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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2018 23 Emergency Preparedness Committee What is a shelter? A shelter can be a storm basement in the Midwest or a bomb shelter in the 60s. A contemporary shelter can take some unexpected forms. "Shelter in place" is the phrase used for staying put where you are during a chemical spill in a nearby rail yard. Nearby residents will be asked to shelter in place. This means going to an interior room with very few windows. You will probably be asked to seal all of your doors and windows with plastic sheeting and duct tape. You will need an emergency radio to monitor the incident and listen for the all- clear signal. You should take your "go kit" with you into the shelter space. Sheltering in place can take other less obvious forms. An elementary school placed on lock down because a robbery suspect has fled into the school yard. You enter the freeway on your way home at five pm only to discover that a fatal accident a couple of exits ahead has the traffic moving at a crawl. Do your kids have extra snacks and water to help them make it through the lock down? Did you remember to keep your gas tank filled and did you use the restroom before leaving work? New York City experienced brown outs a couple of decades ago where people were stranded in elevators in high rise buildings due to a meltdown of the electrical grid. The schools should probably require all students to have emergency backpacks available for lock downs. Commuters should be prepared for any problem by keeping a "go kit" in their vehicle and some type of urinal container. Workers should keep a "go kit" and a complete change of clothes with comfortable shoes and perhaps a pillow and a sleeping bag. In the not too recent past, all of these measures would be seen as unnecessary because we could depend upon the kindness of strangers or a Good Samaritan. But lawsuits and politics and social unrest have made it almost mandatory that we be able to fend for ourselves. When I commuted to work in a car or van pool I always wore a jacket. It was not that I was cold; it was that I did not want to be shivering on the side of the road waiting for road service when I could have been warm and comfortable in my jacket. Whether you are at home, working, traveling or in school, you want to be comfortable and confident in doing so. Come visit the Emergency Preparedness Committee. The next EPC meeting is Tuesday, July 17 at 10 am in the RCN Conference Room. ~ Michael A. Mendoza The Community Planning and Transition Committee is making good progress to meet its objective for the HOA takeover from K. Hovnanian which is anticipated will occur at the conclusion of 2019. We learned that our builder has issued a verbal approval for the dog park. A presentation regarding Amphitheater modifications is being scheduled with a focus group tasked to monitor this project. An initial draft of an HOA Master Plan was shared and reviewed. A less expensive storage option was examined. Once additional storage is available, it will be possible to entertain installation of a sink in the back of the Ballroom. Electronic archive methods are undergoing review to secure the storage of our builder blueprints and committee documentation/presentations. Four residents are filing applications to serve on our committee. We welcome homeowners' interest. Our meetings are at 9 am on the fourth Thursday of the month in the RCN Conference Room. Please come visit us. ~ Johanna Ballard Community Planning & Transition Committee

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