February President's Letter

You may see some changes in your neighborhood association this year. Our events may be restructured somewhat from the years past. Some things are going to change. You may wonder why.  So I will tell you.Insurance.Yes, that unpleasant, but necessary thing.As some of you may know, a Wauwatosa neighborhood association is being sued because a visiting girl fell and broke her arm at one of their events. The girl’s family is suing the neighborhood association board because of this. Yes, the board.  The individuals. The president who volunteers her time. The vice president who organizes trick-or-treat. The treasurer who tries to scrounge the funds so they can have a neighborhood picnic. The secretary who has to bring her children to play quietly on the floor so she can record the meeting minutes. Yeah. Those people. Every day people like us.This terrible occurrence has all of the Tosa neighborhood associations asking if they have the coverage they need. “What if this happens, are we covered?” “What if that happens?” “What if people (fill in the blank), —are we covered?”And yes, Tosa East Towne is also asking these questions, too. We are finding out exactly what our insurance covers. What does it cover? Who does it cover?  When does it cover? Where does it cover?Here are the answers:

• We are covered for residents of the neighborhood, for events within the borders of our neighborhood, who are members of our association, and for non-members on the premise that we are recruiting them for membership.
• People from outside our neighborhood are not covered. People who actively choose not to be members are not covered. People who join in our event without registering are not covered.

We are sorry if this causes any problems. We are sorry if this changes how you plan your trick-or-treat. And we are sorry that our society has come to this, that we have to restrain, re-think and re-examine in order to serve you as your board —and not lose our houses in the process!Please try to understand, that we as a board still strive to provide the neighborhood with fun, community-building events that bring neighbors together with common interests. We love this neighborhood! And we know you do too!Sarah Hunt-Frank, TETNA PresidentNOTE: Tosa East Towne is NOT the neighborhood being sued. We are all good and fine and have our liability insurance in place. Thank you for all of your concern and caring, terrific TETNA neighbors!