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CWCA E-Newsletter - January 2008

Removal Plan for the Last of the Fall Leaves
A newly added fourth Fairfax County leaf pick-up has been scheduled to begin across the County on Thursday, January 10th (exact pick-up date for our neighborhood is unknown but it will be this Thursday at the earliest), After this last pick-up, residents are encouraged to remove remaining leaves from their properties and to help keep the adjoining roadsides clear of leaves. This will help prevent leaves from blowing onto other properties and will work to reduce traffic dangers.

This County leaf collection service will pick up leaves throughout the neighborhood – NOT only at the homes signed up for the County’s vacuum pickup. Additionally, resident Arnold Braswell has been in communication with some CWCA Block Captains and a representative of Fairfax County to help coordinate this additional leaf removal effort for our neighborhood. As a result, the County now has the addresses of many of the homes at which leaves have been piled up at the curb and thus, the County will remove leaves from each of those houses listed.

After this last removal, residents must use their own resources to remove any more leaves. A lawn service contractor has offered their leaf removal services over the next two weeks. Contact Craig's Lawn Care at 703.919.1028 (c) or 703.385.1641 (o) to arrange for this fee-based service.

Residents can call Colleen Burrows at 703.324.5228 to sign up for the 2008 leaf removal services.

Addressing Unwanted Delivery of The Examiner
CWCA has received a growing number of resident complaints re: delivery of the free newspaper, The Examiner, to all our homes. Multiple residents have tried to cancel it unsuccessfully or have only been able to halt it for a limited period of time. There is growing concern over receiving this newspaper by some residents who do not want to receive it due to content they are not interested in and the security risk it poses (with being unable to effectively cancel it for vacations).

Residents who want to cancel or otherwise halt the delivery of the Examiner are encouraged to contact their Circulation office to document their request. Email contactus@examiner.com or send a letter to 1015 15th St. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005.

Alternatively, the new local distributor, Vinay, has provided his telephone number – 703.203.2091 – for contact regarding the newspaper delivery.

And, for those interested in participating in a group neighborhood mailing of a Letter of Complaint (and requesting removal from delivery), please contact resident Mary Scott in order to sign the letter.

Let’s Do Our Part & Recycle by resident, Betty Ende
The United States is the number one trash producing country, producing more than 1,600 pounds of trash per person per year.

We can reduce our volume of trash by reusing or recycling items. Detailed below is information from Fairfax County on ways that you can recycle household and yard waste. I encourage you to read this to see if there are things your family could be doing to reduce your trash levels!

Paper, Glass and Cans You can recycle newspaper, container glass, metal food and beverage cans, plastic bottles and jugs, and mixed paper and cardboard. These materials can be set out for collection at your curb on Fridays. The county supplies each house with two blue recycling bins. To help the county be more efficient in its recycling efforts, please include all types of paper in one and glass, cans and plastic bottles in the other. If you need a new recycling bin please call 703.802.3322.

Other Household Items Do you have other items such as computers, bicycles, or clean-working microwaves that you’d like to recycle? You can dispose of these items and more through America Recycles Day annually at a local high-school. For details please visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/recycling/ard-07.pdf

Yard Waste (Brush, Leaves and Grass) Option 1 – Home Mulching/Composting: You can easily recycle leaves and grass using a mulching lawn mower. You can also generate your own compost. Both of these methods improve the environment by adding nutrients to the soil and preventing pollution. Visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/recycling/composting.htm to learn more about how easy it is to save yourself time, money, and effort while helping your garden and our environment!

Option 2 – Recycling Yard Waste: You may set out your grass clippings and/or leaves in reusable plastic or metal containers, Kraft paper yard waste bags, or clear plastic bags on Fridays. Fairfax County has advised that yard waste pickup occurs as a second round pickup in our neighborhood on Fridays. Please note that there is also a truck that has a yard waste route close by and so sometimes they will also pick up yard waste on Thursdays, although the county says we cannot rely on the Thursday pickup. Never use dark plastic bags and don’t include the yard waste in a county trashcan since these items will likely be treated as trash and will not be recycled.

Leaves, grass, and brush (including branches and twigs) are collected at the curb all year long. From March 1 to December 24, yard waste is collected and ground into mulch or composted at a privately-owned facility. Beginning in late October, Fairfax County provides vacuum collection of leaves from the curb three times each season to a portion of the residences in our neighborhood. Signs are posted in the neighborhood showing the scheduled vacuum dates. Please note there is a special assessment for the vacuum collection and not every house on a street is included in this program. To see if your house is included or to get more information on vacuum collection visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/leaf/

. During much of the winter (December 25 through February 28), yard waste is disposed of rather than recycled due to the low quantities set out by customers. NOTE: Christmas trees are an exception to this rule. They can be set out on the curb for pickup during the first two weeks of January.


