June 10, 2011 - Glebe Report

4 Glebe Report June 10, 2011 EDITORIAL PAGE LETTERS Glebe Report June 10, 2011 5
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ESTABLISHED 1973
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EDITor Julie Houle Cezer editor@glebereport.ca
LAYOUT EDITOR Gwendolyn Best layout@glebereport.ca
GRAPEVINE EDITOR Micheline Boyle grapevine@glebereport.ca
COPY EDITor
McE Galbreath
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CIRCULATION MANAGER Zita Taylor, 613-235-1214 circulation@glebereport.ca
COVER: Bank Street Reconstruction by Gwendolyn Best
FRONT PAGE PHOTOGRAPH: McKeen’s Grocery Store, circa 1931
STAFF THIS ISSUE: Valerie Bryce, Danny Handelman,
Teena Hendelman, Carol MacLeod, Liz McKeen, Borgny Pearson,
Elizabeth Rampton, Jeanette Rive, Wendy Siebrasse
LEGAL ADVISER: Pierre Crichton
AREA CAPTAINS: Donna Edwards, Judy Field, Gary
Greenwood, Ginny Grimshaw, Martin Harris, Gill Hunter,
Christian Hurlow, Anik Lauziere, Ian McKercher, Sandra Webster,
Zelda Yule
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Deadlines for submissions: July 29 for articles and August 3 for advertising. The next issue of the Glebe Report: Friday, August 19, 2011.
There is no July issue.
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We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Please note that, except for July, the paper is published monthly in a hard-copy version.
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Celebrating our community
In this month when we celebrate the milestones of a number of our local
businesses and the 38 th anniversary of the launching of the Glebe Report,
I would like to highlight the message communicated in the very first issue in
June 1973, (decades before personal computers or social media):
“The first edition of the Glebe Report is a little like a letter to an old friend.
We hope it is entertaining and informative. But what we want more are your
replies. Neighbourhood communities are being challenged more and more to
decide their own futures, to choose which way they will grow. To do this effectively,
people must be informed.
“At the same time, most of us feel swamped by the amount of information
coming at us continuously by print, air waves and picture tubes. The Glebe
Report will print and circulate the information you need to make decisions
… about this unique and attractive community. But that information can only
come from you. That’s why we want a letter back. A letter, picture, story,
ideas for contests, reflections on the past-communication makes a community.
Please write soon.”
Today, in June 2011, the quantity of information at our fingertips has grown
exponentially while the desire and need for communication and meaningful
exchange remains the same, as essential as ever to forging and sustaining
community now and in the future. You are part of the conversation. We again
welcome and encourage your views whether in the form of articles or letters,
arguments or reflections.
At press time, we impatiently await the June 21-23 Ontario Superior Court
hearings for the Friends of Lansdowne legal challenge. It will finally afford
the community a full hearing on arguments contesting the legality of decisions
taken by the City of Ottawa on Lansdowne Park. In addition to the enormous
effort and expense that this legal challenge has entailed, the community is now
dealing with the “shovels in the ground” for the Bank Street reconstruction.
While early days for this time-limited project show it to be progressing well,
we really want to encourage residents to give their full support to the businesses
which are still offering the very same services and good quality products
that they have always provided. So despite the inconvenience of reaching the
shops, make the extra effort and not only shop in the Glebe, but let the store
owners know that you appreciate their presence and their involvement in the
community.
I hope you can enjoy some “down-time” with your friends in the Glebe. See
you next in August!
Notes from the boardroom
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
This is the 427 th edition of the Glebe Report to hit your front porch since
the paper came into existence on June 17, 1973. Community members
have gathered together 427 times over those 38 years to write, take photographs,
edit, proofread, secure advertising, do layout, pay the bills, and
finally deliver to every home in the Glebe this fount of local information.
Communities that work together build nations that work together. It’s
a good thing. With this our anniversary issue, we salute the myriads of
volunteers who have given generously of their time and energy over the
years to bring this newspaper to your door.
ian McKercher
Glebe Report
submission guidelines
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on current and emerging issues to their attention. We seek articles
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programs, events, services and businesses in the community. We also invite
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and art work for consideration. All age groups are welcome to submit
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CIRCULATION NEWS
Welcome to:
Nelson Reiis
Routes available:
520 Queen Elizabeth Drive
Metcalfe Street – Monkland to Pretoria
Stratchona Avenue – Metcalfe to O’Connor
BEST
ZOË SPEAKS UP
Open letter to the Mayor
Dear Mayor Watson,
Thank you for your open letter in last month’s Glebe Report about the appeal
to the Ontario Municipal Board over Lansdowne Park and Sylvia Holden Park.
The press release from the GCA and OSCA issued after their settlement said:
“both neighbourhood associations continue to harbour profound reservations
about the impact of the redevelopment on their communities, particularly with
regards to traffic congestion, parking and commercial development on Bank
Street. But they reluctantly agreed to drop their appeal in exchange for …
modest concessions ...” This is hardly the “very positive” settlement you suggest.
Again to quote: “OMB appeal costs ‘stack the deck against community
associations’.”
The number of residential units has NOT been capped at 280 units: the next
two lines of the by-law permit an unspecified number of residential long-term
care and retirement residences anywhere on the site.
