73rd Annual Meeting of GMIA

The Annual Meeting of GMIA held last weekend at the Cuyamaca College was a feast for the senses.  Close to 100 neighbors gathered at The Garden to taste wine and to celebrate GMIA's 73 years of service to the Mt Helix community.

I strolled through the entire 5-acre garden determined to add to my list of possible turf alternatives all the while munching on scrumptious appetizers, sipping on Syrah with the lyrical sound of an acoustic guitar in the background. 

Many of the garden exhibits are in full springtime bloom and are truly a vision to behold.  And really, is there a better way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon than meandering a pebble strewn path viewing one water wise landscape devoted to birds and butterflies or another that showcases a 'sensory garden' or yet another planted to a single color (white!)? 

But there was more than just wonderful wine and water wise plants at the GMIA get together.  The highlight of the "official" program was finding out that Art and Lynn Patoff had received the Al Platt Memorial Award.

The Patoffs have lived in Mt Helix for 45 years. And, they've been actively involved in community issues for nearly half of a century as well!  When they moved to Mt. Helix in the 60's, or as they say, from "the heartland to the wild west", they brought with them a can-do spirit. Whenever a problem presented itself to their neighborhood, Lynn says "they rolled up their sleeves and just dug in and fixed it". Because they live near the old Hooper Chicken Ranch, they worked with then Supervisor George Bailey on the fly abatement issue.

They also worked with the current Supervisor to try and ensure any development on that old chicken ranch conforms to the community plan. Well, Lynn is still upset that she couldn't attend the public hearing where, in spite of tremendous community opposition, the Supervisors, including Dianne Jacob, voted to approve the developer's proposal . Of course, she was in the hospital at the time getting a new hip! It is just that sort of unflagging community spirit that GMIA celebrated on Saturday.

Congratulations to Art and Lynn and to all who volunteer time and effort for the betterment of their neighborhood!