OSCA Porch Sale, Fall Programming, and Firehall Open House
I trust you are all having an enjoyable, and maybe if you are really lucky, a restful, summer. As the Board does not meet during July and August there has been a bit of a lull in community association business, although the Lansdowne saga continues to occupy our time and attention (more about that below). The autumn is, however, shaping up to be a busy time of events and issues to engage on. Here’s a few highlights.
Annual OSCA Porch Sale – Saturday, 11 September
This is the great excuse to clean out the closets and basement and off load your precious, but no longer needed, items. Lots of people from outside, as well as inside, the community turn out for this event that runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., rain or shine. There is lots of advice around on what sells best and the truth is it is hard to predict; clothes, furniture, books, electronic gadgets, CDs and records, videos, toys and games–you name it–they all seem to have their attraction. Some people even have a good line in selling home baking and coffee, or their own craft work or art; really the limit is only your imagination. It’s the one time in the year when we get hoards of people out, so take advantage of it!
As in previous years OSCA will be publicizing the event and and using the event to fundraise to help support community based activities throughout the year. So we would ask you to consider making a contribution to OSCA of 10% of your sales revenue to help defray our publicity costs and help with our fundraising activities. You can drop off, or mail, your contribution to the Firehall (260 Sunnyside Avenue, Ottawa ON, K1S 0R7). If you are mailing in a contribution, please send a cheque, not cash, payable to OSCA.
Fall Programming at the Firehall
In this issue you will see a copy of our fall programming guide. This is our first season back in the new Firehall and we are very excited about it. Obviously, we are going to be learning a lot this autumn about how programming works in the new and expanded facility and what the opportunities are for doing new and different things, so expect over the next year or so to start seeing some innovations in our programming offerings as we experiment to see what works best. You can register for OSCA programs online at www.oldottawasouth.ca, or you can still come in to the Firehall and register in person if you prefer; see the Guide for details and registration dates.
Firehall Open House – Saturday, 26 September
For those of you who missed the official opening of the Firehall on June 29, and want to see what the new centre looks like, we are hosting an Open House to show off the new facility on Saturday, September 26 between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon. So come in and celebrate our new community centre!
Firehall Renovation Redux
As many of you know from renovating your own home, the process always takes longer than imagined and there are always bits and pieces that need to be adjusted, fixed or redone. So it is with our community centre renovation. There is a long list of items (mostly small things, but they do tend to add up!) that need to be attended to and hopefully most of them will be fixed before programming starts in earnest in early September. A lot of the items relate to flooring issues in the main hall, the pottery studio and the new multi-purpose rooms. The new basement room looks due to get proper flooring installed and drywall on the exposed concrete walls (things which were not in the original specification in order to save money) which will considerably improve the appearance of this large activity room.
One of the major decisions the Board and the Programme Committee will have to take in a few months’ time is what kinds of activities to program into the new large basement room. The choice is between using the space as a general purpose activity room or as a fitness centre with exercise equipment installed. While the room is designed to serve a number of purposes, including as a fitness centre, the challenge will be to determine the financial and programming trade-offs between that specialized use and using the room for other, as yet to be determined, programmes.
Lansdowne Issues
Despite Council’s approval in principle of the project at the end of June, there are many, many items still to be decided about the exact nature of the development, including the potential relocation of heritage buildings, the final design and character of the “public” part of the park, or the “front lawn”, and the relationship between that public area and the retail and commercial side of the development. The City will also be moving, very rapidly, to apply for zoning changes to the park to permit the commercial and residential development on the site which will doubtless raise many issues about the height and density of the buildings and development that will be allowed. OSWatch will be making a presentation to Planning and Environment Committee on these and related issues early in September. As part of the large number of motions passed at the June 28 meeting of Council on Lansdowne, was a resolution instructing City staff to include OSCA and the Glebe Community Association (CGA) more effectively in the implementation process. Caroline Vanneste, the President of GCA, and I have been in discussions with the City Manager, Kent Kirkpatrick, over the last few weeks concerning how this will be implemented. Hopefully by the time you read this a mechanism will have been worked out. I will be updating you further on Lansdowne issues in my October column.