In a few short years, Creekside Natomas has grown from a small outcrop of homes on the fringes of farmland, to a thriving, diverse and dynamic community. This is a community that values the opinions and viewpoints of each of its residents. Use this space to share with the community what matters to you. Is it development of the regional park? Maintaining the appearance of our public and private property? Is it ensuring the safety of our children? Whatever your point of view, express it here.
58 comments:
There are two shopping carts on the street near the Regional park. Can we get rid of the carts that are always around the streets?
I think the Safeway carts a big problem in Creekside.
This is Safeway's responsibility. They need to have a better plan to keep the carts on their property and out of our neighborhood. In the meantime, we should take our business elsewhere. We have two other stores within 2 miles that we can just as easily shop.
Neighbors please notify Safeway and the local authorities if you see a resident with a shopping cart in the neighborhood. Not only are they a sore sight, they are dangerous to vehicles and children.
I agree..Retailers who decide to do business within our community need to make an investment in the community itself and not just benefit from the revenue they generate by being here. With so many convenient supermarket options in the area, we have no reason to do business with Safeway if they are not going to "take pride in creekside" and respect the standard we would like to uphold here. I think we should provide them with an opportunity to respond and address the issue within 30 days, then we start patronizing Raley's or Bel Air where they actually care about their community.
The SF Chronicle has something called CHRONWATCH in their paper in which problems that exist in the community are sited there with the name of the person responsible, their phone number, and the number of days it has been on the CHRONWATCH.
We should have something like that on this site for issues like the shopping carts, peoples lawns that are unkept, the giant mulcher parked in the street, holiday lights on houses, etc.
The carts are ridiculous and Safeway should get those things on the wheels like Raleys and Bel Air have.
I saw a cart, one of the ones for kids with the car shaped front-end, in the garage of a house on the corner of Ottumwa and Watseka (I think that is the street name).
I saw another one of those kids carts in the side-front yard of a home on Kokomo down near the Homecoming Apartments.
Its too bad because my kids like to ride in those at the grocery store, but I certainly do not want them all around the residential neighborhood. The carts are a serious eye-sore.
I don't know why Safeway doesn't get boots for its carts. Raley's and BelAir have them. Also, I am starting to see RiteAide shopping carts around our streets. In fact, there is a RiteAide shopping cart sitting in a Safeway cart just down the street from me. It really our neighborhood look terrible.
There is another Safeway cart on Winamac by the mailboxes - it has been there since last week.
I thought they had a cart retrieval service. How come that cart hasn't moved in over a week?
I agree the abandoned carts are a huge issue and eye sore. I'm confused at why Safeway doesn't use the boot system. Being a past grocery store employee, I recall the huge amount of dollars they spent each year replacing missing/damaged carts. Having a boot system seems like a no-brainer and a win-win situation for the store and the neighborhood.
I would like to let all of our neighbors know that there has been some pretty significant vandelism at the end of Kokomo. Please be safe and keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. Any and all incidents should be reported to the Police. Even small incidents. If we all watch out for one another, we can create a community where we will all want to live for a really long time.
i think we should have a talk with Safeway about the frequency of ROUNDING UP of Carts; it is a hazard and a unpleasant sight.
vandelism is a serious problem in our community. We have had a few attempts to steal one of our vehicles. Fortunately for us, we had the GRIP LOCK attached to the stering wheel and break pedal.
We should start a neighborhood watch program. and possible display our Neighborhood Watch Sign.
Hi Everyone,
I just found out about this Blog. My husband and I live on Naponee Court and we have a major issue. Our next door neighbors have erected a HUGE satelite dish (12 feet in diameter) that looms over our backyard fence and points directly at our house. It has completely ruined our well lanscaped backyard, as well as every view from every window in our house. We came home from work one day and there it was. We spoke to him, we wrote to him and he refused to remove it.
