Lansdowne Decision
As I write this, we are gearing up to make presentations to Council on the Lansdowne Park issue as Council votes on the project on June 28, 2020. Little that we have seen from the flurry of reports issued in the second week in June on traffic, financing or retail impacts reduces our concerns about the negative consequences of this development for us as a community and for all the City's residents as taxpayers.
We were disappointed that Carleton University, despite our appeals, has decided to allow the City to use its lots outside of University teaching hours to provide additional overflow parking at the campus for events at the site. For larger events this will imply shuttle busses running along Sunnyside to Bank to access the site – assuming they can move in the traffic jams on Sunnyside and Bank generated by the mall and major sporting events at Lansdowne.
Further, the City is determined that residential streets in both the Glebe and Old Ottawa South will be used for parking given the limited number of spaces on the site. This is being proposed despite the fact that the streets are already heavily used for residential and retail parking. The result will be additional congestion as cars mill around residential streets looking for non-existent parking spaces. This is a sad and sorry state of affairs and an example once again of how poorly the City understands the proper management of major developments in dense urban areas such as ours.
Firehall Open At Last!
By the time you read this the Firehall will be open and operational and the Official Opening ceremony on June 29 will be held. We have moved in (partially) and have run the last week of After Four programming in the new facility; our summer camps will start at the Firehall on June 28.
I have had a sneak peak at the new facilities and I think you will be impressed and pleased with the new centre. It is truly unrecognizable from the old Firehall and in the best of all possible ways. There is a spacious new reception area at the front of the building (no more going up the side steps to get in) with plenty of room to move around. There is lots of light and the new programming rooms are a delight. The look is clean, modern and inviting with the use of a lot of light coloured wood and warm colours. What you don't see, but which will make the centre a better place to be, is all the new energy efficient infrastructure and control equipment which brings the centre up to the latest environmental, safety and accessibility standards, including a small elevator!
There will be the inevitable teething problems with the new building with workers coming in the first few weeks to make adjustments, corrections and completing finishing touches and we have a huge job to do to fully move in all our equipment, sort out what new items we require and generally get organized. Also, it will take us a few months to get the measure of the building and get a good sense of what works best in terms of programming activity and in what locations. By the start of the fall programming session we should have the place well "shaken down and shipshape" for you all. Then will come the exciting part of experiencing programs in a new and purpose built facility and figuring out what new and different things we can do there.
A big vote of thanks is due to the City staff (particularly Cathie and Dinos) and our OSCA staff and volunteers (especially Deirdre) for all the hard work and extra time they put in to move us from our temporary home at Southminister Church back to our brand spanking new Firehall. We have a bright future ahead of us!
New Partnership Agreement with the City
While a whole lot less exciting than moving into a new community centre, getting our working relationships with the City well defined is an important job. At the prodding of the City's Auditor General the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department of the City is in the process of formalizing its relationships with community associations across the city. As there is a great variety in the working relationships the City has with community associations, ranging from situations where the community group essentially runs both the community facilities and all the programming to situations where the association is essentially an advisory group to a City run facility. We are somewhere in the middle where we have what could be described as a pretty equal partnership where the City looks after the building and shares in the running of our programmes and we handle the planning , financing and administration and share programme implementation. At its last meeting the Board approved a draft agreement for discussion with the City that in essence defines our understanding of the current arrangement we have with the City. While it does not propose any fundamental changes in our partnership, it does attempt to clarify our respective responsibilities and define our roles. We will be sending a draft of this agreement to the City shortly and will likely enter into discussions with them in the autumn.
Lifetime Volunteer Award – Rob Burr
It was my pleasure at the June Board meeting to present an OSCA Lifetime Volunteer Award to Rob Burr. Rob served for many years as our volunteer webmaster and shepherded OSCA's transition to the on-line world. Rob represents what is best in our community, a dedicated volunteer who quietly served his Association with distinction. Rob was a thoughtful manager of our on-line presence, always alert to new possibilities, patiently managing the inevitable problems, complexities and challenges that being on-line poses, especially for a voluntary community organization such as OSCA. I often sought Rob's advice on issues associated with our website which involved not only the technical and financial challenges of running the site, but the more difficult issues of meeting community expectations and diffusing differences of view. Rob's advice was always wise and perceptive and always given with the long term best interests of the community at heart. Thank you Rob for a wonderful job, well done!
Summer Holidays
As is traditional, the Board does not meet during July and August, although the Executive Committee is available to make decisions if required. We will hold our next meeting on Tuesday, September 21 at the Firehall. Our next big community event will be the Annual OSCA Porch Sale on Saturday, September 11, rain or shine. More details on the Porch Sale will be published in the September OSCAR and will be announced on this website too. Have and happy and safe summer everyone!