ATV or WTF?

The word on the Island Cove street is that we are looking at the purchase of an ATV. We just had our HOA raised $50.00 per quarter to the tune of an additional $48,000 per year. We were told that everything has gone up including an additional $7000.00 for flood insurance. We will also be assessed up to $1000 per unit for other line items. Now we are going to spend circa $3000 for an ATV so we can pull trees?

At my home up north, I thought about getting a John Deere lawn tractor to mow my lawn. By the time I spent $3000 on it, I figured with its cost plus maintenance and fuel, that I would be better off hiring the lawn mowed…..and I was right!

So why do we need a $3K ATV to play with? If you want a few trees pulled hire it done or put the golf carts together like a team of Clydesdales and pull the trees. I wonder if some heads are so far up their A$$ that we could hook on and pull them out too.

It seems like as soon as we get a few bucks in the coffers, we end up spending it like a Drunken Sailor on Cinderella Liberty (no offense to our drunken sailor friends).

So if we are to purchase an ATV let’s upgrade the golf carts for security as well. See photo concept below:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The blog would like to pass along HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to one of our very own..Linda Farber!
Hoping you had a wonderful day!

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous....

You can't help but reading or watching on the news one ridiculous story after another about the great state of Florida.....did you know you can rent alligators for pool parties!! I know how I'm going to celebrate my next birthday and just who I'm going to be serving, I mean inviting.  P.S. Don't be upset if you're not on the guest list.
If you're wondering how weird Florida can be, this article puts it all into perspective. http://www.salon.com/2013/07/26/5_reasons_why_florida_is_the_weirdest_state_ever_partner/

How Many Have You Visited?

This was sent to us at the blog so we thought we would pass it along to you.....             http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/11-small-florida-towns-you-need-to-visit#.uwAyn0LnN

Upcoming Elections

Today we received notification of the upcoming board elections to be held on March 14th, 2015 @ 10:00 am in the Island Cove of Cape Coral Clubhouse. According to the mailing there will be three (3) positions available and an election will only occur if the number of candidates is greater then the number of positions available. If any owner desires to become a board member you must fill out the "Notice of Intent to be a Candidate" and the Candidate Information Sheet and return both by Feb 3rd, 2015.

The Horsemen sent the following list of characteristics they believe new board candidates should possess:

1. Lead, Follow, or get the hell out of the way.

2. Commit to their position for their entire elected time.

3. Attend, in person or by phone EVERY board meeting.

4. Stand up, GROW A SET and question if a proposal seems out of order.

5. The breakdown of number 1:

5. LEAD-- Take your board position seriously. Lead your community by example.

6  FOLLOW-  Follow does not mean being a sheep, it means follow the path best serving the community.

7. GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY. If you cannot commit to your new position and do what is right then resign your position immediately and let someone who will lead, take over.

8. The time is now and the community wants real change, they are not joking! 

This list of characterics is not meant to sway new candidates one way or another. 

If You're Looking For Something To Do

If you're tired of going to the pool and drinking other peoples alcohol the following link is a helpful website into finding events and goings-on in the Cape Coral area. http://www.happeningsmagazine.net/calendar.html#21

For All You "Clubbers"

Sam’s Club will open its newest club in Cape Coral this Thursday. The doors will officially open following an 8 a.m. grand opening ceremony at the club located at 301 SW Pine Island Road. As with all grand openings you might want to skip the first day or two unless of course you feel like being harassed by salesmen pushing cable/dish tv, hair extensions, timeshares in Afghanistan or knife and cookware hucksters. Then there are those of you however who will be going to take your significant other for an Anniversary or Birthday dinner at the food sampler booths.....you know who you are!! Regardless, this is one of those utilitarian places that has what you need when you need it, as long as you are willing to buy in bulk. As an example, you can purchase toilet paper here and you will not need to get replacements for almost 15 years. Oh well, Sams Club, in Cape Coral, during snowbird season should mean a rush on Depends, Ensure, Viagra, Centrum Silver, Prune Juice, Denture Adhesive, Ben Gay.............etc!! 

