Welcome to the archive of Mapleton Hollow's community newsletter!
The Mapleton Mobile-izer is issued quarterly, following the MHA membership meetings. Special editions are issued as needed, for example before a quarterly meeting where MHA members will be voting for executives or making an important decision...
Volume 1.1 Newsletter of the Mapleton Home Association [MHA] June 1996HOMEOWNERS FORM ASSOCIATION!
Inside This Issue
- Home Owners Form Association
- MHA Newsletter
- MHA Logo Contest! Prizes!
- Upcoming General Meeting
- MHA Membership growing daily
- SUMMER PARTY JULY 14 1 PM TO 5 PM
- Parade of Mobile Homes
- Goose Creek Floodway Project Tabled
- What is "Goose Creek"?
- Summary of May 23 General Meeting
Homeowners form association
by the editors
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Since December 1995, residents of the Mapleton Mobile Home Park have been meeting to discuss issues that concern us all. With a lot of enthusiasm the Mapleton Home Association (MHA) was formed and an Executive Board elected. In May the State of Colorado officially recognized our association. The MHA is now working to protect our affordable homes.
While we own deeds to our homes, we do not enjoy the security of also owning the land they are on. Our landlord, Lu Nuttall, has expressed his intention to sell the park- But who will he sell to? The MHA is actively working to assure that he sells it to us. And financing is available to residents as a group to do this.
To protect our affordable housing, we must work together to build a strong, united association that earns credibility with financial institutions, government agencies, grant administrators, and with Mr. Nuttall himself, who ultimately decides who the buyer will be.
The Mapleton Home Association is your association. Support the friends, family and neighbors working together to make owning the park a reality.
MHA Executive Board 1996 - 1997
President: Mark Reeder, #14, 441-4140
Vice-president: Gene Langlois, #30, 444-4988
Secretary: Nan Lederer, #77, 447-1899
Treasurer: Don Lucas, #34, 442-3081
by the editors
This is the first issue of the official newsletter of the Mapleton Home Association. Each issue will contain news and information about issues of interest to residents of the Mapleton Mobile Home Park, including updates on the Goose Creek flood project, neighborhood watch, the sale of the park, meeting schedules, etc. We welcome written submissions such as articles, profiles, interviews, letters and poetry from members of the association. Also, if there are any association members who have businesses offering services other residents may be interested in, such as cooler maintenance, roof repair, or massage, you may advertise at no costTo submit articles or offer suggestions for the next newsletter, contact Holly at 447-0564 or Jamie at 447-2286. Give us your feedback!
by the editors
MHA needs a logo, a Park symbol to use for membership stickers, letterhead, banners, bumper stickers, T-shirts ... who knows where it will end? Park residents are encouraged to enter a design contest. Designs will be judged at the July party. Prizes will be given for the best designs. Drop off your design at #39 no later than-July 7.
Upcoming General Meeting
By Mark Reeder
by the editors
Our ongoing membership drive is reaping results. As of June 15, we had 73 paid-bp members, a little over 50% of the units in the Park! This is a tremendous turnout and a significant base of support by residents for the research being done to compile land purchase strategies.
Why join the MHA? There are several reasons why membership in the Association (only $5.00 per unit for one year) is a good investment:
* When we are organized into a community association, we can work more effectively for the interests of park residents than can unorganized individuals. The Goose Creek flood control project is one example of an issue we are working together on.
*We need to have a majority of park residents participating in the Association in order to pursue financing to purchase the park.
* The MHA recognizes that residents of the park are like a family and that we need to watch out for one another; therefore, the association is finding out how to set up a "Neighborhood Watch" program to help reduce crime in the park.
* Remember--only paid-up members will be able to vote on any issues that come up for vote at general meetings.
50% participation is very good, but we want and need that number to be higher. The ideal is 100% participation! Dues ($5.00) may be given to either Treasurer Don Lucas (#34) or Secretary Nan Lederer (#77). Receipts are being distributed.
SUMMER PARTY JULY 14 1 PM TO 5 PM
by the editors
The date for our park summer party, now referred to as the Goose Creek Festival (with real ducks !), has been set for Sunday, July 14th. The purpose of this party is to offer a chance to visit with our neighbors after the separation of the winter months; share music, food and dancing; get information about the Mapleton Homeowners Association and its activities; and let the rest of Boulder know that we are a great community. There have been a lot of ideas about this party. If any of the following inspire you, PLEASE CALL Wendy (939-8911), Holly (447 -0564) or Tink (447-8508). We need input from man people to make this a fun and successful event.
Parade through the park (call Tink to participate). This could include a kazoo band, drummers and percussionists (call Holly, amateurs welcome), other musicians, banners, kinetic conveyances, bicycles and rollerblades, people from the park representing who we are-our vocations, creative interests, family or ethnic bonds, or whatever is most important to us.
