Monday, November 23, 2015

Revised Snow Removal Ordinance

With the first major snowfall of the 2015/2016 season behind us, residents should be aware of the newly revised snow removal ordinance.

Property owners have 24 hours after the snowfall has ended to remove snow accumulations of three inches or more, or any dangerous ice from public sidewalks and ramps leading to crosswalks. If multiple snowfalls add up to three inches, then the same rules apply.

Instead of just ticketing delinquent property owners, the City can now step in and remove snow or dangerous ice. Property owners would then get a bill from the City for the abatement plus at least a $75 additional fee.

The penalty to property owners will increase with each offense, with the fourth violation in a calendar year resulting in misdemeanor charges.

The City says that abatement and enforcement will be a priority in areas heavily traveled by pedestrians, such as those near businesses or schools or on walking routes to those areas.

It is yet to be seen how well this ordinance will be enforced, and if the city will clear city owned properties which were not cleared last winter.  Residents should call Neighborhood Services to report sidewalks and crosswalk ramps that have not been cleared.

Neighborhood Services at 313-943-2161

Friday, November 13, 2015

S.O.D.A. POP Revised Holiday Schedule

S.O.D.A. POP Trivia Team Revised Holiday Schedule

▸ Nov 19th - 9:00 pm
▸ Dec 10th - 9:00 pm
▸ Dec 17th - 9:00 pm

Bailey's Dearborn
22091 Michigan Ave (@ Mason)

The schedule will go back to 2nd & 4th
Thursday in January

S.O.D.A. POP Trivia Team Information

Contact Criss Tolliver for more information and to RSVP
crissandsteve@hotmail.com
(313) 304-2648

Thursday, November 12, 2015

What Is Nextdoor.com?

The Dearborn Police announced today they have partnered with Nextdoor.com; but what is Nextdoor.com? Is S.O.D.A. using Nextdoor.com? Should you sign up?

Nextdoor.com is a "free" service what allows communities to create a private social network. Anyone can create and claim an area that isn't already claimed and make a "neighborhood". Once signed up you can invite others in that neighborhood to join. This includes email invites as well as postcards mailed to addresses you invite. Only people that can prove they live in that area can join your neighborhood.

S.O.D.A. has worked with Nextdoor.com's Support to claim as much of our boundaries as possible.  The S.O.D.A. board is posting information and maintaining the Southwestern Outer Drive page on Nextdoor.com, however Nextdoor.com is NOT going to be the main source of association information.

The main information source will remain www.sodadearborn.com
Many residents do not want to be on social media sites of any kind. We want to make it as easy as possible for residents, this is why we've spent considerable time this past year creating several avenues in which to receive association information.

List of S.O.D.A. information sources and priority;
  1. http://www.sodadearborn.com
  2. https://www.facebook.com/groups/southwesternouterdrive/
  3. https://twitter.com/SodaDearborn
  4. https://southwesternouterdrive.nextdoor.com/
Should you sign up for Nextdoor.com? There are a couple things to consider.
  • The creators of Nextdoor.com have stated in articles in the New York Times and Mashable.com that one of the goals of the site is to mine the data in order to serve ads to it's users. Of course the site needs to fund it's self somehow.
  • Once registered on the site, your address is listed on your profile and your property is highlighted on a map. The address in your profile can be hidden by changing the default settings for your account, but your property will still be highlighted on the map as being apart of Nextdoor.com
  • Personal information entered into your profile is displayed to all users in your "neighborhood". Many of those people you may not personally know. The only way around that is to not fully fill out your profile.
  • Information posted to the site only reaches your neighborhood, or the immediately surrounding neighborhoods. While this is good in some cases, S.O.D.A. wants to be able to inform all city residents in other cases and this site would not allow that. This is why sodadearborn.com remains the main information source for the association.
For those that find Nextdoor.com a useful tool, you are more than welcome to use it. For those that do not wish to join Nextdoor.com, know what nothing has changed for you. All information about S.O.D.A. and our events will be posted to sodadearborn.com and copied to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor.com

Below are a couple of screen shots of what Nextdoor.com looks like.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Veterans Day

Thank You!


To our neighbors and everyone who has served our country, Thank You for your sacrifice and everything you have done to keep us safe.

- S.O.D.A.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

November Raffle Winners

Congratulations to our November General Meeting raffle giveaway Winners!

Member Raffle
Fall Home Decor & Cranberry Caramel Crunch

Winner:  Mike Bonich

To win the member raffle you must be present at the monthly meeting.
Member names drawn but not present to win:
Kade family
Jones family
Michelis-Brown family
Cooper family

Attendance Raffle
Fall decorations

Winner: Joe Vasquez

The attendance raffle can be won by anyone in attendance at the meeting. Prizes are typically items donated by local businesses or business members.

50/50 Raffle
Winner: Michael Albano

Michael Albano donated his winnings back to the association. Thank You!!

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Association T-Shirt

Show Your Neighborhood Pride!
Get your Southwestern Outer Drive Neighborhood Association T-Shirt.
Available NOW!

$10.00*    •    S, M, L, & XL
$12.00*    •    2XL & 3XL

*An $0.80 convenience fee per item is added to all online payments to cover transaction costs.



T-Shirts are available for purchase at any General Meeting.

Can't make it to a meeting, but still want a T-Shirt?
Purchase Online

November S.O.D.A. Meeting

The November S.O.D.A. Meeting
Thursday Nov 5th @ 7:00pm
in the auditorium at Whitmore-Bolles Elementary
21501 Whitmore St, Dearborn, MI 48124




Special Guest:
David Norwood
Sustainability Coordinator
City of Dearborn

Mr. Norwood will have a short presentation detailing the projects and programs he is working on for the city, and will take feedback and answer questions that our members and residents may have.

Win Prizes At The Meeting
  • Member Raffle for any paid Regular Members in attendance.
  • Attendance Raffle for ANYONE in attendance.
  • 50/50 Raffle
The only requirement for winning is attending the association meeting. For the Member Raffle we pull names from the entire member list until we pull the name of a paid regular member in attendance. For the Attendance Raffle we draw names of anyone that signed in when attending the meeting. You must be present to win.

*All prizes are donated by our supporters and business advertisers.

Facebook Event - November Meeting

Monday, November 2, 2015

Proper Disposal of Fall Decorations

From the City of Dearborn:

Be sure that you properly dispose of fall decorations.
Pumpkins, hay, straw, gourds, and corn should NOT go into your yard waste bags or containers.  These items are considered food waste by the city's contracted composting facility and they will not take them.

Pumpkins, hay, straw, gourds, and corn should be bagged and placed in your Gray trash cart.

Disposing of these items at home for personal composting should be done in a proper manor which would be in a closed or sealed container. Open composting in gardens or flower beds should NOT be done as it will attract flies and/or rodents.