ReaDepends
Viactive
Ben Gay
Just For Men
Viagra
Ensure
Centrum Silver
Liver
Prune Juice Denture Adhesived more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2015/01/20/6720513/grand-opening-of-cape-coral-sams.html#storylink=cpy

[Island Cove Condos] 194-acre parcel north of Four Mile Cove sold in Cape

The following information was passed along to the Island Cove Condos blog:

A 194-acre piece of Cape Coral property with 5,000 feet on the Caloosahatchee River has been sold for $3,270,000 for residential development. The property, just north of the Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve, was sold by San Jose-based Brandenburg Properties to Naples-based Ripple Lake LLC. Schooner Bay Realty broker Tad Yeatter, who with Tim Edmiston of Schooner Bay handled the sale, said the property is zoned for about 180 homes and the new owner is exploring how it might be developed. Meanwhile, Brandenburg still owns the old Lochmoor Country Club just to the north of the land it sold Dec. 23 to Ripple Lake. Brandenburg bought both the Ripple Lake and Lochmoor properties in March 2009 from Mic Monte LLC, owned by Minneapolis-based Marshall Investments Corp., which loaned developer Paradise Preserve LLC $79 million in 2005 for the ambitious redevelopment of the golf course and marina along Orange Grove Boulevard. The project was never built, although the developer shut down the golf course, which has never reopened. Yeatter said it’s not clear how the Ripple Lake property will be developed. It is largely wetlands, although there’s a tract of developable uplands on its western side. Also, Yeatter said, “It’s got good water access, that’s what’s nice about it. It’s got linear footage on the canal (Coral Pointe Canal, which runs along the northern edge of the property and flows directly into the river).” Lochmoor, which has a working marina, is likely to be developed with multifamily residences, but the real estate market in Cape Coral isn’t ready right now for that kind of development, he said. “We’re keeping our options open. We’ve been approached by apartment people, by ACLF (adult congregate living facility) people. There’s really no hurry.” Commercial real estate broker Gary Tasman, of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Property Southwest Florida, said the Cape generally isn’t fertile ground for mid-rise condominiums, but that Lochmoor may be the exception. “You do have the river,” he said. “I do think it would be feasible with the marina.” Yeatter said the golf course won’t be fully restored but that it could be scaled down to an executive course. Cape-based land consultant Joe Mazurkiewicz said there’s strong demand now for relatively small, high-end apartment rental projects. “It’s hard to keep those in inventory.” Lochmoor would be a good location for that kind of project, he said. “A couple are being built in southwest Cape right now and I’m working with a developer and owner” for another with 50 units or less, Mazurkiewicz said. The problem with larger projects is that much of the city originally was laid out mainly with single-family lots, he said. “It’s so hard to assemble more than a block.”

--
Posted By Blogger to Island Cove Condos at 1/18/2015 01:16:00 PM

Where We Rank

Cape Coral on our top lists:

• #1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Construction (population 50,000+)"
• #4 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Construction (population 50,000+)"
• #5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males in occupations: Sales and office occupations: (population 50,000+)"
• #6 on the list of "Top 101 cities with most building permits per 1,000 residents in 2004-2006 (population 50,000+)"
• #6 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Other health and personal care stores (population 50,000+)"
• #6 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers: (population 50,000+)"
• #8 on the list of "Top 100 fastest growing cities from 2000 to 2008 (pop. 50,000+)"
• #9 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Motor vehicle and parts dealers (population 50,000+)"
• #13 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest maximum monthly morning or afternoon humidity (population 50,000+)"
• #17 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the largest percentage population increase from 2000 to 2006 (population 50,000+)"
• #18 on the list of "Top 100 cities with oldest residents (pop. 50,000+)"
• #24 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest unemployment growth from 2000 to 2009 (pop 50,000+)"
• #24 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Fuel dealers (population 50,000+)"
• #24 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males in occupations: Librarians, curators, and archivists (population 50,000+)"
• #24 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest unemployment in 2009 (pop 50,000+)"
• #24 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males in occupations: Sales and related occupations: (population 50,000+)"
• #25 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Other food preparation and serving workers including supervisors (population 50,000+)"
• #26 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Private households (population 50,000+)"
• #27 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Alcoholic beverage merchant wholesalers (population 50,000+)"
• #27 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the largest city-data.com crime index increase from 2005 to 2006 (population 50,000+)"

