April 16, 2010 - Glebe Report

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22 Glebe Report April 16, 2010 Honouring the legacy of Sylvia Holden Continued from page 1 The original Sylvia Holden Park In addition to her devotion to generating recreational space in the community, Sylvia Holden was also involved in many causes including recycling (before there was any city program), the peace movement, local election campaigns and distribution of the Glebe Report: Sylvia was circulation manager from 1973 until 1989. Inez Berg, then editor of the Glebe Report, spoke about Sylvia’s work at the park dedication in 1995: “In addition to the many visible results of her 20 plus years of volunteer work in the Glebe, Sylvia has left a lasting personal legacy. Countless men and women of all ages are contributing positively to the community today because Sylvia Holden drew them into community life and supported them when they got involved.” Sylvia had a particular modus operandi for getting new recruits for her many crusades. Cheerfully and casually, she would begin lending the soon-to-be volunteer written materials relevant to the cause at hand. Soon notices of meetings, position papers, diagrams and illustrations would appear in the mailbox of the targeted recruit. Resistance was futile. Most of us gave in and signed up. Allison Dingle, no slouch as a community organizer and recruiter for good causes herself, remembers Sylvia offering to lend her books on quality play structures the first time they met. Before long, Allison was a playground advocate, working to find outdoor recreation space for the playgroup at the Glebe Community Centre. After living on Renfrew Avenue for over 20 years, the Holdens moved back to Burlington, Vermont in 1995 for family reasons. Although busily and happily immersed in their lives in Vermont, Sylvia looks back fondly on the years spent raising two sons in the Glebe: “The quality of life in Ottawa was wonderful – people looking out for one another. We worked together at parenting, not just our own children but each other’s.” Of course, Sylvia Holden contributed a lot to creating strong community ties and spaces where people could come together. This is a good reason for having a park named after her. Now, if we could just manage to save it, all of it, for future generations of residents! Photo: Elaine Marlin Standing Up for the Community Park The history of standing up for community access and use of the northeast corner of Lansdowne Park is several decades old and community recreation facilities there have been threatened several times in the past. Negotiations with city staff to preserve or improve the area have been taking place on and off since the early 1970s. The last big crisis occurred during 1989 and 1990 when there was a development proposal being considered by the city to build a trade show and exhibit complex, complete with a high-rise hotel. Over many months, community organizations and individuals were involved in public consultations to save the community park. Then, as now, this parcel of land was being considered in a “while we are at it” manner. The plan the community was opposing at the time called for replacing the wading pool with a splash pad, eliminating or reducing the space for baseball diamonds and surrendering the T-ball/soccer field to the Ottawa Roughriders team (remember them?) for its exclusive use as a practice field. Part of the proposal also envisaged cutting a road through this area. In a concerted effort, GNAG, Sylvia Holden the GCA, other community associations as well as the Glebe Little League and many outraged residents acted to avert the worst. The T-ball/soccer field was lost but the wading pool, play structure and baseball diamonds were replaced by new, upgraded facilities in slightly different locations. The road was located south of the play area. Other notable gains were an attractive field house, extensive landscaping, a basketball court used for pick-up games by teens and young adults, and eventually the much-used dog run. The adjacent Glebe Parents’ Daycare Centre was also built at this time. Unfortunately, several other sports facilities had already been lost in the previous two decades, including an outdoor hockey rink located near the present Fire Hall and the double soccer field which had been behind the south stands of the stadium. The tennis courts near the canal, south of the current dog run, had become dilapidated through neglect and were finally torn down. Several buildings were also demolished in 1990: the Century Building, a large white building close to the canal as well as the Pure Food Building at O’Connor and Holmwood avenues. The estimated cost of razing these buildings was lumped in with the cost of improving the neighbourhood park, bringing it up to $1.1 million. This kind of accounting is something to remember when assessing the upcoming Lansdowne urban park redesign presentations. In short, it seems clear that residents will have to be vigilant if we wish to keep these vital community resources. Photo: Ilse Kyssa Eleanor, Isabelle, Uvo, Pan, Elliot, Ceci and Anika on the move in the park THE POOP SQUAD Dog Waste Removal Specialists tangles hair salon 99 fifth avenue, unit 24 613-236-0765 tangles.ca Unique and beautiful hand-tied bouquets and floral arrangements. Distinctive weddings and events. 101 Fourth Avenue 613-230-6434 www.bloomfieldsflowers.com Over10 Scooping Years and Since Still 1996 Scooping Has your dog turned the yard into a minefield? Let us clean it for you! Spring clean up & weekly maintenance available Call us and reclaim your yard from the enemy. THE POOP SQUAD 613-271-8814 CL2835
