Oct272008

Kathryn McCallion, Paul Bennett, Karen Bayes, Jean Guillaume (on behalf of Julie Séguin), François Bregha, Giulio Maffini, Janice Bernstein, Susan McLeod O’Reilly, Didier Delahousse, Joshua Zanin,

In Robert Stehle’s absence, Paul Bennett took the chair for the beginning of the meeting. Joshua Zanin chaired the rest of the meeting.

Michael Barnes, co-chair of the Viscount Alexander Public School School Council, asked ASH to support the introduction of an Early French Immersion (EFI) program at the school. The school has spare capacity and 120 Sandy Hill children currently leave the neighbourhood to pursue EFI in other schools. The School Council is proposing that an EFI program be introduced gradually, starting in kindergarten, so as not to force children already enrolled in an EFI program in other schools to move.

Action: Karen Bayes moved (François Bregha seconded) a motion that ASH write a letter to the Ottawa District School Board supporting the introduction of an EFI program at Viscount Alexander. The motion was carried.

With these amendments, Paul Bennett proposed (Joshua Zanin supported) approval of the minutes. The motion was carried.

Karen Bayes reported that ASH had sent a letter to Councilor Bédard expressing concerns that the absence of lighting and the parking scheme on Nelson and Henderson were posing safety concerns for Sandy Hill park.

Janice Bernstein asked when the new park signage would go up and whether it was possible to curtail the use of the park by dogs. Mr. Bédard noted that any change in the park designation as a dog park would require community consultation. It was agreed that ASH needed to examine the question further before taking a position on the matter. Mr. Bédard will find out when the park signage is to go up.

City council approved the development at 234 Besserer and noted the community’s positive involvement with the developer. The developer is willing to invest in improving security through landscaping and possible changes in lighting on the Daly street block between Waller and Cumberland.
There will be $20,000 available for art in Sandy Hill park. The type of art is to be determined. Janice Bernstein and Karen Bayes will follow up with the City’s Arts Coordinator.
Mr. Bédard will follow up with City staff concerning how to improve lighting in the park.
There will be no changes made to the traffic calming scheme in the streets along the park (involving parking on alternate sides of the street, including the park side where there is no sidewalk) unless experience demonstrates that the proposed scheme poses safety concerns.
The King Edward traffic study to determine the impact of reducing the street to four lanes from six north of Rideau is going ahead. Because it has already been approved, the same study cannot be extended south of Rideau. However, given that there will be lane closures on King Edward south of Rideau in 2009 because of planned water and sewer works, ASH could ask for a traffic study between Rideau and Laurier (to determine the impact of reducing that stretch of King Edward to two lanes) in 2009.
Noise has again become a significant community concern. Mr. Bédard noted the introduction of a bill in the Ontario legislature on Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN legislation) hat would give police greater powers to evict individuals causing persistent nuisance (e.g., noise, drugs, other offenses). Mr. Bédard recommended that ASH support this legislation.

ASH will pursue several strategies to engage students and the University to reduce student-caused noise in the neighbourhood. This could include meeting university administrators, inviting more students to the ASH board, engaging student role models, helping form a “town and gown association” involving the university, the student federation, the councilor’s office and ASH, organizing more events involving students and installing street signs asking people to be quiet (the City will install but not pay for such signs). The working group will also review the “Being a Good Neighbour” brochure to determine whether it needs to be updated and will circulate it.

ASH expressed its appreciation to Mr. Bédard for his attendance at our meetings and noted its willingness to accommodate his schedule if needed in order to maintain open communications.

David Gibson of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre underlined his willingness to work more closely with ASH. The SHCHC can provide administrative services (e.g., help with printing, listserv, website, administration) to help ASH and prefers to collaborate on individual projects with clear beginnings and completion. ASH noted its appreciation for the SHCHC’s support concerning the Sandy Hill park play structure.

Some members of the Board still need to be assigned to the strategic priorities identified during the retreat. Members who were in this position were invited to choose one of the priorities for follow-up.

Several Board members noted that they were impressed with the new Food Co-op (corner Wilbrod and Friel) and the fact that it offered some products that were not available in ordinary stores. Karen Bayes (Paul Bennett seconded) moved a motion to congratulate Derek Reid. The motion was carried.

While the all-candidates meeting was generally deemed to be a success (over 200 people attended), ASH needs to think of better ways of controlling questions from the floor in order to prevent groups from trying to take over the meeting. Kathryn McCallion proposed (Karen Bayes seconded) a motion to thank David Dendooven for his excellent job as moderator of the debate. The motion was carried.

In spite of its opposition to the construction of a stadium on these lands, ASH decided to continue to engage the University in discussions. A technical review concluded that the current site was too small to accommodate both a stadium and mixed used development unless the Moben lands were also included. The University will approach the Moben Foundation about its lands. ASH will include the stadium in discussions to be scheduled with the President of the University.

Residents neighbouring Sandy Hill park are working with the City to try to ensure that it repair minor damage that occurred to their property as a result of construction.

Désirée Lamoureux, a masters student at the University of Ottawa, has agreed to join the Board and may focus her activities on transportation issues.

le lundi 27 octobre 2008