Party at Dumpster Island. Our little plot of community grass will be the site for music, food, dancing, and talking together. There will be an open stage where our musically inclined neighbors are encouraged to perform, and everyone, young and old, is invited to participate in a talent show. Are you a magician, a saxophone player, a storyteller, or a great whistler ? Talk to Tink about your talent and he'll talk you out of being shy about showing off in front of your neighbors. Volunteers are needed to coordinate food (potluck, BBQ, and/or donations). Assistance is also needed with putting together a selection of recorded music that appeals to the varied tastes of people in the park. Call Holly to make suggestions from your own collection of recordings.
Other party ideas: volleyball, chalk drawing, cards, chess, croquet, a flotilla of tubes down the ditch (if there's water in it), kid's lemonade stand, etc.... If you have ideas about how we can make this a fun event which includes everyone in the park, please be sure to call Wendy, Holly or Tink.
Party Need List
Tables Chairs Tents and other shade devices Coolers and Ice
BBQ's
Use of Pickup Truck for A.M. and P.M. Cordless drills (to assemble dance floor) Video Camera and camera operator
Photographer Sound system Records, CD's, and Cassettes with the music you want to hear
by the editors
Tink Wilson, fount of party ideas, has come up with this brainstorm: a "Parade of Mobile Homes" similar to the ones they have in the paper for those less-mobile homes. He wants to collect photos of the beautiful aspects of our homes--our gardens, renovations, interior design--which will be submitted to the Daily Camera. Please call Tink (447-8508) to make nominations for the homes and gardens that you think should be included in this photo essay. Don't hesitate to nominate your own space; you may be the only one who knows how nicely you've fixed it up or how attractive the paneling of a '58 Frontier really is.
Goose Creek Floodway Project Tabled
by the editors
In every meeting of Mapleton Mobile Home Park residents, people have expressed concern about the city's proposed Goose Creek Floodway Project. The NMA steering committee has worked to keep us informed about this project, and this spring a number of association members began researching the city's plans and attending city council meetings where the floodway would be discussed.
In a recent City Council meeting (June 4), Council members decided to "table" the Goose Creek Floodway Project, primarily due to concerns about the cost of the project relative to its flood control value. Council voted to put off funding the purchase of buildings on 28th St. that would have cleared the way for the floodway, literally and financially. Council gave no time frame for a resolution of this issue; City Attorney Joe De Raismes declared the issue "in limbo." However, the implication is that city staff will review the entire Goose Creek plan and see if there is a more cost-effective way to get flood control.
Four MHA members-- Cliff Jensen, Ron Marcus, Don Lucas and Mike Figgs, --will continue to monitor this. project and keep us informed about any plans for Goose Creek which would affect our neighborhood.
by the editors
Goose Creek is mostly a man made feature, starting somewhere (no one seems to know precisely where) in the vicinity of North Boulder Park at 9th and Balsam. The drainage includes the Boulder Community Hospital parking lot, continues east in the general vicinity of Alpine Street from Broadway to 19th Street, and "flows" behind the residences on the south side of Edgewood Drive. It emerges between Unity Church and the apartments on the west side of Folsom Street. From there it flows east through the Mapleton Mobile Home Park, parallel to the big powerline. At the east end of the park it joins the Boulder & White Rock Ditch, which is the larger drainage that enters the park at Mapleton.
The City is concerned that Goose Creek will flood some day, due to urban runoff, destroying property and threatening lives. The public works department plans to spend in excess of $20,000,000 to create a channel to contain the theoretically calculated flood runoff. The .engineering designs have not yet been drawn up
for the section that would go through the mobile home park.
The section east of 30th Street has been completed. To see it, walk east on Mapleton and follow the cement trail under the 30th Street bridge, entering what some residents have affectionately dubbed "Goose Creek Canyon".
Summary of May 23 General Meeting
by the editors
The primary purpose of this meeting was to inform residents that we had learned that Lu Nutall plans to sell the Park relatively soon, rather than in the 4 to 5-year time frame that we had previously thought. Therefore, it is crucial that we boost membership in the MHA so that we can pursue financing to purchase the Park and be a serious player in negotiations with Lu. Numerous residents volunteered to contact their neighbors about joining the Association.
The Steering Committee recently met with Deane Sargent, who is an agent for a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan program sponsored by the Foundation for Manufactured Home Owners. He was very encouraging about our ability to purchase the Park. These loans are tailored to meet the needs of residents who can only afford small down payments and low monthly mortgages.
The Mapleton Home Association is now officially registered with the State of Colorado as a nonprofit corporation. This is an important step in enabling us to apply for grants and other funding to help us in our purchase effort.
More info
The Mapleton Mobile-izer is published quarterly by the Mapleton Home Association and is distributed free to all residents of Mapleton Mobile Home Park.