April 16, 2010 - Glebe Report

8 Glebe Report April 16, 2010
Spring has sprung and so have public
meetings. This month alone, we’ve
already had meetings about the new
play structures being installed in Capital
Park (bordered by Craig, Newton,
Gordon, and Ella Streets) and about
the inclusion of Sylvia Holden Park
(adjacent to Lansdowne Park at the
Queen Elizabeth Driveway) in the
design competition for a new urban
park.
Next is an upcoming meeting about
installing bicycle lanes on Pretoria
Bridge and closing the right turn lane
adjacent to the TD Bank. We’ve organized this public consultation with the
Ottawa East Community Association and the meeting will be held at the Old
Town Hall on Main Street on Tuesday, April 20 at 7 p.m. Last but not least,
we’ll be hosting a public information session on the recently released neighbourhood
study on Thursday, April 29 at the Glebe Community Centre. The
authors of the study will provide an overview of the results for the Glebe
and Dow’s Lake and answer any questions you may have. Councillor Clive
Doucet, MPP Yasir Naqvi and MP Paul Dewar will all be attending to provide
information on municipal, provincial and federal initiatives that address some
of the study’s findings. This is one meeting not to be missed. You can read up
on the study at www.neighbourhoodstudy.ca.
Sadly, we’ve also met with a few residents of 5 and 7 Monk Street, who
have been left homeless by the second major fire in two months. Ten residents
in six units lost everything in the blaze, which spread rapidly and consumed
the beautiful old building. To assist the residents, we are once again raising
funds. We had planned to close our special account (opened after the fire on
Glebe Avenue), but we have decided to leave it open indefinitely. It’s at the
Royal Bank branch at Bank Street and First Avenue and the account number
is 00116-1012954. The GCA board of directors is now considering setting up
a charitable foundation to assist community members in need. This would allow
us to provide tax receipts to donors and respond more quickly in a crisis
situation. We’ll be discussing this at our board meeting on April 27 and would
appreciate hearing your views on the subject. If you can’t attend the meeting,
send us an e-mail about it at gca@glebeca.ca.
Members of our community have stepped forward to organize a fundraising
rock benefit with local bands, dancing, a cash bar and prizes on Friday, April
30 at the Glebe Community Centre. We’ll be lending a hand with that too.
Lastly, we are consulting with Ottawa Fire Services and other organizations
about hosting a public meeting on fire safety issues such as smoke detectors
and escape plans as well as insurance. Many of us live in older homes similar
to the buildings on Glebe and Monk Street and more recently, Fifth Avenue.
If “balloon construction” has also been used to build our homes, is there anything
we can do to make these houses safer? We will likely wait to have this
meeting in September so that we can also reach our significant student population.
Stay tuned for more information on this in the coming months.
You’ll see a lot of us in May too. May is membership month. A block representative
will be knocking on your door, asking you to join the GCA. The
fee is $5 per household again this year and it’s our only source of funding. For
that low, low price, you get hundreds of volunteer hours devoted to everything
from education to heritage to everyone’s favourite event, the Great Glebe Garage
Sale! This year, our canvassers will be making an extra effort to collect
e-mail addresses. There is a lot happening in our neighbourhood and it often
happens at a rapid pace. Having your e-mail address will allow us to send you
regular monthly updates and notify you quickly in urgent situations. Our list
is used for GCA business only and is never shared with other parties. You can
also sign up for our mailing list on our (new and improved!) website at www.
glebeca.ca. We hope this meets the needs of the 88.51 per cent of respondents
of a recent survey, who said they would be interested in being on a mailing list
in order to be updated on Glebe related issues.
That’s right. We have received the results of the survey conducted by the
Carleton University change management students and mentioned previously
in this column, on our website and on our Facebook page. The full report can
be found on our website. It’s been very interesting – and occasionally difficult
– reading for our board. Generally, it seems we are doing a pretty good job,
but could improve in some areas. The report provides five key recommendations:
• Reach more people by ‘going electronic’
• Encourage more people to join the board
• Better represent the needs of students and renters
• Implement secondary research findings
• Increase public awareness of the GCA.
As the head of the organization, I am up for the challenge. Are you? The
board of directors can’t do this work alone. We need your help. Our membership
campaign is our best opportunity to greet you personally and to start
making these changes. Please welcome your canvasser with a smile. Sign up,
and get in touch!
Caroline Vanneste
gca@glebeca.ca
www.glebeca.ca
Facebook group:
Glebe Community Association
GCA
Join us for the neighbourhood
fire fundraiser April 30
Caroline
Vanneste