• #58 (33909) on the list of "Top 101 zip codes with the largest percentage of Alsatian first ancestries (pop 5,000+)"
• #80 (33909) on the list of "Top 101 zip codes with the largest percentage of Slovene first ancestries (pop 5,000+)"

• #13 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the largest number of people moving in compared to moving out (pop. 50,000+)"

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Cape-Coral-Florida.html#ixzz3P8PU3LvW

Be On The Lookout!!!

Every day in the small community of Island Cove in the city of Cape Coral, Florida there is a unique migration that takes place. It's the Island Cove daily golf cart migration. Every day the carts come out of hibernation and make there way up and down their native land. Sometimes they travel the distance all alone....and other times the carts can be seen migrating in groups of two or more. But all are headed in the same direction. An ancient instinct calling them back and forth to the front gate and back to the club house. Please use caution when crossing their path for they travel with limited purpose.

"Beating a Dead Horse"

In an effort prevent these weekly rentals and additional problems and concerns someone is requesting the following. A current comment under the Weekly Rentals post is asking for the formation of Committees to assist our management team/board members and possibly lighten their work load....or responsibilities, however you want to look at it. Also, the hope is by creating several committees, focused on specific projects, this will also create some transparency between the association and the owners. Without revealing too much information, recorded in the minutes dating back to 6/30/2014 was a request for the formation of a committee to handle the fining process. This committee was to be made up of three (3) owners (volunteers), non-board members, to handle this process. Who volunteered? Who's on that committee? That answer falls under the topic of transparency, which was also requested by the owners at the same meeting, recorded in the same minutes, under OWNER COMMENTS AND DISCUSSION. The point we are trying to make is, unless the process and culture change, what the commenter is hoping for is NEVER going to happen. Most of what you ask for is falling on deaf ears.....and please, PETA members, the heading is an Urban Phrase and found in the Dictionary of Idioms so please don't comment on that.

Weekly Rentals?

The following was posted on the Island Cove website in Feb 2014 as a reminder to owners regarding the rental policy:

Recently a request was made on a social media site for an Island Cove condo to be rented for one week.  All owners should be aware that the Island Cove by-laws specifically state that all rentals MUST BE FOR A MINIMUM OF 30 DAYS.
Owners should be aware that failure to comply with this regulation  will subject the renter to eviction and a fine to the owner of the unit.
This is not a Property Manager or Board Association decision but strictly the requirements for compliance of the Island Cove docs.  We appreciate all owners and renters complying with this regulation.  

Apparently not everyone complies to this regulation.....attached is a rental offer from www.floridarentalgroup.com for a unit by the week.  

Too bad we don't have someone looking into this kind of thing. 

MEETING UPDATE!!!

The following was forwarded to us by one of the Four Horsemen:

"I may be missing the area in the blog to create a new post,so I am posting this under Grill Update. This just in....Carol's secretary was delivering the First Notice of the Annual Meeting this morning. The meeting will take place at the IC clubhouse on March 14, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. This is a Saturday so for any full time owners who work, you can attend the meeting. There will be an annual election of officers. Three positions are available, so get your "Notice of Intent to be a Candidate" in by February 3, 2015. Of course the letter does not say what two board members are staying (we know Dan has another year) and what three members terms are up. Maybe that is in the new docs from a year ago that were not combined and published yet (at least that was my understanding, but I am a new owner) or you have to guess. Anyway, start paying your favorite person with drinks now and get them to sign the Notice of Intent to be a Candidate. Maybe Horseman -S or J or P ? Best, Four Horsemen- M"

Good Luck to all those willing to throw their hat in the ring! 

Grill Update!!!!

