east kessler park neighborhood association … · • consider a microchip for your pet. • always...
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East Kessler ParkNeighborhood Association
Fall General MeetingWednesday, November 11, 2009
Hitt Auditorium @ Methodist • 7:00 PM
P.O. Box 224382Dallas TX 75222
EAST KESSLER PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER FALL 2009
Save the Date for our Fall General MeetingWe are honored to have our Texas State Representive (and East Kessler resident) Rafael Anchia as the guest speaker for our Fall General Meeting. Representative Anchia will be speaking about new urbanism and transit-oriented development in the Oak Cli� Gateway.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 11at 7:00 PM in the Hitt Auditorium at Methodist Hospital. We hope to see you there!
Sign Toppers: You Pick the Design!We are pleased to announce that the Old Oak Cli� Conser-vation League (OOCCL) has generously approved a grant for $2000 towards sign toppers for our neighborhood. Combined with the $716.79 in contributions from residents we have received to date, we are well on our way towards obtaining funds to put sign toppers at every intersection in East Kessler Park.
East Kessler Park resident John Stolly has come up with three fantastic designs, each of which is depicted on the right. You can vote on your favorite by going to our web-site, www.eastkessler.org, then clicking on the Surveys link. Check back often to see how your favorite design is doing in the survey; we’ll announce the winner at our General Meeting on November 11.
We also welcome your contributions to the sign topper fund. You can make a donation online through our website, or you can mail in your contribution with the membership form that is enclosed in this newsletter.
This is one of many grants that the OOCCL has provided to East Kessler Park over the past several years. The neighbor-hood association board wishes to thank the OOCCL for their continuing support of e�orts such as these which help beautify our neighborhood while also allowing us to connect with our history.
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Your 2008-2009 EKPNA O�cers:From the PresidentTim Herfel, President
Welcome to the �rst issue of the Lea�et for our 2009-2010 year. As your new president, I’d like to �ll you in on several items of interest here in East Kessler:
• Please take the time to vote for your favorite sign topper design that will soon adorn our neighbor-hood intersections. Donations are still welcome to match our OOCCL grant!
• Take a look at the East Kessler Park website (www.eastkessler.org). Information is updated with links to pertinent local and neighborhood events. Log on and sign up if you haven't already.
• A super majority (80%) of neighbors are willing to start discussions about a Conservation District. Stay tuned for more details.
• Meet and Greet! A new initiative for socializing within the neighborhood is in the works. Desig-nated date each month with location to be deter-mined; sign up for email updates on website.
• Smart Code: Your board is embarking on new territory embracing new urbanism as the basis for development in the Oak Cli� Gateway.
• Please remember to stay current on your EKP Membership. You can check the status of your membership on our website; we’ve also included a form in this newsletter if you’d like to renew your membership or sign up for the �rst time.
• Remember to slow down on our neighborhood streets. We have lots of children, runners, dog walkers and cyclists. Safety Counts!!!
• Get to know your board members and contact them with questions and/or concerns. They are a great bunch of folks dedicated to making EKP great! If you would like to join one of our different committees we can use your talents!
• Although crime is down compared to previous years, continue to be vigilant, report suspicious persons, take valuables out of your car and lock your doors!
Lost Pets? We’re Here to Help...We have lots of four-legged residents of East Kessler Park, and lately you may have seen lots of emails in response to lost dogs and cats. So, we thought it’d be a good time to remind you of some things you can do to help make your pets easier to �nd in case they get lost:
• Always make certain your pet is wearing an ID tag with TWO current phone numbers including area code. (For safety reasons, use only stretch collars for cats.) And check the tags regularly; many animals at shelters have tags but they are so worn that the tags cannot be read and sadly the owner cannot be contacted.
• Consider a microchip for your pet.• Always have close-up, full-body color photos of your pet taken from the front and from the side (keep
negatives readily available or keep stored on your computer.)• Register your pet in our website’s online Pet Registry. The registry makes it easy for you to upload pictures
of your four-legged friends, along with important information about your pet such as its breed, sex and weight. More importantly, it displays your contact information alongside the picture of your pet, which can be invaluable in situations where your pet goes missing.
If your pet goes missing, the �rst thing you should do is send an email to [email protected]. (Including a photo or two helps immensely). We will email blast the neighborhood, as well as forward information about your missing pet to people in nearby neighborhoods.
Our “Featured Pet” feature will return in our next issue. We select one pet at random from the Pet Registry to feature in our newsletter. The winning pet will also get a $10 gift certi�cate from Green Pet in Bishop Arts!
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For the latest crime information, check out the Crime Watch section of our website, or call the hotline number listed above. Always report suspi-cious activity to the police by calling 911!
Your 2009-2010 EKPNA Board Members:
President:Timothy Herfel • [email protected]
Vice-President:Jules Roberts • [email protected]
Secretary:Leslee Mallinson • [email protected]
Treasurer:Gina Giangrosso • [email protected]
Membership:Daniel Huerta • [email protected]
Crime Watch:Liz Smith • [email protected]
Beauti�cation:Steve Habgood • [email protected]
Community IssuesKatherine Homan • [email protected]
OOCCL Representative:Steve Springfield • [email protected]
Communications:James Taylor • [email protected]
Green Leader:Christian Chernock • [email protected]
Code Enforcement:Gary Easter • [email protected]
Hospital’s History, Locale Traces Back to Early East Kessler ResidentsSteve Spring�eld, OOCCL Representative
All of us here in East Kessler Park know where Methodist Medical Center is located -- right here in East Kessler Park. But what you might not realize is that it is located here in part due to the generosity of some early East Kessler residents -- most notably the Stemmons family.