In the CC&R’s we all agreed to when we moved in, article 3.8 clearly states that “No exterior radio antenna, “C.B” antenna, earth receiving station or other antenna of any type shall be erected or maintained in the Covered Property, with the exception of a video or television antenna or satellite dish that has a diagonal measurement of one (1) meter or less. This outdated, salvaged piece of junk clearly doesn't fit this description. You wouldn't believe how this has destroyed the look and feel of our neighborhood. We contacted the city and they were no help. Can anyone out there help us?
k&r,
Thank you for bringing your concern to our attention.
Based on the language of the CC&R, this certainly sounds like a violation. We have a member of our association dedicated to filing these complaints at the city's monthly code enforcement meeting. Thus far, they have been very cooperative in investigating every claim and providing a prompt ruling on each violation.
I encourage you to come to our next meeting. It is a great opportunity to meet others who share a sense of pride in the neighborhood and want to see Creekside blossom into the community we know it can be. The larger our association grows, the more our voices will be heard.
If you can't make the meeting, please give us the address of this violation and we will be sure to have it reported through the association.
Under the CC&R's there's a section describing Unsightly items: on Holdrege way there's a NON-operative vehicle parked on the street. This vehicle has had a flat tire for a couple of months. Can we suggest the residents to have it fixed?
At about 2:15 p.m., I heard some loud banging. At first I thought it was construction noise, but as it progressed I realized it was drumming and confirmed it with the mail carrier. I could hear it loud and clear with my airconditioner on and all of my windows closed. I couldn't leave the house because I had a sleeping infant in her crib. I was not sure where the drumming was, but I assume it was on North Platte or Mahaska. I yelled towards the noise that the "drumming was loud." The drumming continued for about 10 to 15 minutes longer. I believe the "drummer" was outside. After attending the Creekside Neighborhood meeting, I am aware that there are plenty of caring neighbors in Creekside. This "drummer" is not one of them. If you read this, please be aware that the drumming is bothersome to neighbors, so try to do it in your house with the windows closed.
I live on kOKOMO. Twice i've pushed the carts all the way to Safeway myself. Just part of an evening walk or something.
I've talked to Safeway to see if the would have an employee pick them up. Their response was "We have a service that's supposed to take care of it."
Thank you all for your comments, concerns and support.
Let me address a couple of items specifically. First of all our association meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Homecoming Apartments - you are all welcome to attend and share your concerns and support with the group.
To update all of you on the Safeway cart situation... Safeway has agreed to put locking devices on the carts that will prevent them from leaving the lot.
However, the Regional Manager was not willing to set a date for us to expect to see the locking devices actually installed.
The City Code Enforcment and the Mayor and our Councilmember are sending letters on our behalf urging Safeway to install the devices immediatly.
I will continue to update everyone at the meetings as to our progress on this issue.
Also, I want to encourage anyone who sees graffiti, abandanoed cars, dangerous situations or other city code violations to use this website and its links to report those violations. You can either come to a meeting and talk to Ramona about the issues or you can log onto the cities web page for code violations and report the matter. The link for that page is on this Creekside website.
Finally, in our community there are many issues that the association would like to address, particularly issues of safety and concern to the majority of residents in Creekside.
If you have an issue that you would like to discuss please feel free to attend the monthly meetings.
Thank you! We look forward to seeing you....
Safeway shopping carts always seem to appear at the Winnamac/Ottumwa/Kokomo intersection.
I am concerned with the appearance of Kokoma Park. Until just recently it was fairly well maintained, but lately, maybe because summer is out, it has been very poorly maintained...garbage cans overturned, garbage on the lawn and most alarmingly there have been two carts wedged between the picnic tables for about a week now. I have contacted Safeway about these carts and the one on Ottumwa and Winnamac, they promised to have someone out to pick them up, but they are still there. Who maintains the park? Is it the city? I know there have been some soccer games/practice the last few weekends and they teams are leaving trash and beverage containers...as well as some family parties. Maybe we can speak to the soccer teams and ask them to pick up after themselves.
