009 1 pm – 4 pm

Volunteers are still needed. Help us pick up trash along streams flowing into the Patapsco River

Project Clean Stream is sponsored by the Friends of the Patapsco Valley & Heritage Greenway and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. Wear comfortable clothes & shoes and bring your own sunscreen & insect repellant. Please bring your own work gloves, shovels and boots! Clean ups will occur on several sites on Saturday, April 4, from 9 am – 12 pm, rain or shine. Sites that still need volunteers in the Patapsco Valley area include:

Catonsville
Cooper’s Run (Saturday)
Saw Mill Branch (Saturday and Sunday)

Elkridge
Deep Run (Saturday)

Ellicott City
Bonnie Branch (Saturday)
Sucker Branch (Saturday)
Tiber Hudson Branches (Saturday)

The Friends of the Patapsco Valley & Heritage Greenway treasure the Patapsco Valley and are working to preserve its culture, history and environment. Visit our website at: www.patapscoheritagegreenway.org. For more information or sign up to volunteer, 410-480-0824, or e-mail patapscofriend@gmail.com.