According to an article by Leslie Wagner on the website Examiner.com, "in June of 1925, the Stemmons family conveyed the deed to the Dallas Sanitarium for twelve acres of land located at 1329 Ballard Avenue, purchased for $10,000... The Methodist churches across North Texas e�ectively raised $200,000, double the remaining funds necessary to complete the hospital before the end of 1927 and the name was changed to the Dallas Methodist Hospi-tal.'"
The hospital opened in 1927 with 100 beds. To the right is a photo taken in the early 1940’s; it shows the original hospital building, which is no longer standing.
On October 2, 1928, a soon-to-be-famous Dallasite was born: George Robert Phillips McFarland, better known to moviegoers as "Spanky" from the Our Gang �lm shorts of the 1930's. According to Wagner, “the family actually lived
in the Denison, Texas area, where McFarland �rst attended school, and later moved to Dallas, spend-ing time in Culver City, California whenever McFarland was involved in a �lm production. He and his mother returned to Dallas Methodist Hospital for several Mother’s Day events, called ‘homecomings,’ and is easily recognized in at least one group photo of the event.”
In Remembrance: Darwin S. Renner 1910-2009 - An Uncommon Common Man
Residing on Cedar Hill Avenue and operating Geotronic Labs, Inc. on Greenbriar and Handley Drive for over 50 years, Darwin Renner was a beloved �xture in our East Kessler Park neighborhood. During the last 30 years he invited neighbors to attend breakfast with him on Saturday mornings, at his expense, at the ornate Adolphus Hotel where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip stayed when in Dallas.
What he did not do, however, was let it be known that he was the one who designed the �rst working Magnetic Anomaly Detector used during World War II to locate enemy submarines. That invention of his was what won the Battle of the Atlantic against the German U-boats. His giant intellect combined with his kindness and humil-ity made him a most uncommon common man.
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Saturday and Sunday,October 10-11Noon until 6:00 PM
It's going to be another great weekend in Oak Cli� on October 10th and 11th. That's the week-end of the Old Oak Cli� Conservation League's 35th annual Oak Cli� Home Tour. We can be proud again this year because one of the homes is in East Kessler Park.
Have fun and contribute to our quality of life in Oak Cli� at the same time. OOCCL, an entirely volunteer organization, returns a large amount of the money raised on its tours to its 29 member Oak Cli� neighborhood associations for improve-ment projects. To date it has returned over $120,000. East Kessler Park is fortunate to have received four OOCCL grants totaling around $9,000 to help landscape the Sylvan, Colorado, Eastus, and Greenbriar medians. In addition we will receive a �fth grant of $2,000 to help install our new street sign toppers.
Tickets: $20 or $15 for seniors.
Advance Purchase:You can purchase tickets in advance online, at the Belmont Hotel or at Hunky’s (both locations).
Day of Tour:Tickets can be purchased during the tour at any home on the tour or at Ticket Central located this year at the Kessler Theater. Credit card purchases, Cyclomatic patrons and will call are at the Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis Street at N. Clinton Avenue. Need more information?To purchase tickets, view a slide show of homes on the tour, or for volunteer information, visit the League’s website at www.ooccl.com.
2009 OLD OAK CLIFF
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Analysis of EKP Real Estate Sales ActivitySteve Habgood, Beauti�cation Chair
As most of us have been reading in the local and national papers, the residential real estate market has been hard hit in the last year in many areas of the country. Dallas, however, has held up much better than most real estate markets, and for those of us lucky to live in East Kessler Park (EKP), our real estate market has also held up quite well, with some mixed results.
The chart below outlines the sales activity, from Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sales, for the �rst six months of 2007, 2008 and 2009. I’ve also added a year-to-date column for 2009 to bring a little added perspective for some notable recent sales activity. The two most expensive homes ever sold in EKP, occurred in August 2009. In fact, August recorded 4 sales which tied for April as the highest sales months of the year. In general, �rst half of 2009 sales are up about 33% from 2008, average price per square foot and average sales prices have fallen back to below 2007 levels, and average days on market have doubled from 2008 statistics. So far this year, EKP is averaging 1.75 home sales per month.
It is still considered a Buyer’s Market, with many properties having to be priced more competitively, and many homes have implemented price reductions to attract buyers. With the number of days it takes to sell homes in East Kessler doubling from 2008, this is a signi�cant indicator of the competitiveness of the market and the importance of pricing your home correctly to create a timely sale.
We’re optimistic that consumer con�dence is growing back and that the real estate market will continue to improve in the months and years ahead. Interest rates are still at all time historic lows (near 5% currently) and money is still readily available from quality lenders with good credit history and credit scores. Lastly, the government’s $8,000 Tax Credit to �rst time home buyers is de�nitely making a di�erence in creating sales for entry level homes which is allowing those owners to purchase more expensive homes. The deadline to take advantage of the $8,000 Tax Credit is November 30, 2009.
If you have any questions about any of these East Kessler statistics or real estate in general, please feel free to call me at 214-752-7070.
East Kessler Park Jan-June Jan-June Jan-June Year To Date MLS Home Sales 2007 Sales 2008 Sales 2009 Sales 2009 Sales All Homes- $100K> 9 Total 6 Total 10 Total 14 Total Homes- $100-300K 3 2 5 6 Homes- $300-500K 5 1 2 3 Homes- $500-750K 1 3 2 2
Homes - $750K> 0 0 1 3
Average $ Per Sq Ft $151.83 $165.86 $147.35 $167.90 Average Sale Price $381,101 $448,750 $390,400 $537,786 Lowest Sale Price $176,300 $208,500 $160,000 $160,000 Highest Sale Price $669,900 $666,000 $770,000 $1,625,000*
Average # of Days on Market 130 Days 92 Days 184 Days 173 Days
*The sales price of this home was not disclosed in MLS, so the only statistic available was its last list price prior to sale
Visit our website: http://www.eastkessler.org.