Last night, 7/8/06 there was a party at the corner of Winnamac and North Platte. It looks like a couple of teenagers were left home alone for the weekend and they invited every trashy, gangster person they knew. There were about 20 teeneagers and young adults in the streets getting rowdy peeling out in their cars and cruising our streets...it was very scary and intimidating, it lasted from about 11:30pm to about 1am. My neighbor called the police and they told her that they may not be able to respond because they were dealing with a "dead body" at some other location. This is unacceptable, if we can't count on our police, who can we count on?..surely confronting 20 teenagers yourself, who have been drinking, is probably not wise. Who is our contact to talk to the police department about poor response times? And maybe we can send a letter to the residents of that household, on behalf of our organization, letting them know that such incidents will not be tolerated in this neighborhood! Such occurences can eventually scare some wonderful residents out of our neighborhood, like our neighbors, they were tormented for hours and and are now thinking about finding a new place to call home.
The party previously mentioned occured across the street from our house. There were about 20-30 teenagers and about 10+ cars on North Platte, Winnamac and Naponee. Most of the noise and congregation of the teenagers were right under our master bedroom window and my 2 young children's bedroom windows. They were talking very loudly, music was blasting and cars were driving erratically up and down the street, with groups of kids hanging out of them and yelling. My family and I were all awakened by this party. On Sunday morning, I was stil upset by what happened and even more upset to find a plate of cake and ice cream left in front of our house and other garbage shrewn down the streets. I went to the house where the party occured and spoke with the teenage daughter. She denied that her parents were home and stated that they had been home for the party. She was not truthful because the parents' vehicles had not moved since the night of the party and I saw the father leave and come home later Sunday afternoon. I did tell her that her party got out of control and the garbage needed to be picked up. I also told her where I lived and that I wanted to speak with her parents. The parents never came over. There hasn't been an apology, but the garbage has been picked up. I am hoping that this doesn't happen again. I also hope there's no retaliation. I am VERY CONCERNED about police response time. These kids were threatening and bothersome and the police were not responsive.
I can understand everyone's concerns about the party, but I am equally concerned about comments like "threatening," "intimidating," "trashy," and "gangster."
We need to address these problems with our elected representatives, neighborhood association, and law enforcement, but calling kids trashy is inappropriate. Calling them gangsters when you have no such knowledge is unfair and derogatory.
With that being said, I am committed to helping the neighborhood deal with these problems, but let's leave your stereotypes behind.
I wrote in my blog that the kids from the July 8 party were threatening. My husband and I did feel threatened. We did not know if these kids had been drinking and what they were going to do. Plus, we did not know how fast the police could respond. Being awakened in the middle of the night by loud noise and vehicles speeding up and down the street with people hanging out of them is scary. If you feel that being called threatening is "unfair," what do you think of how we felt when we were awakened by that scene? We have 2 young children to protect. We want to feel secure in our own home.
Webster's dictionary describes trashy as being "in very poor taste" which is exactly what my opinion is regarding the conduct of the individuals participating in that party, and as far as "gangster", that is also defined as a "group of criminals", which may be harsh, but certainly a group of young adults racing their cars through our neighborhood at 1am is against the law. And the truth is that our families were threatened and intimidated and I stand behind that.
My comments were not intended to offend and I apologize if that is what happened, I do not feel I am stereo-typing. My thoughts, feelings and reactions were, and are, strictly based on the actions of that particular group of individuals on that night.
I think we all have a common goal to keep our neighborhood livable and safe and I will take more care when choosing my words to describe an event like this one, as this can allow for more time spent on the solutions to our concerns.
Yes, we need to all work together to address these concerns as they are real and can possibly hurt our homes and families. I sure hope these kids were not gangsters, and I wouldn't assume they are, but if we don't address many of these concerns now our neighborhood may soon turn into a haven for such activities.
