Budget Meeting
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Budget Meeting of the Fairlington Commons Council of Co-Owners will be held
Thursday, December 6th in the Cafeteria of the Abingdon Elementary
School located at 3035 South Abingdon Street at 7:30 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and
approve the Commons budget for 2008 and any other topics of interest to
Co-Owners and residents.
In accordance with our By-Laws, notification of
the meeting was mailed via U.S. Mail to all Co-Owners of record well before the
required 10 days prior to the meeting.
If you are a Co-Owner and do not receive your notice shortly, please
notify the Board.
Holiday Trash and Recycling Pickup
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here
will be no Christmas Day (Tuesday, December 25th) trash pickup. Recycling will be picked up on Thursday,
December 27th, and trash will be picked up on Friday, December 28th.
There
will be no New Years Day (Tuesday, January 1st) trash pickup. Recycling will be picked up on Thursday,
January 3rd, and trash will be picked up on Friday, January 4th.
Christmas Trees will be collected on Wednesdays, January 2nd and January 9th and thereafter on normal trash pickup days. Trees should be placed at the curb with all trimmings removed.
Winter’s Coming!
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inter’s
cold weather is just around the corner, which means that the time has come to
take some very simple and easy steps that can help prevent outside faucets and
associated pipes from freezing and breaking. Those steps include:
Electrical Service
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ver
the past several years, a small number of our units have experienced problems
with their electrical service. These problems
have included either a complete loss of power, intermittent power, or a
situation where some outlets work and some don’t, half the burners on the stove
work and the other half don’t, or the furnace, air-conditioning, and clothes
dryer don’t work.
A word
of caution here – if you don’t know anything about electricity, you may live a
far longer and healthier life if you call a professional electrician to
diagnose a problem in the event that one occurs! Electricity is not for amateurs, and even
professionals can encounter problems in abnormal situations. Safety First!
The
electrical wiring in your unit, including the circuit breaker box, is yours; it
is not a Commons responsibility. The
Commons owns the wiring between your circuit breaker box and the meter;
everything else is the property of Dominion Virginia Power. This is important because it determines who
is responsible for resolving and paying for a problem, should one occur.
In
the event that you experience a problem similar to those described above, and
have a preferred electrician, please contact them and also the Commons Service
Coordinator. The Commons does not have a
designated electrician, but we have used Long Electric with satisfactory
results.
Power
(240 Volts AC) is carried into our homes on three wires. One wire (usually white) is considered a
neutral wire. The other two (usually
black) carry 120 Volts each. If you measure
the voltage between the two black wires, it will be 240 Volts. The electrical load in you house is split – half
of the outlets are connected between one black wire and the white wire, the
other half between the other black wire and the white wire. The furnace, air-conditioning, clothes dryer,
and stove are connected to all three wires (240 Volts).
The
three wires that carry power into our homes from the meters are made of
aluminum and are not in conduits. They
are buried directly in the ground.
Cycles of freezing and thawing and wet and dry cause the ground to move
slightly, sometimes causing the wires to chafe where they enter the circuit
breaker box, eventually leading to failure.
People digging have also caused failures, when shovels have nicked the insulation covering the wires. In this scenario, water eventually makes contact with the wire, causing corrosion and setting up a current flow into the ground that will eventually cause the wire to burn in half.
Most of our wiring is buried deeply enough that a Co-Owner planting flowers or shrubs should never encounter it, but in a recent incident, wires were discovered a foot below the surface. The lesson here is to be careful, think, ask questions, and if you have any doubt, have the area surveyed by Miss Utility of Virginia (1-800-552-7001) prior to digging.
There
is one other incident that warrants recounting.
A Co-Owner discovered that half of their circuit breakers had
burned. They were replaced, only to burn
again. Turns out that, in addition to
the normal electrical load, this Co-Owner had installed a hot tub and several
other devices that used a substantial amount of electricity without considering
if the unit’s electrical service was adequate to handle the load! The problem was finally resolved when the
Co-Owner replaced the circuit breaker box with one that was adequate. Remember, our units were renovated in the
early 1970s when the demand for electrical power (computers, televisions, etc.)
was much less than it is today, and any significant increase in a unit’s
electrical demand could easily exceed the capacity of the existing electrical
service (circuit breaker) box.
In
conclusion – if you have an electrical problem, call a professional, and advise
the Commons Service Coordinator of the situation. This is not a self-help item, so be safe, not
sorry!
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Maintenance Request or Question? Contact Commons
Service Coordinator Eric
Pamer 703-379-0027 CommonsService@Hotmail.com |
Television Reception
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upon a time, in the early days of analog television, the only way to receive a
signal was with an antenna, assuming that you lived close enough to the
transmitter to receive a signal at all.
