You can make your Neighborhood a Better Place

As a member of our community, there are plenty of ways to connect with your neighbors and add value to our neighborhood. Here are just a few ideas that were recently shared.

• Tutor or mentor children or teens.
• Lend a helping hand. Consider offering your professional expertise to neighbors; they are likely to reciprocate
• Help to build or repair homes for families in need. Perhaps you have a neighbor who needs help with mowing or other small household chores. Volunteering can help boost spirits.
• Serve as a member of a Community Emergency Response Team.
• Join an environmental improvement project, such as a local park or beach clean up.
• Deliver meals to elderly or ill residents
• Assist local non-profit organizations by fund raising, recruiting volunteers, serving on boards or contributing other skills
• Organize community picnics or block parties to be better acquainted with your neighbors
• Coordinate neighborhood restoration projects or encourage businesses to adopt a street to maintain.
• Work with local law enforcement organizations to establish a community policing team.
• Involve the entire family. See out ways to get your children or grandchildren involved in the community.

A good way for them to meet others their own their own age outside school is through local parks and recreations programs. Call City of Melbourne Leisure Services 321-255-4608 or check online at www.melbourneflorida.org/leisure. There is a wealth of activities for everyone – pre-school, youth, teens, and adults.

SPEED HUMPS ON FOREST RUN DRIVE

In a previous newsletter, homeowners were encouraged to slow down on Forest Run Drive to the posted limit of 25 mph, or risk having speed humps installed as a traffic calming measure. Based on a poll of homeowners along Forest Run Drive, nearly 100% of the owners from the entrance to the end of the 2nd traffic island were in favor of speed humps. The board contacted the city of Melbourne’s Traffic Calming Division, who installed a traffic counter over a period of 3 days to monitor traffic volume and speeds.

The results of this survey are included below. The 85th percentile speed was 29.8 mph, which means that 85% of the vehicles were less than 30 mph over the 3-day period. Similarly, the 95th percentile speed was about 33 mph.

This is encouraging, in that just 5% of the traffic exceeded the speed limit by approximately 10 mph or more. However, 21264 vehicles were recorded over the 3-day period, which translates to 1000 vehicles going speeds over 33 mph, or about 350 vehicles a day. Shown at the bottom of this article is a graph showing max, min, and mean speeds each hour. The mean speed is within the posted speed limit each hour, but cars were recorded exceeding 40 mph at all times of the day – and one vehicle was posted at 70 mph!

Clearly the majority of homeowners are following the speed limit, but unfortunately there are some who continue to think that Forest Run is their personal I-95. The city of Melbourne has stated that if 50% of ALL homeowners in Wickham Forest vote for speed humps, the city will install temporary humps and reassess the traffic counters to see if a difference is made. With temporary humps, they can be removed easily at a later date. The WFHOA cannot install speed humps without city approval.

If you are in favor having speed humps installed, please send an email with your name and contact information (address or phone number) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Someone will come contact you to get your signature on a petition. 159 homeowner signatures are required for the city to install the speed humps. Fifty homeowners on Forest Run have already signed, which means 109 more signatures are required from the remaining homeowners. Failure to send the board an email will be interpreted as a ‘no’ vote on speed humps. Responses must be received by August 1, 2010.

The board recognizes that speed humps are a volatile issue, which is why the matter is presented to all homeowners. As always, the board is welcome to suggestions on the matter.

To allow homeowners to express their opinion on the subject, we have added a new forum to our Community Forums on the WickhamForest.com website. Please feel free to discuss the subject with other homeowners. Remember, people will disagree with each other. Please maintain a polite conversation. We will delete inappropriate posts.

In the meantime, if you observe speeding vehicles, the best recommendation is to contact the Melbourne police and file a complaint. Patrols are assigned based on number of complaints in a region.

Click here to see the office speed data by hours.

Click here to see the office speed data by bracket.