Community parks of the Glebe by Carol MacLeod The 2.56 hectare park at 10 Fifth Avenue and bounded by Fifth, O’Connor, Lansdowne Park and the Driveway, is the major recreation space in the Glebe. Variously called the community or recreation park by residents, it has been identified as Sylvia Holden Park on city maps and in documents as Lansdowne Community Park. Many of us were dismayed to see this land (whatever its name) included in the scope of the overall “front lawn” design for Lansdowne Park, despite resolutions to the contrary from city council. Where is the real Sylvia Holden Park? How does this community park fit into our park system? In order to address some of these concerns, I turned to city officials. Questions about Glebe parks, and Sylvia Holden Park in particular, were referred to city staff responsible for the Lansdowne Park project. I also relied on the city’s website, the Parks and Recreation Master Plan (in process) and particularly, the Greenspace Master Plan: Strategies for Ottawa’s Urban Greenspaces. The Parks, Recreation and Culture Department lists parks by sector, east and west, along a divide formed by the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River. Glebe parks are the following: • Brown’s Inlet (65 Craig, 2.7 ha) • Capital (10 Ella, 0.4 ha) • Central, aka Patterson’s Creek (19 Clemow, 0.8 ha) • Chamberlain (80 Chamberlain, 0.88 ha) • Glebe Community Centre and St. James Tennis (690 Lyon, 0.42 ha) • Glebe Memorial (75 Glendale, 0.71 ha) • Lansdowne (945 Bank, 15.6 ha) • Lionel Britton (19 Fifth, 0.09 ha) • Senator Eugene Forsey (964 Bronson, 0.2 ha) and, • finally Sylvia Holden (10 Fifth, 2.56 ha). Interestingly enough, Lansdowne Community Park is not listed. The City of Ottawa Park Inventory Report was revised some time between March 9 and March 29, 2010; the description for Sylvia Holden Park (945 Bank Street, 0.46 ha) was changed and Central (no address given, 2.97 Ha) and Lansdowne Community Park (10 Fifth, 2.56 ha) were added. A Brief History Dan Chenier, Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture, explained by email that the old City of Ottawa officially approved Sylvia Holden Park as a park in 1994, based on a document entitled: “Excerpt from the Glebe Report- Multi-purpose Park planned for Holmwood/Bank.” That document, apparently prepared in 1975 and submitted to the then-Board of Control of the old city, was not approved at that time for reasons unknown. The part of the park with baseball diamonds, wading pools, swings and day care building “is undedicated parkland, commonly referred to as Lansdowne Community Park and not part of Sylvia Holden Park.” Sylvia Holden at the corner of Bank and Holmwood is a passive park. One recommendation of the Lansdowne Park Development Strategy, approved by Council in 1984, was to develop a community play area in the northeast section of Lansdowne. Work was completed in 1990-1991. In “Lansdowne Community Park”, the city operates a wading pool program, which includes supervised water play, arts and craft activities by the pool and special events from late June to late August. In 2009, the “Lansdowne Community Park” wading pool recorded 20,493 users over the summer, the busiest in the City. The two baseball diamonds in this park are booked seven days a week from May to July, and five days a week for August and September. The Glebe Little League is the main user group. The park includes a fenced dog park, one of only two the city operates. Do we have enough greenspace? The City of Ottawa Official Plan sets a target of 4.0 hectares of total greenspace per 1,000 population. This includes natural land, open space and leisure land, including “federal land recognized by the NCC as a park.” (The Greenbelt is excluded.) Two hectares of this is to be park and leisure land. According to the Greenspace Master Plan, the “Inner Area” of which we are part has less than 2 hectares of greenspace per 1,000 in total, with half of that being park. This is the lowest in the city. The western boundary of the Glebe for the purpose of figuring total parkland is the O Train line, Carling and Bronson. To calculate total greenspace in a community, the Greenspace Master Plan includes both “primary” lands and “active and passive open space in public ownership