August 1997
Those who live on the green belt between Oakleaf and Rimview can expect to have their buildings painted in the next 3 to 6 weeks. Gold Coast painting will distribute notices to individual homeowners, but your painting chair urges you to be prepared to move items on your patio and balcony (if applicable) away from walls. The onsite crew doesn't want to be placed in the position of manhandling your possessions.
This past week Archie and Sheba, Peletier and Coco met on the canyon walk to say farewell to Scout, one of that old gang who hangs out there, he's moving to Mission Beach. Noses touched and tails wagged, even as voices were raised in salute to the best of the best. Tentative plans were made for a reunion at Dog Beach this fall but, given the emotions of the moment, nothing could be finalized. At last it was time: "Scout, you gave us class. You'll be missed."
In recent months, two renters have neglected to lock the club house after their event. This is your responsibility and in the event of vandalism,--the renter concerned will be held responsible for all damages.
Both the swale and canyon cleanups have been completed and the Fire Marshal reports that we have met the requirements of the appropriate Codes.
Your directors have approved replacing the present wooden doors on your garages with folding metal doors. The latter and their basic installation are at no cost to the Homeowner. Shortly, you will receive in the mail a ballot and cover letter. We will go ahead with the project when a majority of homeowners approve.
In the 1930's and 40's, Hollywood discovered that there was money to be made bringing such schoolroom classics to the screen as Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. To begin such a film guaranteed a ready audience, raised no troubling questions as to the suitability of its materials for young viewers, and best of all, the works of Victorian novelists, like Stevenson, were in the public domain, which meant that they could be brought to the screen without payment of fees or royalties to a long-dead author.
Readers may be familiar with the 1990 film treatment which is an exciting and realistic version of the classic pirate adventure. Charlton Heston, playing against type, is Long John Silver. But this writer urges viewers to take a look at the 1934 TREASURE ISLAND with Wallace Berry as Silver and Lionel Barrymore as Billy Bones. In particular, the latter's subservience to Dr. Livesey, the magistrate, dramatizes Stevenson's Victorian world of order and of authority figures who are at once to be trusted and obeyed.
Jackie Cooper, as Jim Hawkins, may strike watchers as something of an anachronism, but he does typify how Stevenson's Victorians viewed adolescent boys. They are all motivated by the thirst for adventures beyond the ordinary. However, on the screen, it Wallace Berry's Long John who commands our attention. For he is clearly the best man of all those present by a long sea mile. Not least because he understands and will use to his own ends gentleman, and cutthroat, and boy alike. And yet he never forfeits Jim's sympathy, nor our reluctant admiration of a consummate villain. Thus we applaud his escape at the film and novel's-close with a share of the treasure of TREASURE ISLAND.
Barta Roofing and Sun Coast painters keep reporting broken roof tiles. The culprits may be window washers or duct cleaners but your, directors soon may have to hold individual owners responsible when broken tiles are discovered. Please make sure that those you contact to perform a service that takes them up on your roof know how to walk on concrete tile.
A few residents in Villa Monterey are not aware of a simple, yet important mechanical device that keeps their homes from filling up with water from interior broken water pipes and fittings. The water pressure regulator, oftentimes buried in a small concrete silo in the ground, is a simple mechanical device installed in the water line between the main water line buried in the street and the water pipes which transport fresh water into and within the home. When they are functional, water pressure regulators work to lower the pressure in the main (usually about 120 lbs./square inch) to about 50-60 lbs. square inch, which is the desired approximate pressure of water in the pipes inside your home. The pipes in your home are mostly PVC (white plastic) and the connections (also PVC) are "glued" together. Neither are engineered to endure high pressures for very long periods of time.
If the water pressure regulator for your residence fails to work, the pressure in the plastic pipes increases to the same pressure in the main line, a highly undesirable situation. Because when that happens, the pipes may contain double the pressure they were designed to withstand. The result, the pipes burst, or the connections split, break and rapid flooding can result.
How to avoid the flood calamity: Use a pressure gauge regularly to measure the water pressure of your internal pipes.
It is a simple process. Pressure gauges are available in hardware stores, cost is under $10.00. Like a garden hose, gauges have a threaded end which screws onto any threaded faucet, for example, in your laundry room or on your patio. Next, once screwed tight, turn on the spigot and watch the reading on the gauge. If the reading is above 70 lbs./square inch, start to be concerned; if the reading is above 100 lbs. /square inch, call the plumber.
© Copyright 1999 Villa Monterey HOA
Return to Newsletters Index