Saturday, December 12, 2015

Briargreen Social Night review and thanks

The Briargreen Social Night on November 27 at the Royal Oak was a huge success! An estimated 60-70 residents attended, and the consensus seems to be that we'll hold another one next year.

 We raised over $1,000 for community events at the silent auction table! Big thanks to the generous donations from our business sponsors:


Please patronize these businesses and be sure to thank them for their support of our community!

 And last but not least, a very special thanks to the items donated personally by these individuals within the community:

  • Ross Clarke
  • Helga Shipman
  • Joyce Ryan and Miles Webster
... and a mystery "Friend of Briargreen".

Girl Guides: Briargreen Gift, Trade or Sell on Facebook

In an effort to lend a hand and build community, our local Briargreen Girl Guides have set up a Facebook page for residents to gift, trade or sell items or services. By joining this group you agree to give freely, trade and sell wisely and share creatively. You are encouraged to post anything you'd like to give away, lend, trade, sell or share among neighbours. Ask for anything you'd like to receive for free, borrow, trade or sell.

This is a closed page and only open to residents of Briargreen. To join this group, please click on the link to join the group now
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Briargreen/

If you haven't been approved, it's because we can't see enough of your profile here to verify that you're a real person living in the neighbourhood, or we've messaged you and it's gone to your other folder https://www.facebook.com/messages/other/. Send us a message if this happens to you and we'll sort it out.

If you have questions, please contact local volunteer Connie Stevens via Facebook private message.

Help us in our mission is to build our Briargreen community while reducing landfills.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

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.