The Bryan Place Neighborhood Association wants you to join! Our organization is dedicated to improving Bryan Place and the surrounding area, and we focus on recruiting members that own their homes, as this is a good indication a resident has decided to put down roots in the neighborhood.
To that end we want to strongly encourage condo and townhome owners, especially those who live in the recent townhome developments within Bryan Place and may not be familiar with our organization, to become active in the neighborhood in 2012. One great way to do that is to join the BPNA and attend our events and meetings held each month. Start by coming to a Dinner on the Town or other social event to meet neighbors.
Many townhome and condo owners confuse the BPNA with a Homeowners Association (HOA). An HOA generally deals with a specific piece of property or properties, and has rules and dues associated with maintaining that property, and membership is mandatory for the owners of that property. A neighborhood association like the BPNA, on the other hand, is a voluntary association of local residents, focuses on the neighborhood as a whole, and represents neighborhood interests at Dallas City Hall.
In the interest of full-disclosure, the BPNA, being the successor to the Bryan Place Property Owners Association that was formed in the mid-1980s, does have a tiny number of HOA-like functions it performs for the Fox and Jacobs built homes based on the Deed Restrictions associated with those properties. In the past few years that has been limited to the review of proposed exterior changes to homes with the intent of keeping peace between neighbors when such changes are made. For non-Fox and Jacobs built homes, the BNPA has no official role in their home ownership, and any participation is completely voluntary.
And since our goal is improving the neighborhood and representing neighborhood interests at City Hall and beyond, we want as many residents as possible to join and get involved. We want new owners to understand we are working on your behalf, whether you are a member or not. We are regularly providing testimony at city hall hearings as to what the neighborhood collectively wants in terms of development or city services. Join us and help direct those efforts. This isn’t about running an evil HOA like you hear about on the news – this is a community-based volunteer association that is working to improve Bryan Place however our members direct us to do.
To underscore we want townhome and condominium residents to become even more active in our organization. I want to point out that that our 2012 Board of Directors has two townhome owners out of its ten members – Mary Edlund (Secretary) at Convent and Adair, and myself (President) at Bryan and Villars.
Join us.
Eric Williamson
Bryan Place Neighborhood Association, President