Can we get rid of that wood chipper on Ottumwa? That thing is leaking oil prefusely and is an environmental hazard as well as a hazard to our children.
I am very unhappy with the state of our community park-Kokomo park. How can people just destroy property like that? I saw that the swings have FINALLY been replaced but what about the teeter totter and the tables? Will it take 6 months to replace those too? We used to walk or ride our bikes there all the time. Now I put my kids in the car and we go to one of the other parks in the area.
I agree with the comments made by our neighbor regarding Kokomo Park. Our child's birthday party is coming up and we were hoping to be able to use the park for the event. The kids really enjoy that playground, and the adults could sit and eat and play on the basketball and volleyball courts. But now, I would be embarrased to show our friends and family the vandalism in the park. What do other neighbors think of this? And does the the creekside neighborhood association have any advice for how we can expedite the process of getting those tables fixed?
Another car break in on North Platte at 6:25 a.m. on Aug. 15.
Besides the broken equipment at Kokomo Park, there seems to be a lot of garbage thrown on the ground. The park does not look good.
I am tired of seeing the wood chipper, too. If you see its leaking oil, call 875-RAIN and file a complaint with the Sac County Stormwater Quality Program.
The neighborhood association is made up of a group of neighbors just like you. The association members volunteer their time to make Creekside a better place to live. The more volunteers we get the faster we can address neighborhood concerns. The association meets every third Wednesday of the month at Homecoming Apts. (That's tonight! Aug. 16!) To answer the question about the park, the association has been in regular contact with the city. We need everyone who cares about the park and the community to call Ray Trethaway's office to tell them how you feel. See the website homepage for the phone number. And anytime anyone sees vandalism taking place at the park they need to call the Park Ranger, not the police. Again the homepage has the info. I hope anyone who reads this will come to our meeting tonight!
Is it possible for this association to ever become a real homeowner's association where rules can be applied along with member fees. Basically, just like Natomas Park neighborhood. I'm just wondering. Has it been done before in other neighborhoods in Sacramento? It would be nice to get something like that going in order to clean up the neighborhood and make it look real nice. I know it would probably be hard to get homeowners to pay into an association, but I just thought I'd ask.
Hi everyone - let me start by saying thank you to everyone who is using this blog space and sharing concerns with the neighborhood.
This is a great location to vent, share concerns, ideas and just meet each other.
There is no doubt a problem with the Safeway carts. The City has really gotten behind our efforts and we have been told that Cartronics will be installed by the holidays.
Cartronics is a boot locking mechanism that prevents the carts from leaving the parking lot.
I know we will all be very excited when that happens! Until that time please call Safeway when you see carts in the community.
The phone number is 285-8840 and the store manager's name is Rich Lopez.
The phone number for Rite Aid is 285-9372 and the store manager is Doug Vona.
As for Kokomo park, we have our work cut out for us. The park is great, but is very busy and hence needs a lot of upkeep.
We are working with the City to increase the Cities efforts to take care of Kokomo.
Yes, we need new tables and a new teeter totter.
We did get the swings and I have seen many kiddos enjoying them!
We also want you to know that we too are concerned with the car break ins and other late night activities in Creekside.
We will be kicking off a Neighborhood Watch in the upcoming months - so stay tuned for details on that!
Please join us on the third Wednesday of every month upstairs at the Homecoming apartments at 7pm to further discuss the community!
Thank you for you energies, we look forward to meeting you.
That chipper is a big problem. I encourage everyone to talk to that neighbor and ask him or her respectfully to please house it elsewhere. This is a neighborhood, not a warehouse.
And what about the taxi cabs, I used to see ice cream trucks parked in the driveways of certain homes as well. Are these commerical vehicles illegally parked?
I agree about the chipper and the taxis/ice cream trucks. Our streets are just too small to house all these cars and big trucks. Sometimes I can barely pull out of my driveway. I am afraid I am going to hit the big truck parked across the street.