Someone commented to the post regarding recent observations for which we are grateful because we did neglect to include that the owner WAS reimbursed for the purchase of the grills by Island Cove.  Included in the comment was the fact that the credit card limit on the card used by Island Cove is $1800 which was not sufficient enough to cover the expense of the grills. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!! For 4 years we waited for the grills after the survey only to find out now that the reason was because of a credit card limit. So, if I understand this correctly the grills  NEVER would have been purchased had this owner not led the initiative because nothing was being done to either increase the limit or find other funds. The author of the comment included that he/she would have gladly funded the grills with the use of their card, as would any one of us, we just had no idea that was the underlining issue. Again NO communication, let me say that again NO communication. By the way, an unemployed teenager with no job experience and no job history can obtain a credit card with a higher limit then $1800. To the commenter, we say THANK YOU, thank you for bringing this to our attention and shining a light on a glaring problem.

College Football Championship Game

As painful as this is I must congratulate the Ohio State Buckeyes and Urban Crier, sorry Urban Meyer, on winning the 2015 college football championship. The Buckeyes (14-1) won their eighth national championship while denying Oregon (13-2) their first title and ended Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota's Heisman Trophy-winning season on a losing note. The Buckeyes coach won his third national championship after winning BCS titles at Florida in 2006 and 2008.  With absolutely nothing positive going for the state of Ohio, and it's residents, this at least gives them a reason to smile and show off their one tooth. 

Q:  Why do Ohio State students have TGIF on their shoes?
A:  Toes Go In First! 

Recent Observations...

There was a comment to a previous post asking that some of the recent changes/improvements be listed on the blog....to that we respond. One obvious addition to the "Cove" are the barbecue grills that have been installed near the pool. This is where we would normally extend a heartfelt thank you to our board members for responding to our wishes and installing the grills. Unfortunately, it was the concerted efforts of several owners, one in particular, who financed the purchase of the grills and orchestrated their installation. Sound right to you? Not to us!!! There in lies one of the biggest obstacles facing progression/change at Island Cove. In APRIL 2011 a survey was sent out to owners and the following question was asked:

ISLAND COVE ENHANCEMENTS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE AROUND THE COMPLEX ARE: the following is a list of responses in order of preference 1 to 6.

_302_ Gas or charcoal grills located strategically around the complex
_255_ Various walkways to access the sidewalks around the canals
_280_ Have the pool and spa open beyond dusk
_143_ Remove the front entry gate and implement a guard station at front of complex 
_177_ Add janitorial and/or property manager for at least 1⁄2 days on the weekends 
_152 _Consider a better means to launching kayaks into the canals 

There were more responses to this single question then there were to any of the others in the survey and yet it took almost 4 years to install grills and only because an owner worked tirelessly to accomplish it.

The same post goes on to state that we need to be more informed and a time table is needed for the rest...well the aforementioned grill installation is an example of why that is not going to happen. Then we say let's start asking questions...to whom? when? where? Here's a question "Do YOU know when the next meeting is?" I, an owner, asked a question and was told that's none of my business...as an owner, what could I possibly ask that is none of my business? I'm not giving up, I'm getting angry, I just don't know which one is worse.

THIS JUST IN!

STOP $&@?!$@ with the chairs!!!!!!

Once Again We've Been Asked Back

After a several month absence we've been asked to resurrect the blog...to be honest we understand the desire to have a forum to discuss Island Cove going-ons, especially since the actual website only gets updated twice a year. With that being said it is with some reluctance that we attempt this again, mainly due in part to the fact that obtaining ANY information is virtually impossible. One of our very own found this out the hard way when he accepted the role of "Community Liaison" only to       realize the only information that was going to be released was the weather report. This individual is highly regarded and a well respected member of our community and although we commend his efforts we have to fault his naiveness to actually thinking this was possible.....(stay strong my friend!). In an effort to help our friend and with some trepidation here we go......but as we see it, it can't be any worse then that useless rag of a website we are currently relying on...(and we PAY for that).  To our 2 readers/followers we say, we will try our best and be prepared, "it's about to go down!"