To suggest that a six metre by six metre “passive park” is fair compensation
for the loss of more than 60,000 square metres of public land to developers is
beyond comprehension.
We were pleased to read that you “will continue to work with our councillor
and community organizations to ensure the city is much more sensitive to
the concerns and aspirations of all residents surrounding Lansdowne.” Note,
however, that very considerable improvement will be required on past performance.
Meanwhile we took our substantial concerns to the only court of appeal
available to us. The Lansdowne Park plan currently permits 450,000 square
feet of commercial and shopping centre development under the guise of “ancillary
use”; allows unlimited “residential” development under the guise of
“retirement home” and “residential care facility”; and drastically reduces the
greenspace on a site designated by the city as a “greenspace destination” and
confirmed in its entirety as public greenspace in the list approved by council
in April 2011. Together with our community associations we did not consider
this plan to be acceptable.
Frank Johnson, OMB appellant
A fond farewell
Editor, Glebe Report
Twenty five years ago, my husband and I arrived in Ottawa at the end of our
respective postings in Washington, D.C. where we had met. I wasn’t sure if my
adaptation to Ottawa was going to be an easy one. I had been posted here eight
years before and the small town feeling did not suit me very well. I was born in
Mexico City and love big cities.
A happy solution was to settle down in the Glebe. By October of that same
year, our daughter Michelle was born and with her, my connection to this community
was also born. We joined different playgroups which were a perfect
introduction to Canadian life not only for Michelle but for me as well. We sang
songs, read books and played games with friends we made for life.
Receiving so much from this community, I felt the need to give back. As a
volunteer, I took part in the organizing committee for the first Good(s) and
Services Auction at Mutchmor Public School, helped for several years in the
book sale for First Avenue, the Spanish school on Saturdays at Corpus Christi
and finally, as a member of the school council at Glebe Collegiate.
By then, Ottawa felt like home and particularly the Glebe, where every
month brought wonderful surprises – the sweet fragrance of wild roses while
biking along the canal in June, the change of colors in September, the wonderful
sunset reflection at Brown’s Inlet in August, an early sunrise in March, the
cheerful sight of kids playing hockey at Brown’s Inlet in February, or the Taste
of the Glebe in January and so much more.
Above all else, it’s the people : friends and neighbors, who made these past
25 years an extraordinary experience. As we move to a new community in
Southampton, Ontario, Charles, Michelle and I bid farewell to the Glebe and
the many friends we leave here. Thank you. You have touched our lives in a
very special way. We hope that we will see you again and that we will cross
paths again.
Cheers!
Luz Maria Alvarez-Wilson
More than nuts
Editor, Glebe Report
I hover. When I am out with my two year old I have to watch his every step.
I am a parent of a child with a severe gluten intolerance. If my son finds a stray
Cheerio or a Goldfish cracker, he’s likely to eat it. That’s all it takes to make
him sick. I used to let him run around with snacks – nut free, of course. Everyone
knows about nut allergies. But I didn’t realize how hazardous other foods
can be to children until I found out about my son’s condition.
Now when we go to the park, or playgroups, I am so relieved when I see
children sitting in designated snack areas to eat. I probably look like a maniac,
but when I see children running around with food, like the fairy tale character
Gretel, I follow the gluten crumbs and collect them…to keep the area safe for
my child. It is stressful to be so paranoid, but we have to be so careful with him.
I want him to be able to play like all of the other children. I want him to be able
to run free at the park and run around at playgroups. I want him to have normal
childhood experiences without a nervous mom hovering over him.
So I want to say “thank you” to all of the parents and caregivers out there
who are keeping their snacks well contained. This is one case where I would
like to thank people for being selfish. Please do not offer children food unless
their caregiver is there to make sure it is safe. The most innocent offerings can
make children sick.
If you could please pass the message along to others including your child’s
caregiver and other parents, it would make the neighbourhood a safer environment
for so many children with allergies and sensitivities.
Tracy Parrish
Seeking words of wisdom
Dear Kangaroo,
I have been meaning to write to you for about ten thousand years but did not
get around to it, mainly due to some difficulties posed by those two legged
animals called humans. I am hoping that maybe we could get together and find
a solution but that might be too much so I am writing you instead.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what the solution is as far as four-legged, sometimes
two winged, animals are concerned. You see these humans are a devilish
lot even though they invent theories and things called religions to excuse
themselves. They are extraordinarily clever at inventing all sorts of destructive
things like guns and bombs; so they have the capacity to destroy everything,
themselves included. But I have to hand it to them since they are capable of the
most incredibly good ideas, and wonderfully beautiful works of art, literature
and music. The problem is that they may get around to destroying everything
before doing the good.
So what can we do before we are obliterated? We could employ one of their
incredible space machines and fly off to another planet before it is too late.
But no. I know that there are a number of clever humans who could find solutions
to the problem. There was, for example, a German called Adolf Schickelgruber,
alias Hitler, who thought that by eliminating all those who did not agree
with him, it would simplify the problem enormously. Unfortunately, he ended
up destroying much of his own country as well as much of Europe before committing
suicide. There have been others like him and will probably be more. So
what are we going to do?
John Leaning, a two-legged animal living in Ottawa
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