identified in the 2005 Land Use Survey.” Photo: Elaine Marlin Glebe Report April 16, 2010 23 Distribution of parks and greenspace sub-areas of urbam Ottawa Primary lands are defined as including “the natural landscapes and major rivers that are recognized as having high environmental quality or rarity” and specifically include “public parks, sports fields, river access points, major pathway corridors, children’s play areas and civic squares owned by municipal, provincial and federal agencies”. For the Glebe, most designated city parks and NCC lands bordering the Rideau Canal, including all land around Dow’s Lake as far as the O Train track are included in this definition. Supporting lands are “intended for uses other than the provision of open space and leisure, but allow for public access and contribute to the overall greenspace experience….” These include municipal forests, school grounds, grounds of public facilities and institutions, some utility infrastructure and transit and abandoned rail corridors. Examples are Lansdowne Park (included in the city’s lists of its parks), and parcels of NCC land west of the Driveway, the cutoff from Bank to the Driveway at Wilton, and surrounding the westbound lane of the Driveway from Bank Street to Bronson. Elsewhere in the Greenspace Master Plan, they are said to include “tributaries to rivers, isolated natural features, and habitats that link the primary areas … public lands that potentially contribute to leisure opportunities because they permit public access.” The map of Open Space and Leisure Land in the Greenspace Master Plan appears to suggest that, in the Glebe, this includes the community centre, all our school lands, Central Park, Lansdowne and parts of the Dow’s Lake lands occupied by the Pavilion and Department of National Defence. The current population of the Glebe approaches 11,000. Thus, according to the Official Plan, we should have 44 hectares of greenspace, of which 22 should be park and leisure land. Excluding the Lansdowne Park Complex, not to be confused with the Lansdowne Community Park, and including the tot lot and St. James tennis courts at the community centre, the Glebe has, in total, 12.19 hectares of city-owned parks in our neighbourhood or a ratio of 1.1082 hectares per 1,000 population. Recreational facilities As for recreational facilities in our community of 11,000, we have rooms at the community centre. We use our schools. We have six tennis courts, two baseball diamonds, two basketball courts, one soccer field, a spray pad, a splash pad and wading pool, half a dozen banks of swings, a community-maintained outdoor rink in winter (a second is maintained in the Mutchmor play yard) and a dog park. We have no indoor recreation centres, fitness centres, pools (standard: 1:35,000 residents) or indoor skating (standard: 1:22,000). Our nearest recreational facilities, Brewer Pool and the Plant Bath, Brewer Rink and Tom Brown Arena, serve a total population well over 70,000. Despite the relative lack of recreational facilities, we are expected to absorb increased population as a result of a policy of densification. And council wonders why we react with concern when faced with the potential loss of our largest recreational park? Our parks are part of the legacy passed on from active community volunteers such as Sylvia Holden; we can best honour that legacy by remaining vigilant stewards of those lands so that the next generation may enjoy them. Both Elaine Marlin and Carol MacLeod have been active for many years in creating and sustaining volunteer organizations in the Glebe, to the great benefit of all those living in the area. We thank them for their ongoing contributions to the community. A great gift - A wonderful keepsake House Portraits $175.00 by Donna Edwards 613-233-4775 Courtesy of Greenspace master plan
Page 1 and 2: April 16, 2010 Vol. 38 rvn No. 4 Se
Page 3 and 4: EVENTS 25 th anniversary for the Gr
Page 5 and 6: LETTERS Glebe Report April 16, 2010
Page 7 and 8: NEWS Glebe fires: déjà vu by Juli
Page 9 and 10: FOOTBRIDGE UPDATE Midtown footbridg
Page 11 and 12: CITIZENS INITIATIVES Hands off our
Page 13 and 14: BIA Glebe BIA protecting our villag
Page 15 and 16: GLEBE HISTORY Heritage spaces, not
Page 17 and 18: BUSINESS BUZZ Alana leads one of he
Page 19 and 20: NEWS The Glebe: A healthy neighbour
Page 21: HEALTH Keeping drugs out of our dri
Page 25 and 26: MUSIC St. Matthew’s spring concer
Page 27 and 28: FOOD By Karen Wallace-Graner Apple,
Page 29 and 30: ENVIRONMENT Keeping the Glebe green
Page 31 and 32: SCHOOLS Some updates from the board
Page 33 and 34: SCHOOLS Sustainability initiatives
Page 35 and 36: TRAVEL Glebe artist explores South-
Page 37 and 38: COMMUNITY Winners of Awesome Author
Page 39 and 40: BOOKS Egg on Mao, the story of a no
Page 41 and 42: RELIGION Tiptoe through the tulips
Page 43 and 44: Glebe Report April 16, 2010 43 BEST

April 16, 2010 - Glebe Report

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