April 16, 2010 - Glebe Report

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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
FOOTBRIDGE UPDATE Midtown footbridge study going ahead www.fourthavebaptist.ca fourthavenue@rogers.com Worship Service Sunday Mornings at 11:00 a.m. By John Dance The City’s Transportation Committee unanimously approved the initiation of an environmental assessment study for the proposed midtown footbridge at its April meeting. The approval allows city staff to request bids. Once a contractor is selected, the study is expected to be completed in approximately 24 months. The study’s scope includes satisfying environmental assessment requirements, recommending a preferred location, preparing functional design drawings of the preferred crossing, creating a project implementation/staging plan, estimating project capital and maintenance costs and securing approvals in principle as required by regulatory agencies. Capital Ward Councillor Clive Doucet, who has been a long-time advocate of a new “green” link across the canal in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue and Clegg Street, called the approval a major step forward to building a sustainable and safe pedestrian and cycling infrastructure that will benefit not just those in the Glebe, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South but also many other Ottawans who live beyond the “three sisters” and seek a safer and more convenient “midtown” crossing of the canal. As noted in the approved statement of work, the origins of a Rideau Canal crossing near Clegg Street and Fifth Avenue date back to the Holt Plan (1915); the Greber Plan (1950); and National Capital Commission plans (1968). A ferry operated for several decades in this vicinity until circa 1950. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the National Capital Commission (NCC) annually constructed a wooden footbridge in the winter months between Herridge Street and Second Avenue. With the loss of these seasonal crossings, pedestrians and cyclists have had to detour to either the Pretoria Bridge (850 metres north) or the Bank Street Bridge (1.25 kilometres south). Extensive Consultation The study will involve stakeholders, including local community/interest groups, property owners, businesses, area schools and approval agencies. Early in the study process, community stakeholders will be identified through liaison with Councillor Doucet. A public consultation group and an “agency” consultation group will be formed to enable meaningful consultation with stakeholders at key stages in the study. A minimum of three public meetings/open houses with the general public will augment the consultation group meetings. Presentations to the NCC’s Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Realty will also be required. The public consultation committee is expected to include representatives from the three neighbouring community associations (OECA, GCA and OSCA) and the Midtown Footbridge Group has also requested to be a part of the committee. One other opportunity for public input will be to comment on the specific environmental study report, which will address the provisions of relevant provincial and federal environmental legislation. Lansdowne Relationship According to the statement of work, the contractor will develop different designs for the preferred crossing locations options and will Sunday School for ages 3-15 during the service. Nursery for 0-2 year olds. PLeaSe joiN uS Helping People Walk in Faith, Hope and Love 109A Fourth Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 2L3 613-236-1804 Minister: rev. clarke Dixon corner of Fourth & Bank everyoNe WeLcoMe Photo: John Dance develop criteria for assessing these designs. In this context, the contractor will assess any pedestrian bridge crossing proposals/designs that may be submitted by the winning design team for the Lansdowne urban park design competition to determine how the proposal could respond to the requirements determined through the environmental assessment. The Midtown Footbridge Group, which has been researching the proposition for several years, recently wrote to Kent Kirkpatrick, city manager and the chair of Lansdowne Park Steering Committee, to stress that the location and design of the footbridge should be decided in a process that, while taking into consideration the Lansdowne Design Competition, is independent from the competition. The letter to Mr. Kirkpatrick notes: “The determination of the footbridge’s location should involve SPRING/SUMMER 2010 CHARM CLUB COLLECTION CHARM UP YOUR LIFE Rideau Centre 2 nd level 613.562.0101 799 Bank St 613.233.2065 www.magpiejewellery.com Public Information Session Glebe Report April 16, 2010 9 careful assessment against key criteria and full public consultation. Although the footbridge will provide a critical access to Lansdowne Park from the east, there are many other factors that must also be considered in determining the footbridge’s best location. These factors include the relative proximity to the Bank and Pretoria bridges; linkage to existing cycling and walking routes; contribution to an east-west cycling/pedestrian corridor; and safety concerns such as crossing the parkways and ensuring children can better get to schools on the opposite side of the canal from which they live.” At the same time as the Midtown Footbridge Study was approved, the Transportation Committee also gave its blessing of a comparable study for a pedestrian crossing of the Rideau River, linking Somerset East with Donald Street (near the tennis club). Proposed Construction on Fourth Avenue (Bronson to Percy) and Chrysler Avenue (First Avenue to Fifth Avenue) Watermain, Sewer and Road Reconstruction You are invited by the City of Ottawa to attend a Public Information Session regarding the subject construction project that is scheduled to commence in the summer of 2010 and expected to last for 2 construction seasons. The work involves replacing the existing combined sewers with new larger combined sewers and replacing the watermain on Fourth Avenue with a new larger watermain, all within the road allowance. Sewer laterals and water services within the road allowance to the property line will also be replaced. Water lead services on private property can be replaced as part of the project and a representative from the Lead Pipe Replacement Program will be on hand to answer residents’ questions. The session will include: • Review of design drawings showing the planned work. • Discuss impact of construction work on adjacent properties, local traffic, etc. • Discussion of concerns. • Comments and suggestions. The City and its consultant, along with Councillor Doucet, will be on hand to present the project and respond to questions. Wednesday, April 21, 2010 — 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Glebe Community Centre, 175 Third Avenue City contact: Jeffrey Waara, P. Eng., Senior Project Manager City of Ottawa, Infrastructure Services Department 100 Constellation Cres., 6th Floor West, Ottawa, ON K2G 6J8 Tel: 613-580-2424 x27805; Fax: 613-560-6064 E-mail: Jeffrey.Waara@ottawa.ca WWW.THOMASSABO.COM ©Disney/Pixar ©Disney
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: NEWS Glebe fires: déjà vu by Juli
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 and 22: HEALTH Keeping drugs out of our dri
Page 23 and 24: Community parks of the Glebe by Car
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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