*FYI*
Our car got broken into last night on Logansport Way. Our CD changer was stolen along with some important medical papers. If anyone comes across a black handbag with "CSU, Sacramento - University Union" in yellow letters written on it, please call 916-505-0850 and leave a message. We have reported this to the police.
Thank you.
I have a problem with residents who park their vehicles on the streets as opposed to their driveways or garage in Creekside Natomas. It is especially bad on Mahaska Way. I do not know if their is a CCNR regarding parking cars in the street in Creekside. Regardless, it does not leave much room for cars driving down the streets. Besides being an eye sore, it can be very dangerous for children that maybe playing and run out behind a parked car and BAM they are suddenly struck by a driver that has his or her vision impaired due to the numerous parked vehicles on the street. This is an example of what happened when I was a kid growing up in a neighborhood with cars parked up and down the street. I hope there is a practical solution to this problem.
Thank you.
There is a boat, and jet ski park on broadwater that makes it very difficult when two cars are traveling down the street at the same time. They were given a Orange sticker a few months ago. They move it for a few weeks and now it's back. Not only do they have there water toys, but they park there cars on the street too. The space is getting more and more limited.
Report the boat to code enforcement. You can file an online complaint, see the link on the creekside homepage. My neighbor's and I kept filing complaints about a boat in our street, where they would get tagged then move it for a couple of days...finally it worked and they permanently moved it to their driveway..although I prefer not to see it at all, better in their driveway then cluttering our street!
Yeah! Kokomo Park has new table tops! Thanks Angelique!
I would like to know if it is legal for the 18 wheeler trucks to park in vacant fields and on streets within our neighborhood. I hate looking out of my window to see a large truck in the field (corner of North Park and Broadwater). This is our neighborhood, not a parking lot!
I live on Mahaska Way toward the Broadwater side and I am frusterated with the kids down the street from my house. They're frequently disrupting the peace in the neighborhood. Whether it is their loud motorized scooters,remote control cars, and their little dirt bikes. The worst is the little dirt bike which is illegal to ride on public streets from my understanding. They don't just drive by once, they whiz back and forth back and forth not only disturbing me and my young children that are sleeping but disturbing the neighbors too. Im not trying discourage kids from having fun but maybe just be a little bit more courteous to their neighbors. When I was a kid, I too had a dirt bike which I took down to the river bottoms or to an open field to ride. It was just common sense back then. Do you have any suggestions to remedy this distubance.
Thank You CNA
Has anyone looked into maybe a four way stop at Kokomo and new market? The trees and the two way stop seem to be dangerous. Not a very good set up.
This is a great site. I just found out about it and I have a couple of concerns to throw out and ask about. One is kids and also adults on motorized scooters, mini-motorcycles etc. I have young kids and when we were in the front yard they gave my kids the finger and yelled rude things besides my worry of running down kids and the noise pollution they make. Any comments? The other thing is midway on our block (Quinter) there's a home that shoots off fireworks often at 10pm, which is well past my children's bedtime. Is this illegal?
Thank you all for visiting this site and sharing your concerns and also your appreciation.
I love logging in to see what is on the minds of the Creekside neighbors.
You all have very good comments and I would like to encourage you to attend the Neighborhood Association meetings on the 3rd Wed. of each month at 7pm upstairs at the Homecoming apartments.
Bring with you your concerns and enthusiasm. Usually during these meetings we have representation from City areas such as the City Councilmember's office and they are really helpful with resolving concerns.
Please do join us so that we can work together and make a united effort to get Creekside as fun, safe and beautiful as possible!
