Waste Management incorrectly billing residents

All,

Please be aware that Waste Management erroneously sent out over 9000 invoices for Jan - March 2007 even though they are discontinuing service on Jan 1. I received this invoice yesterday and sat on the phone with WM for 45 minutes while they confirmed the mistake. This is also being reporting in the Tampa Tribune. (http://pasco.tbo.com/pasco/MGBD35DI8WE.html). In the end it is a yet another mistake by WM.

Decrease in vandalism?

Since the gates have been fully operational and the back portion of the neighborhood has been fenced has there been a noticeable decrease in vandalism?

Earlier in the summer we had several acts of vandalism including mailbox smashing, dough-nuts in my lawn, etc. We've heard of much worse like screen room slashing, but recently it seem things have gotten better? What is the general consensus of the current state of things in Lake Talia?

Residential Waste Collection

As of 1 Jan 2007 Waste Management of Pasco will no longer service Central Pasco county, including Lake Talia. In his letter to customers, Jason White the District Manager for Waste Management of Pasco states that WM is limiting their service area to Southwest Pasco County bounded by Suncoast Parkway on the West and SR 52 to the South. Current WM customers are instructed to contact one of the other residential service providers in the area. The new service options as listed by Waste Management are as follows:

• Accurate Waste Services 727 375 5797
• All County Hauling 813 788 5414
• Big G Sanitation 727 857 0771
• Camport Waste Systems 727 862 7534
• Central Carting Disposal 352 583 4204
• County Sanitation 888 522 5794
• Parker & Son's Sanitation 727 845 1024
• Seaside Sanitation 727 868 2566
• Waste Aid 727 842 9309
• Waste Express 727 841 7511
• Waste Services of Florida 727 849 3333

Does anyone have any recommendations for new service providers or any contacts at WM that can help WM re-evaluate their decision?

Contact Information for WASTE MANAGEMENT of Pasco:

13022 Hays Road

Spring Hill, FL 34610

800 255 7172

(813) 996 1616 (FAX)

Official Community Website

Rampart Properties has created an official website for Lake Talia. I think this is great news and hopefully it'll be populated with more useful information in the near term. I do plan on keeping this blog alive as long as the community wishes to use it as a resource. I think that having the historical information about the community and decisions made, etc is important for new residents.

Anyway I did not one slight error that I communicated to the webmaster for the LT site. When you register your address the default city shows as St. Pete for everyone. You have to search for the profile button and update it manually to Land O' Lakes. No big deal, just an annoyance.

I've also asked Rampart to post community by-laws, architecture applications, petitions, etc on the website. Hopefully they will do that soon, otherwise you can look for them here as soon as I can obtain electronic versions.

Basketball Goals Allowed?

We've heard a rumor that there is a petition to allow basketball goals in front of your home. This would be a change from the curent situation as I know it. Can anyone confirm/deny this rumor?
Also any details of this proposed change would be welcome. For example: Will they only be allowed while in use (roll back in nightly) or are permanent locations permissible?

Your Input is Needed - Authors Wanted.

We'll the feedback I've received so far is that people like the idea of this Blog. It provides a good resource for historical purposes and a easy way to communicate.

Given that initial feedback I'll continue with it... In order to make this better than just my thoughts, I'm looking for Lake Talia residents to contribute their ideas. I'll open up the "authors" list to anyone that wishes to post - just respond to me via email with your name, address and email address (Just so I can verify LAKE TALIA Residency).


BTW Here are some of the topics I plan on blogging about in the coming weeks...

1. Flapjack Festival

2. Consumer Feedback - Your comments on local service providers (Lawn Care, Pools, Fencing, etc)

3. Flamingo Party

4. Safety/Security

5. Conservation Area Maintenance (and the 10K fine for homeowners that cut it down)

6. Ideas for improving our community

7. Your ideas!

These are just the top of mind topics. Your ideas are necessary for the sucess of this blog.

Tell your neighbors - the more people we involve the better this resource will be for everyone!

Rocky

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone. My family and I are really looking forward to getting out and meeting the neighbors tonight - let's have a safe and fun Halloween.

Also - To whomever started the "Boo" Game... Thank You - it was fun to get "Boo'd" and for the kids to go out and "Boo" others. Looks like some of the candy companies got involved as well in this, we received a couple of BOO door hangers with our candy purchases. All in all, great idea and all enjoyed it!

Pine View Middle School Parents

The quoted message is from an email list. I did not include any of the other comments in the email thread because I do not have their authorization to do so. My comments are provided below for reference. The basic premise is safety/security of our middle school age children before and after school.

"I am also concerned about the fighting that occurs, and the disrespect that happens - those are simply unacceptable. It has subsided some recently, but needs our attention as parents and as a community to ensure it stays that way.The bus stop in the morning is a bit different in my opinion. I personally observed things today and perhaps today is out of the ordinary so I'll continue to observe over the coming days. Based on my observations today it is my opinion that their playing catch is really no more dangerous then them walking through the "drive through"gates in the morning, trailing cars or walking between them, because the "walk through" gates are locked. Playing ball before school is perfectly normal and not all of them are involved. They play off of School road and only in the "cove" of Lake Talia Blvd outside the gate area, they announce the cars and scatter appropriately into safer areas when cars come. Nothing really out of the ordinary, other than school road drivers being a bit aggressive(I've observed cars at 50 MPH out there). I agree I'd prefer they play elsewhere in the morning, but I don't see a safer alternative unless things change a bit. Given the current bus stop location and gate situation playing inside the gates isn't really reasonable given the fact they'd all have to run through the "drive through" gate to get to the bus. Expecting them to sit quietly on the sidewalk at this age isn't reasonable either.If we could convince the school to make the bus come into the community to pick the the kids up in the morning, I'd be willing to let the kids use my yard to play in the morning. They could get picked up at the corner of Lake Talia Blvd and Patagonia Place (The first intersection). A secondary option would be to use the parking lot at the same intersection. They'd have a safer place to play and we wouldn't have to worry about traffic on School road in the morning. Just a thought - other suggestions and observations are welcome. BTW I think it is great we can all discuss these things as a community- it will be important to continue this dialog as the kids get older!"

Rocky

Welcome Neighbors!

This is intended to be a community resource for information sharing for our neighborhood. All Lake Talia residents are welcome to post/comment. Members of this blog will not be moderated, others will be moderated in an effort to reduce spam. Your thoughts on improving this blog are always welcome. Let's get the information flowing...