Even then, reception could be spotty, marred by weather, geography, and
nearby structures that reflected signals and created ghost images. Today, television signals are available via
cable, satellite, and hopefully soon, by fiber-optic transmission. And yes, the time-honored antenna still
works, and with the advent of digital television, better than ever!
Most
Commons residents use cable to receive their television signals, although
satellite dish antennas are gaining in popularity. As everyone is familiar with cable, we won’t
spend a lot of time discussing it here, other than to say that while almost
nobody likes to write that monthly check, cable still offers a universally
available signal free from the effects of weather and geography.
While satellite dish
antennas have become more prevalent in the Commons, their use is limited by a
number of factors. For a resident to
enjoy satellite programming, their unit must be geographically oriented to provide
a line-of-sight shot at the orbiting satellite while allowing the dish
installation to conform with our By-Laws, which clearly preclude attaching or
hanging any type of antenna from the exterior of a family unit. While the Board has no objection to satellite
dish antennas per se, such antennas are permitted only when they can be
installed in limited common element (your patio) such that the top of the
antenna does not exceed the highest elevation of the patio fence, and the dish
is installed on a pole or post that is not part of the fence. Installation of satellite dish antennas in
the General Common Element is not permitted.
We started by talking about
antennas. They still work, and with the
advent of over-the-air digital television, better than ever! Several Co-Owners have used attic-mounted
antennas over the years for both analog and digital TV reception. And no, a “special” antenna is not required
to receive digital television and high-definition signals – a standard antenna
works just fine! If you think that you
may wish to try an antenna, consider the following:
So that’s a quick look at the various methods that can be used to receive television signals in Fairlington Commons. Obviously there are a lot of variables, so when making a choice, be certain to determine what you want to watch, where it’s available, how much you’re willing to pay, and whether or not your choice is possible within the confines of your unit’s physical location and our By-Laws and policies.
Trespassing
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Sunday, October 21, members of the “White House Hash House Harriers” passed
through the Commons while conducting one of their many “hashes” or “hounds and
hares” style-running events. The informal group, which bills itself as “a
drinking club with a running problem,” entered the Commons from Utah Field, ran
parallel to 395, then through our woods before disappearing down the lower
Wakefield Street sidewalk. Although this
group was relatively quiet and mannerly, a previous group in 2000 was anything
but, with over 50 people yelling, blowing whistles, running over our lawns, and
forcing residents off of sidewalks as they passed.
With the exception of the streets and immediately adjacent sidewalks, Fairlington Commons is private property and our By-Laws restrict their use to normal transit. This includes any sidewalks that are not immediately parallel to the streets, the circle, all of our open grassy areas, and the woods adjacent 395. In the 2000 incident, the presence of the Harriers was eventually traced to a Co-Owner who had exceeded their authority in granting the group permission to enter our property. When that Co-Owner failed to cooperate in resolving the issue, the matter was referred to our attorney for action. Word was also passed to the Harriers that a repeat visit would result in trespassing arrests.
An
investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of this latest
incident, and appropriate steps will be taken.
Please remember, individual Co-Owners and tenants are not authorized to
grant outside groups permission to utilize Commons property. Those who do so are subject to liability for
any injury, damage or other issues, and participants in such events are subject
to arrest for trespassing.
Holiday Tree Lighting
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he
annual lighting of the Fairlington Commons Holiday Tree will occur on Saturday,
December 15th at 5:00 p.m.
The tree is located on the Wakefield Circle adjacent the basketball
court. The Commons will provide the
lights; residents are welcome to bring a decoration of their choice to place on
the tree.
A
volunteer is needed to organize the event.
Past volunteers have distributed reminder flyers, arranged for hot
chocolate and cookies, and provided song sheets. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact
Board President John Sinks for details.
Check Your Tires!
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ith
winter just around the corner, it’s a good idea to make certain that your car
tires have adequate air pressure. Colder
temperatures result in significantly lower tire pressures, increased rolling
resistance, and lower gas mileage.
Inadequately inflated tires can be dangerous. Be safe – take that extra minute next time
you fill up to check your tires.
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Fairlington Commons Board of Directors |
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President |
John Sinks E-mail jsinks@comcast.net |
931-2660 |
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Vice President |
Patti Burke E-mail pattisburke@msn.com |
931-2897 |
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Secretary |
Bernie Weaver E-mail WeaverBW@comcast.net |
671-7024 |
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Treasurer |
Christine Sivigny E-mail CSivigny@hotmail.com |
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At Large |
Dennis Maridueña E-mail dmariduena@gmail.com |
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