I have had to call Monument Security twice regarding a group of males that was walking around and talking loudly in the late hours of the night. The first time I called was last Sat. We heard them at around 8:30 p.m. and then again at about 10:00 p.m. We called them in at 10:00. I called in again early this morning, Oct. 23 at 1:50 a.m. I heard them running down North Platte, towards Broadwater. They were talking loudly. The Monument Security guard was on Kankakee and followed them. I called Monument this morning and found out that nothing could be done. I don't know whether these two groups are the same, but either way they have no reason to be making noise and running around in the middle of the night. Could they be responsible for the car break-ins and the graffiti on the mailboxes?
What other reason could there be for this group to be out at 2am on a school night other than to cause mischief? We all need to be proactive and contact the police, security, park ranger to catch this group. We need to catch them in the act.
Also, if this is a group of teenagers, where are their parents?!
Shopping carts are nothing. Gang “crip” graffiti has popped up. This is stuff that you would expect in the inner city on walls or what have you but today on my way to work I noticed gang graffiti on a neighbors garage door!!! Anyone else here live on Kokomo that can attest to the hooligan problem we have? Because this might explain the recent stint of vandalism. These little bands of trouble-makers roam the streets at all times of the day, (Don’t they go to school or work?) most notably, why are there bands of thugs roaming the streets late at night causing trouble without getting caught? They roam around late at night looking into cars for things to steal, break windows, make loud noises and hit things. Last week a group of 5 or so kids were right outside my house looking into our cars for things to steal at around 2 in the morning and proceeded to make loud noises and hit things waking several neighbors up. Last night we saw what seemed like another group of thugs jumping on cars no doubt damaging the sheet metal and denting them. And today I wake up to graffiti in my neighborhood. Its time Sac PD patrolled our neighborhood or at least acknowledges that it needs patrolling. Sac pd has been called 3 times. They have shown up 0 times. I have seen the private security out at night but the problem persists. Has there been any talk about forming a neighborhood watch of some sort? Its only a matter of time before you wake up to a broken window or graffiti on your property. About the shopping carts- we should tie them all together and tie them to the back of a Safeway truck! Thanks for reading my rant!
I keep reading about how we need to have a Neighborhood Watch. Well we have started one and have had two meetings so far. Unfortunately only a handful of people showed up at each meeting. Posting that we need it isn't enough. People need to take the time to attend these meetings. I know we are all busy, but our neighborhood watch will only be successful if people become involved.
Yes, Sac PD seems to be worthless in this community. No wonder my friends refer to this area as "Ghettomas"
I am very disappointed to see all of this finger pointing at Safeway. Shouldn't we as neighbors take on some personal responsibility? The carts are not pushing themselves into the neighborhoods by themselves, nor is Safeway scattering their carts about. Instead of plotting a boycott, maybe we should be holding our neighbors accountable for their actions, including stealing shopping carts.
I think we have the cart problem taken care of with the installation of cartronics. (Thank you Safeway.) Now we need to watch the Rite Aid carts. The manager of Rite Aid has said to call him and they will come get them.
I absolutely agree that we need to hold people accountable for their actions. That is why you need to call code enforement for things like the broken down basketball hoop on Watseka, the broken down cars, etc. While you're at it, why dont you remind your neighbors to take care of their ugly overgrown front yards and to take down the Christmas lights.
What is great about all of you is that you are visiting the web page and getting active in the effort to make Creekside a great neighborhood to live and raise a family...
We won't all always agree on what the issues are or how to best approach resolving them, but as long as we keep talking and keep trying we are going to have success.
Thank you to all of you for your energies and efforts....
Please come to the neighborhood association meetings on the third Wednesdays of each month at 7pm upstairs in the Homecoming apartments main building on Kokomo Dr.
I hope to see all of you and hear your thoughts!
Angelique
To the parents of the 3 boys spreading styrofoam through the neighborhood last Friday, Feb 1,
Shame on you for letting your children make such a mess of our neighborhood. And shame on you for not making them clean it up. It is actions like these that make our nice neighborhood look trashy. Please make your children responsible for their actions.
Thank you,
A Creekside neighbor
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