City of Waukesha Announces Leaf Pickup Schedule

Below are the three dates for leaf pickup by the City for our aldermanic district:

Oct. 23
Nov. 12
Dec. 4

Keep in mind that leaves should NOT be raked into the street.  The terrace area between the sidewalk and curb should contain all of the leaves that will be removed by the City crews.

Dutch Elm Disease Present in the Windings

The WMC Board has contracted with Wachtel Tree Science to have 20 diseased elm trees removed from the outlot at the corner of Rolling Ridge and Lancaster.  The work will take place this winter to minimize the spread of the disease.  Even though ash trees and the emerald ash borer are dominating arborial news reports lately, dutch elm disease is still a problem throughout the US.

Several arborists with whom we spoke recently while discussing the elm trees mentioned above indicated that the emerald ash borer is not a big problem yet, but when it arrives it will be "like a tidal wave."  If you have healthy ash trees you may want to consider some type of preventative treatment from a company such as Wachtel.

The article below appeared in the September 20th Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  

More attention is being paid these days to the emerald ash borer, but the disease that ravaged our tree canopy decades ago has not left town Dutch elm still claims victims By DON WALKER dwalker@journalsentinel.com Across Wisconsin, communities continue to closely track the spread of the tree-killing emerald ash borer. Twenty counties are now under quarantine, 13 of them in the southeastern corner. But on the north side of Milwaukee and in the Story Hill neighborhood, it is a different scene, one with a more historical bent. Some of the last stately elms are coming down, victims of the decades-old Dutch elm disease that literally changed the landscape of the city. Of the estimated 128,000 elm trees on Milwaukee streets in 1950, perhaps a thousand or so are left, less than 1% of the original population. Like many Midwestern urban centers, Milwaukee once had streets lined with American elms. It was considered the country’s most popular shade tree. Ron Perszewski of St. Francis remembers walking along S. 20th St., between Lincoln and Cleveland avenues in the 1960s.   Just the trunk and stubs of major branches remain on an elm tree being removed in the 300 block of N. Pinecrest Drive in Milwaukee’s Story Hill area. Though ash borers are more in the public eye, Dutch elm disease still kills Milwaukee trees. “That was a solid, well-kept working-class neighborhood in those days, and the elms made it beautiful,” Perszewski said in an email. “As I remember it, high above the street, the trees on one side of the road actually touched the branches of the trees on the other side. A green tunnel, it was. And in one season it disappeared, as crews removed every single tree. Overnight, it became a barren place.” According to Greening Milwaukee, a local nonprofit that evolved from the Mayor’s Beautification Committee, Dutch elm disease was first found in Holland in 1921. It came to America through the port of Cleveland, on wooden crates made with infected elm wood in the early 1930s. The disease is actually a fungus that moves into the water. It invades the vessels of the elm, clogging the flow of water and nutrients. It’s spread by elm bark beetles. By the 1960s, 17 million of the country’s 23 million elm trees were dead. Dutch elm has been in Milwaukee since 1956. David Sivyer, the city’s forester, said in an email that some remaining American elms may have some resistance to the fungus. That resistance allowed infected trees to survive for years with little or no symptoms. But eventually, they give out as other stress factors “tip the scale in favor of the disease,” he said. Sivyer said he did not have an exact number being taken down now, but crews “still remove a relatively small number of elm trees annually that succumb to Dutch elm disease.” Last year’s drought likely was the tipping point for much of what remains of the American elms in Milwaukee. There are now no concentrations of the trees left, just a relative few scattered randomly around the city, lone shadows of what once was. Information online To learn more, go to http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/ded/ Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright © 2013 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 09/20/2013

Windings Residents Invited to Join "Nextdoor"

A social media site known as "Nextdoor.com" is now up and running with a branch dedicated to the Pebble Valley area.  The site is a means to share information about events, crime, and numerous other possibilities.  The best way to learn more about the site is to visit it by using the link below.  So far we have 20 Windings residents signed up.

https://pebblevalley.nextdoor.com/news_feed/

You may have to paste the above link into your browser.  If you are interested in joining Nextdoor, send Frank Remfrey an email and he will invite you to join.  Frank's email is fremfrey@wi.rr.com

New Company Begins Lawn Care

Blaze Landscaping, based in Menomonee Falls, will take over the lawn contract for the nearly 19 acres of common property throughout the Windings subdivision.  The WMC Board decided to terminate the services of JNM Landscaping and solicited bids from four companies.

Blaze workers have been present for a cleanup throughout the last week of April.

The contract with Blaze extends for one year.

Annual Brush Pickup Slated for May 6-10

The City of Waukesha's annual Spring brush pickup is scheduled for May 6-10.  Since Thursday is our garbage day here in the Windings, our brush pickup day will be May 9th.

For more details about this service, visit the link below:

http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=822e672e-8147-44e4-a083-73b776694ac1&groupId=10113

Two Dozen Property Owners Alerted About Prairie Restoration Plans

Several weeks ago the WMC Board authorized President Frank Remfrey to send a brief letter to the property owners who live near three areas under consideration for planting of native plant species.  The areas are near University Court, Turnberry Court and St. Andrews Court.  The letter invited the property owners to an informational meeting scheduled to begin at 9am on Saturday February 23rd at the West Wood Fitness Center.  The meeting will be held in the conference room located near the main reception desk on the first floor.  All WMC property owners are welcome to attend.

The purpose of the meeting is to advise the homeowners of the discussions that have taken place at WMC annual meetings the past two years regarding the conversion of several rather small areas in the Windings outlots from grass to native Wisconsin plant species.  The meeting will give the homeowners an opportunity to ask questions and provide input.

Presently, several Girl Scouts are planning a leadership project this spring to plant native species and are seeking permission to proceed with the project on one of the areas in the Windings.

In addition the to the 9 am meeting, a walking tour of the grounds under consideration will take place later on Saturday beginning at 1 pm.  The tour will begin near University Court.

If you have any questions or concerns about this topic, feel free to contact any of the WMC Board members.

2013 Budget Approved; Assessment to Remain $115

The annual meeting of the Windings Maintenance Corp. took place on December 3rd at Meadowbrook School.  The meeting resulted in the approval of the 2013 budget.  The 2013 budget calls for an assessment of $115 from each of the 339 properties in the subdivision. The assessment will remain the same as it has been for the past several years.

The meeting also resulted in the election of the four Directors for 2013:  Jason Hoeppner, Andrea Puricelli, Ann Schefus and Frank Remfrey. 

The meeting included a summary of various activities concerning the maintenance of the 16 acres of common property as well as a summary of legal matters concerning collections from delinquent accounts.  In addition, alderman Paul Ybarra appeared and discussed issues relating to the City of Waukesha such as the bypass, municipal water and storm water control. 

More detailed minutes of this year's meeting will be forthcoming.