Glebe Report - Volume 1, Number 2 - Ottawa, July 8, 1973

glebe report
THE GLEBE REPORT is a community newspaper and a journal of
free voices. We welcome contributions, although we can not
pay for them. Those wishing manuscripts returned should enclose
a stamped, self- addressed envelope . Articles should be
kept under 1000 words. Mail to PO Box 8072, K1G 3H6 Ottawa.
of
Subscriptions to the Glebe Report for persons living outside our
free distribution area can be obtained by writing PO Box 8072,
K1G 3H6, Ottawa. A contribution of $6.00 per year for those
able to afford it would be appreciated to help cover the costs.
Contibutors to this issue: Ted Britton, Elaine Marlin, Michael
Pine, Georgina Wyman, Keith Thom, Joyce McCaffrey, Gordon
McCaffrey, Pat Zolf, Clyde Sanger, Mary Rothman, Marvin Schiff,
Anthony Leaning, Suzanne Labelle, Ben Rothman and Penny
Sanger, acting editor.
July 8, 1973
School use
A select committee of the Ontario Legislature has recommended
that school buildings be ttuned over to community action councils
out of school hours.
It urges that schools become centres for living and learning,
providing library, museum, health and social serveces, - anything
in fact that could enrich and ease the life of the community. It
would abolish the requirement that all teachers have formal
teaching certificates, and it would encourage local artists, businessmen
and others to contribute to the educational process. It
strongly recommends that infant and child care be made part of
the provincial system of education.
It says there is no reason why ground floors of apartment buildings
should not be used for primary grades schooling.
"We are concerned to bring the school, which has tended to define
itself as a separate entity, back into community life....too often
educators seem to consider that 100% of a child's education is
received from the school" it states.
This is good to read in the week that saw the locks being turned
on the doors of libraries and gyms in the Glebe schools for
another summer season .
It will encourage Board members who campaigned for election
last November on more community involvement to begin turning
ideas into action.
Community participation
City Council allowed a zoning change this week that would
permit an office building-warehouse complex to be built on
Morrison Drive at Consul Avenue in the cities west-end.
In following this course of action, council had to decide to
listen to the area residents or follow the recommendations from
both the Planning Board and Board of Control. They listened
to the community and made the right decision.
In the Glebe this week, we saw council go along with both
a traffic plan which the community and the traffic department
developed together and a down zoning which the Community
Association had applied tor. Also, the Recreation and Parks
Department agreed to try a new method of communication with
the Community Centre Council to attempt to improve the
method of running the community centre and increasing input
from the community.
Both council and some civic departments are slowly starting to
allow more community input and participation and this we hope
will continue.
Nature notes:
"The dawn comes up like thunder
out of Lyon across the Clebe. , ."
We don't get much birdsong in
the mornings anymore, do we.:
They seem to have been driven
away by a new breed of animals,
the Morning Monsters. I went
out with my camera one day this
week and, before 8 a. ni. had
some exciting pictures of five
species on two blocks of I irst
Avenue. I identified them as
the Crossbilled Forklift, the
Yellow-bellied Cement Mixer,
the Pneumatic F oadpecker, the
Russet Eumptruck and the Old
Home Leveller (an interesting
creature this, with a bill like a
pelican).
Can any of your readers tell me
more about them ? Do they
migrate ? Do they give voice in
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75
pinion
by Gordon McCaffrey
Really now, nobody expected
that William Teron, the barefoot
wunderkind from Manitoba
who became a Rockcliffe millionaire
before he was 40, would
back down on his plans to build
a highrise apartment complex
next to Patterson Creek.
Teron has been a go-getter
since he came to Ottawa 23
years ago and started his own
business with a personal investment
of only $500.
When you have been successful
in locking horns with
the wiliest of competitors, as
Teron has been in his various
Ottawa and district developments
you don't chicken out over
bleeding heart appeals to preserve
the sylvan beauty of
Ottawa's showcase Driveway.
Sentiment to hell, up with the
profit motive.
VVhat's desenchanting to some
Glebe residents about Teron's
project is that he has encouraged
the legend that he is the developer
with heart, the guy with a
flair for injecting the human
dimension into mortar and
brick.
In a recent full-page tribute
by the Ottawa Citizen to his
the same way in the winter ?
What is it about the Glebe that
draws them here in such
The Old Home Leveller (seen above) and the Crossbilled
Forklift and Yellow-bellied Cement Mixer (at right)
are among the many species found in the Glebe.
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appointment as the new (July 1)
president of Central Mortgage
and Housing Corporation,
it was stated, "In business he
(Teron) was one of those innovators
everyone wanted to
succeed because his ideas
1
sounded so good and his motives
altruistic."
But nobody wanted Teron to
succeed more that Teron did.
It was Teron who made his
own ideas, or projects, sound
AMP..
maim SIM*
g°°dI1;ave tried to interview
Teron so that everyone in the
Glebe could get to know, a
little better, Ron Basford's
shining new hope for a better
housing deal for Canadians.
What a hope - I mean so far
I haven't been able to get
past his receptionist.
Not all Glebe residents are
opposed to the 14 storey
complex which Teron will
build at 300 The Driveway.
Planning consultant and
architect John Leaning, of
Third Ave. , says Teron's
project "is good use of this
particular property. You can't
fault him as long as we have
a systemwhich allows people to
make a profit in housing".
Leaning adds, "I'm more worried
numbers ? Clearly they have
adopted us and our community.
I'd like to learn about their habits.
NitAiipmuf
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about the single tower high-rise
that is planned for the Driveway
at Fourth Avenue, and
what could become of the
Victorian row houses between
First Ave. and Second Ave."
Teron believes dreams and
ideals can be melded with
practicalities. But what dreams
and whose ideals?
Glebe residents are resentful
because Teron, who readily admit:
he will never have to worry
about money, did not demonstrate
his good intentions for
Canada's housing future by
foregoing this last fling at
making a developer's big buck
before taking over at CMHC.
As developer Teron is turning
his dream for the Patterson
Creek site into a complex of
$50,000 apartments, he has
been critical of most downtown
Ottawa zoning which has permitted
residential communities to be
levelled to make way for highrises.
Confronted by this apparent
contradiction, Teron has said,
"I live with the rules. You're
doing what the law allows you."
When he takes over as presedent
of CMHC, I suspect
William Teron will have a hard
time selling dreams, or ideals,
to the wheeler- dealers of the
urban development fraternity.
Perhaps we could gyow to be
friends with them. Only it's a
little difficult to get an audible
word in when they're around..