It’s active at the clubhouse. Some afternoons one can hear the thunderous drums of the cardio drum class beating on the yoga balls in the ballroom, or the SunBird Singers’ harmonious voices rehearsing for the next big show, or the roar of the crowd after a home run in the bean bag baseball league game, or the cheers of water volleyball after a long rally. Many other leagues and activities have started again, including bocce ball, shuffleboard, pickleball, tennis, and much more. Come join the fun! SunBird’s Pickleball Club is sponsoring its annual huge Alzheimer’s Awareness tournament and fundraiser. Even if you don’t play pickleball, come check out the raffle prizes at the clubhouse and watch some highly competitive pickleball matches for this great cause.
SunBird’s own artistic talent is vast and can be displayed in various forms. This past November, a custom display case was completed and installed for the Sunny Quilters to showcase their beautiful handmade quilts. Some of these quilts can take well over 100 hours of time to complete. This new display case is located just outside the Apache Room on the upper level of the clubhouse.
Any day of the week the Lapidary Club members are hard at work in the clubhouse creating all sorts of projects of acrylic, glass, jewelry, and rocks. The Ceramic Club members are also deeply involved in their clay and ceramic creations of molding, painting, and firing. Both of these groups have display cases outside of their workshops located in the upper level of the clubhouse showcasing their completed projects. SunBird Art Club members can also be found deep in concentration while painting their artwork, which is displayed in the clubhouse just outside of the library. Stop by the clubhouse to view the talent within our community or come to the SunBird 30th Annual Art Show this month in the ballroom.
The recent rain storms at SunBird finally provided some real testing of the work performed this past summer at the clubhouse. The ballroom flat roof and balcony decks were treated, repaired, resealed, and a new rain gutter system installed. During and after the rain storms, no water leaks of any kind were found. It passed the test.
With these rain storms the area has received over the past few months and with the warm weather approaching, we can expect an explosion of weed growth. The common area landscape areas are treated twice annually with a pre-emergent weed spray. This treatment does not terminate existing weeds. It minimizes the germination of future weed growth. The blue/green/yellow color with treatment is only a dissipating dye to indicate to the applicator where they covered with treatment. Usually, within 72 hours, the color disappears. The existing weeds have or will be addressed with a post-emergent treatment that will terminate weed growth. It is anticipated that this year will be a challenging time with the perfect weather for weeds.
The City of Chandler Police in their crime presentation at SunBird reported that this area of Chandler is one of the lowest crime areas in the country. However, this does not mean crime is not here or cannot occur. SunBird, as a gated community with an active patrol, can leave some feeling that we can become a little complacent in our crime prevention efforts. Let’s not let our guard down and stay vigilant with our fight against crime. Some may already be thinking about or making preparations to leave for the summer months. Now is a good time to re-evaluate and consider some additional home crime prevention measures. The Chandler Police Department reported that the best step to home crime prevention is getting to know and involving your neighbors. Exchange contact information, information of scheduled departure and return when leaving for extended periods, and who may be coming or going to the vacated home for services. This will help neighbors who are staying for the summer months be more informed on what activity seems suspicious or not.
Other crime prevention tips are: Making sure doors and windows are completely closed and locked. Consider additional ways to lock windows, like tract screw locks or a wood dowel. Motion sensor lights and cameras. Automatic timers set to have lights or other devices scheduled to operate, making it appear the home may be occupied. Not leaving the keys to a vehicle in the vacated house. Disconnect the power to and/or manually lock large garage doors. Be careful about making it obvious that a home appears to be vacant (car coverings, chains or ropes across the driveway, packing up the patio areas, and covering furniture or tying them down). Consider having a trustworthy home caretaker to check the home routinely. Consider having the landscape maintained routinely. Register for the City of Chandler Police Vacation Watch program and keep updated. These are just a few ideas that could help increase home crime prevention.
The Rules Compliance Committee has been monitoring and collecting traffic data at various intersections within SunBird. This information includes traffic volume, stops, almost stopped and SunBird stops, speed compliance, and reviewing potential sight obstructions. The purpose of this study is to review and study how to increase safety within the community. Please join these safety efforts while driving vehicles and golf carts by following the traffic controls, especially in SunBird. Together we can improve the safety in our neighborhood.