Shakespeare in the Park: Friday, July 31, 2015

a Company of Fools presents:

The Comedy of Errors

a Company of Fools is back with the ever popular Torchlight Shakespeare – bringing Shakespeare to Ottawa parks all summer long!  This season’s production is the farcical play The Comedy of Errors.

When: Friday, July 31, 2015 - 7pm

Where: Briargreen Park

Cost: Pay What You Can, suggested donation of $15/person

More info and to see other dates and locations visit www.fools.ca

About The Comedy of Errors

When two sets of identical twins separated at birth are brought to the same town by circumstance, mistaken identities abound! Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, the result is a series of wildly comical mishaps which challenge the notion of truly knowing one’s friend, spouse, neighbour and self!

Meet the Fools – Our Cast and Crew

Directed by Catriona Leger, this season’s case includes Warren Bain, Al Connors, Scott Florence, Gabrielle Lazarovitz, Geoff McBride, Katie Ryerson.  Featuring costume design by Vanessa Imeson and set design by David Benedict Brown.

Do good things really come in pairs? Will the real Antipholous please stand up? Double the trouble means double the fun in The Comedy of. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, bug spray and your sense of humour.  Pass-the-hat donations are collected at the end of the performances and can be submitted in the form of cash or check. More information and a detailed park schedule can be found at www.fools.ca or by phoning 613-863-7529.

2015 Membership Drive

It has come to our attention that not everyone received a membership form. If you did not receive one, you can download and complete the form by clicking the link below, and return it to one of the addresses listed at the bottom, along with your $10 fee.

2015 Membership Form

The latest (Spring) edition of the Briarvine Newsletter is also available online.

Scouts Bottle Drive, Part 2: Wednesday May 13, 6:30pm - 8pm

We were a victim of our own success!  There were so many bottles to collect that we were not able to finish the whole neighbourhood (and not able to fit them in a single-car garage).

Briargreen Scouts will continue the bottle collection and flier/newsletter delivery next Wednesday evening (13-May) from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.  If that is too late, people may call Charles Pierce at 613-596-0382 to arrange for pickup before then.

Thanks for your continued support,

Charles

Canada Post Community Mailboxes: May 5th Meeting Summary

With little notice, we were invited to send a BCA Executive member to a meeting with Canada Post, hosted by Rick Chiarelli's office*. The purpose was to bring forward the concerns of Briargreen residents regarding the proposed Community Mailbox (CMB) sites. An email notice (Briarvine Extra) was sent out to residents, inviting them to share their concerns with us.

The meeting took place on Tuesday, May 5th at 2:15pm. We were allotted a half hour, as part of an afternoon of back-to-back meetings for which many other communities sent representatives.

In attendance were:

Terry Kelly, Delivery Planning Project Manager for Canada Post

Andrew Walasek, Municipal Engagement Manager for Canada Post

Councillor Rick Chiarelli and his staff members, Victoria Laaber and Nancy Cairns

myself, Remie Geoffroi, for Briargreen Community Association

Key points from the meeting:

• I relayed concerns expressed by Briargreen residents over certain mailbox locations, and passed a handout to all in attendance which included every email we received from residents, unedited (email addresses were withheld)

• My principal requests were for greater Information Sharing, Democratic Site Selection and/or Committee Consultation — none were entertained

• Canada Post still considers the site locations “fluid” and the locations won’t be solidified until month’s end (May 31)

• Canada Post refuses to deal with us as a community, and instead opts to deal directly with individuals (I challenged this as ineffective and what has caused us to be in the current predicament)

• I was shown an overview map of site locations but was not given a copy and was obstructed while taking a photo. The map showed Briargreen divided into roughly 18 colour-coded catchment areas, with a CMB box site in each area. Each site is to serve approximately 36 addresses

• An overview map of the sites proposed for the entire neighbourhood won’t be provided, reason given: locations are still fluid and this may prove confusing to some residents (I read this as their attempt to hinder our collective knowledge - Councillor Chiarelli noted his office had resorted to sharing individual "location access codes" to determine locations)

• Andrew Walasek admitted failures on their part, including improper delivery of site notices and inadequate responses to complaints

• the Glenbrook Way location came up more than once as a contentious site being reviewed

• Canada Post doesn’t believe we could achieve consensus as a community on box sites, which is why we haven’t been engaged in the selection process

Next Steps:

The Canada Post representatives committed to further reviewing and investigating our concerns.

To (hopefully) address the present lag in response, concerns can now be voiced directly to Terry Kelly and Andrew Walasek. I suggest email, so that you can CC Rick Chiarelli’s office assistants, who are now actively involved and monitoring progress.

For privacy reasons, email addresses and phone numbers will be provided to Briargreen residents upon email request.

Additionally, you may wish to consider contacting the Canada Post Ombudsman with your concerns.

*Special thanks to Councillor Chiarelli and his staff for providing the forum and opportunity to voice our concerns

NEW DATE: USED BOOK SALE, WEDNESDAY MAY 6

The Used Book Sale will now be taking place on Wednesday, May 6th from 4 - 7pm at Briargreen Public School.