Annual General Meeting brief summary

Last night's AGM included several lively discussions. Councillor Rick Chiarelli was in attendance to answer questions and advise us about city matters.

Motions were voted on and carried for the following items:

• Girl Guides will establish a Briargreen Facebook page for selling, trading and giving items within our community
• Annual membership fee to be increased to $20 (suggested) per household in 2016

Reports were presented concerning the Community Association's financial status, and neighbourhood watch.

Other items discussed included efforts to have washroom facilities built in Briargreen Park. Councillor Chiarelli is to keep us advised when this is before council (likely in the new year), at which time we'll need to voice our support.

Briargreen Park Playground Equipment Replacement

We have been striving to have the aging and partially decommissioned play equipment at Briargreen Park replaced. Originally, we had understood this would occur in 2015-2016. Here is the latest information on the matter from City staff, as relayed to us from Councillor Rick Chiarelli's office:

As you may know that we have planned Playstructure replacements in all wards to be implemented between 2016 and 2018 (i.e. this term of Council). So, each year we will prepare the design for certain parks and construct (replace) in the year after.

We continue validating our park assets all year round so our inventory data system is dynamic and depends on competing priorities among all parks in the 23 wards. Fund availability is another factor that impacts the selection of events for design and replacement. For example, among many parks, we have the need to validate the Playstructure at Briargreen park, which is currently showing 2017. As soon as we complete the validation, we will have a better picture of the condition. Based on the factors mentioned above, we will plan to fund the highest priority thus would have to postpone some of these events beyond the term of this council.”

This being said, Councillor Chiarelli has advocated to put more money into the budget for Park Renewals. The following link is an article written during the last budget cycle in regards to this http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/councillor-chiarelli-wants-playground-cash-in-2015-budget

Parking By-Law enforcement

Submitted by Cynthia Kalhok

I wanted to let our community know about an incident that took place on Friday, October 16th. My friend arrived at my home at 9:30AM so we could car pool to an event. I live at Higgins and Redenda. She parked in front of my home, along a hedge and not in front of anyone's driveway. I drove to the event. When we returned, she had a $40 parking ticket on her car, timed at 1:20PM. My friend has parked in front of my house for an extended period exactly one time.

Upon further investigation, we learned there is a bylaw in the City of Ottawa that no car can park more than 3 hours on any city street. We also learned that a bylaw officer will not come to a neighbourhood like Briargreen unless a resident makes a complaint. When a complaint is made, bylaw may come in the next few days or in the weeks to come. If called to an area like ours, they will check all the streets in the area as a cash grab and often return a few more times within a small time window to increase the chances of ticketing the person about whom the complaint was made. My friend was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Please know that if you call bylaw regarding a parking problem, it will impact other innocent people who would never expect to get a ticket on our neighbourhood streets. Perhaps a note on the offending car would be more effective.

Neighbourhood watch update

Recently, a suspicious male driving a small black 4-door sedan approached a teenage female walking in the Qualicum neighbourhood (near the Queensway Carlton Hospital). The male is described as non-white, late twenties, 6 feet tall with a small ‘scruff’ of facial hair, wearing all black clothing.

The male exited the car (left the car running) and approached the female teen to inquire if she needed a ride anywhere. When she declined, the male continued to approach and asked, “Well, can you at least stop and stay and talk to me for a few minutes?”  Seeing a man walking his dog ahead, the girl caught up to the dog walker, and began to walk with him. At that point, the suspicious male returned to his car and drove away.

When this incident was reported to police, they indicated that encounters of this type have been on the rise in the west end of Ottawa recently. Police recommend that all teens program the direct line to Ottawa Police dispatch –  (613) 230-6211 – into their cell phones.  If an incident does occur, teens should call the police right away while they are walking away. In addition to walking/running away quickly, police suggest that individuals also make a loud and big scene to garner attention and scare off the individual.

Briarvine

The Fall 2015 edition of the Briarvine is now available online, and print versions will be going out later this week!

Important upcoming dates:

Annual General Meeting: Tuesday, November 10, 7:30pm
Briargreen Public School

Briargreen Social Night: Friday, November 27, 7:30pm
Royal Oak, Centrepointe

Scouts Food Drive: Wednesday, November 25, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Children's Christmas Party: Saturday,  December 5, 2pm-4pm