Consultation Meeting with the City June 14th

For those of you not on the google group:

Folks,

Good news. We've confirmed the date and time for the consultation with the City:

Date : Monday, June 14th
Time : 7:30 pm
Location : Glebe Community Centre

This time it is **really** important we get the entire community out. If we can pack the room - it will put immense pressure on the City to ensure the largest community park in the Glebe is preserved. This Saturday is the Glebe Garage Sale. When you're out and about tell your neighbours about the importance of attending this meeting.

->Adrian

Urban Park Designs Available

Here are a couple of ottawa.ca links regarding the Urban Park Design Competition for your perusal.

• the designs
• the public display schedule

Council Decides to Defer Motion On Park

The Sylvia Holden motion has been referred to next council meeting on May 26, 2010 (Hunter/Deans motion). Some councillors were trying for referral to the June 9 council meeting which was supported by the Mayor and the City Manager. Members of council who voted against
the May 26 referral include: O'Brien, Chiarelli, Qadri, Monette and Thompson.

Be ready to review the 'Front Yard' designs when they come out on May 20th and to be at City Hall on the 26th for the next vote on this matter.

Corrected Fact Sheet

Check Out Our New Fact Sheet

Please pass this information along.

Contact your councillor to let them know that on Wednesday you want them to vote to protect the park!

Upcoming Vote at Council - May 12th

Hello,

On May 12th, council will be voting on the following resolution:

Whereas relocating the existing community park amenities, which include a wading pool, maintenance building, play structure, baseball diamonds and dog run could cost in the order of two million dollars;

Whereas the wading pool of this community park space is the most heavily used children’s pool in the city and is essential to the successful operation of the City summer recreation programs;

Whereas the residents and community park users do not want any changes made to their local park nor do they want the city to incur needless new costs to the taxpayer to relocate park amenities;

Whereas the inclusion of the community park in the Request for Proposals for the Lansdowne Park Front Lawn Design Competition was done without any consultation with the local community or council and city staff have refused to meet with the community on this matter;

Be it resolved that the community park bounded by Queen Elizabeth Drive, Fifth Avenue and O’Connor be retained in its current configuration and function.

This is our opportunity to preserve the community park which is used extensively and which is adjacent to the Lansdowne site and should not be sucked into the overall Lansdowne re-development. Please contact council to tell them how important this park is to you and tell them why it should be preserved. If you can, please come out on May 12th to City Hall. Watch how your councillor votes. Do you want your councillor to vote in favour of wasting millions of tax-payer dollars to re-configure one of the most successful community parks in the city? If it ain't broken - don't waste money "re-configuring" it.

April 15th Meeting

The meeting was held to provide information and to gather feedback on the addition of Sylvia Holden Park to the Urban Park RFP.

There were three presentations followed by questions and comments.
Caroline Vanneste, president of the Glebe Community Association went through the sequence of events leading up to the inclusion of Sylvia Holden Park in the RFP. You can find Caroline's presentation here.

Clive Doucet, Capital Ward Councillor, put the concerns over the community park in the context the the greater Lansdowne redevelopment and expressed his support for initiatives to protect the community park. Also, Clive is going to pass a motion before council to request to remove the community park from the RFP.

Adrian Evans, a concerned citizen who lives close to the park spoke convincingly about the real risks of having the community park included in the RFP. Adrian's presentation is here.

Unfortunately no one from city staff attended the meeting. Invitation letters were sent by the GCA and followed-up on. Apparently city staff was specifically instructed NOT to attend.

There were many questions after the presentations. The questions were positive and mostly centered around what could be done to save the park. We also heard from a few of the "hundreds" of dog owners who use the dog park. Apparently this is the only dog park in the city that is totally fenced-in with high fences.

About 80 people attended the meeting. Also, two names were drawn for the park coloring contest. Congratulations to Leo and Rachel, each winners of $20 Miss Tiggy Winkles gift certificates.