Neighborhood PlayDates Continues to Thrive
It all began with five families from Chesterbrook Woods and one from Chain Bridge Forest meeting at a home for a baby playdate in July 2004. Over the past three and a half years, Neighborhood PlayDates has grown to over 120 members (moms and dads), representing 100+ families, with kids generally ranging in age from newborns to early teens.

As members told their friends, the Neighborhood PlayDates group has expanded to include other families in nearby McLean, Arlington, Falls Church and Vienna neighborhoods (i.e., Potomac Hills, Franklin Park and Country Club Hills, to name a few). Chesterbrook Woods families represent about 80% of the members.

The core PlayDates group continues to hold various events throughout the year including nanny/kid playdates during the week and various weekend events such as parents/kids gatherings at local parks, coffee shops and book readings, taking classes together such as music/dance, and holding an annual family swim/BBQ event at Highlands Pool club.

Additionally, the core PlayDates group has various spin-off groups including Mom/Toddler weekday gatherings, quarterly weeknight Working Mom Dinners, a Spanish-speaking playgroup, a weekly Moms Running Club and Spring/Fall Toddler Soccer classes.

Lastly, through its Yahoo Group listserv and website, the PlayDates group is used as a daily resource for family and neighborhood questions and advice with anything from child care issues to finding a good pediatrician, pet sitter, computer help expert, window installer, etc. To find out more or to join Neighborhood PlayDates, contact Lori Boerner at 703.538.1711 or lboerner@yahoo.com.

Also, we are anticipating adding some new Spin-Off Groups including a Babysitting Coop, Moms Book Club and an annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. If anyone has ideas on how to implement these or wants to help, please contact us.

Annual CWCA Meeting is COMING UP!
We are finalizing details for the Annual CWCA Meeting in March. We will send out an email soon on the date and time – as usual, it will be a weeknight at approximately 6:30pm and it will be held again at Chesterbrook Elementary School. The meeting is OPEN to ALL RESIDENTS (home owners/renters, etc.). At the meeting, we will have updates on all areas of CWCA in the past year:

  • Open CWCA Steering Committee positions (this will be communicated soon, before the Annual Meeting)
  • Fiscal Year 2007 Budget/Revenues/Dues (April 2007 – March 2008)
  • Annual Events – Halloween Party and new First Annual Third of July Party
  • Security and Neighborhood Watch
  • Snow Removal
  • Welcome Committee
  • Website, Email List and Newsletters
  • Let us know if you have topics you would like to submit for inclusion at the Annual Meeting – Email ChesterbrookWoods@gmail.com.
Take Advantage of These Open Lines of Communication…
Website Webmaster Ellie LeBaron updates and manages a web site for us at www.McleanOnline.com (click on Chesterbrook Woods for the latest CWCA news).

Be sure to add our website to your Favorites list and stop by anytime to read the latest news or access info on upcoming activities, event photos, Neighborhood Watch, snow removal, Block Captains, dues form, bulletin board, contractors list, Young Entrepreneurs sign-up form, current/past newsletters, and more!

E-Mail Address
ChesterbrookWoods@gmail.com
E-mail List Manager Maureen Hurley maintains our ever-growing roster of resident e-mail addresses and sends out all our CWCA messages. If you have NOT been receiving monthly emails consistently from CWCA, please add our email address to your Address Book (so that it will not mistakenly go into your Spam/Bulk file).

& Newsletter
The CWCA newsletter is a great method of communication, so if you have any future newsletter ideas, an article idea to share or one you want to author, contact Newsletter Manager Sylvia Pierson. Contact info for Ellie, Maureen and Sylvia is noted below.

Chesterbrook Woods Citizens Association
Steering Committee
(April 2007 – March 2008)
Lori Boerner President 538-1711
Kevin Connelly Vice-President 855-7403
Nicki Watts Secretary 532-8296
Charles Hoyt Treasurer 534-6266
John Glowacki Security Director 533-0717
Ione Braswell Neighborhood Watch Co-Chair 536-1681
Virginia Dillon Neighborhood Watch Co-Chair 536-8729
Edie Ashton Welcome Committee Co-Chair 534-3743
Jessica Dovi Welcome Committee Co-Chair 536-2375
Roger Nucho Snow Removal Co-Chair 237-3646
Dave Stevens Snow Removal Co-Chair 531-0558
Sylvia Pierson Newsletter Manager 532-1982
Maureen Hurley Email List Manager 237-8236
Ellie LeBaron Webmaster webmaster@mcleanonline.com
Bill Stephens McLean Citizens Association Rep 532-5915
CWCA Website: www.mcleanonline.com (click on Chesterbrook Woods)
CWCA Email: ChesterbrookWoods@gmail.com

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