FINAL PRESIDENTS MESSAGE by Blaine Moen
Our Annual General Meeting is fast approaching (June 5th), and we need people to step up to take an active role in running the community association. On a personal note, both Margaret and I have taken on way too much in the past year outside of our community association obligations and will be handing in our resignations at the AGM.
What does that mean? Well it means that if no one puts their names forward for some key executive positions, the community association is going to have to fold and hand the keys to our facility back to the City.
This would be a shame, as we are coming up to Southwood’s 50th anniversary as a community. Also, issues brought forward from the Traffic and Dog Park Committees would no longer have the backing of a community association to help their voices be heard by the powers that be down at City Hall. The secondary suite issue is coming to the forefront again in all of Calgary, including closer to home in both Southwood and Haysboro. The Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, City committees and bureaucrats do listen to community associations before making their decisions – decisions that will affect your quality of life on your street and in your neighbourhood.
NOW is the time to get involved. Call up a neighbour and do this together. There are some continuing board members, so anyone new does not have to feel that they would be going it alone. We also have Kate, the City representative that helps us navigate City Hall to get the information and support that we need. We have recently received some interest in getting involved in community gardens projects, and this summer we will be installing new rink boards at the hockey rink, so I do see a renewed optimism in parts of the community. I urge those of you who may have been happy to sit on the sidelines up to now to please give some consideration to your community association.
Please contact Jill at 253-8586 to put your name forward for nomination to the board.
We have lined up some excellent door prizes to be drawn at our AGM, so please set aside an hour and come meet your neighbours at the community hall.
Southwood Community Association Annual General Meeting
Saturday, June 5th
1 pm – 2 pm
Southwood Community Hall
11 Sackville Drive SW
***Free Snacks***
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
May Presidents Message by Blaine Moen
At our meeting on Thursday April 1st, the Southwood Community Association voted to accept the recommendations as contained in the report from the Dog Park Committee and further to pursue implementation of these recommendations. A summary of the report is on page # 7 of this newsletter and the full report can be found here. I thank every person that contributed to this great effort and I am confident that these recommendations coupled with an ongoing commitment from our members will result in a better community for ALL of us! I will be submitting the report and its recommendations to the City of Calgary and our Alderman and we will be asking for their assistance in implementing these improvements.
Again, thanks to everyone on the Dog Park Committee for your efforts, I realize that this topic was a polarizing one and demanded patience and compromise in order to produce these recommendations. I also want to point out to my fellow dog owners in our community that at no time did the Dog Park Committee consider asking for redesignation of the park in question at Anderson and 14th Street. I am pleased with and grateful to those on the committee that are affected by the increased activity at that park for their commitment to compromise and understanding and I am confident that as each of us use the park in the future, we will reciprocate that understanding and thoughtfulness.
I also thank those that got involved on the Traffic Committee for their efforts. I appreciate that your efforts will benefit our community, so again thanks to everyone that has gotten involved in the Southwood Community Association recently.
Alderman Dianne Colley-Urquhart also asked me to mention the recent Subdivision Development Appeal Board (SDAB) decision to reject the appeals of two separate Southwood homeowners that had been ordered to remove their basement kitchens. What this means is that these homeowners must remove their basement kitchens and not reinstall any cooking facilities thereafter. The presence of cooking facilities is what the City uses to determine illegal basement suites in single family (R-C1) homes. They appealed to keep their basement kitchens and both their appeals were rejected. Ultimately this decision is consistent with the Southwood Community Association’s position not to support the conversion of single family (R-C1) homes in Southwood into multifamily housing.
This spring brings many opportunities and new challenges to our community. Due to budget cuts, the
City of Calgary has put the 14th Street widening on hold….for now. But, without continued
involvement from our community the changes that happen on 14th Street could drastically affect our quality of life here in Southwood. As well, there is a civic election coming in the fall and as a result there is the potential for changes which could also dramatically influence our quality of life.
These changes, as well as the Transit Oriented Development (TOD), secondary suites, dog off leash parks, traffic and crime all require YOUR attention. Whether you want it or not, your quality of life WILL be influenced by the aforementioned topics, so what can you do?
In June we have our AGM and the Southwood Community Association Board positions become available. THIS is how you can help! We had dozens of people out to the special meeting over traffic and the dog off leash parks and so much interest that we were able to create a couple of committees which are making a difference. But it can’t end there. In order to maintain our quality of life here in Calgary and in Southwood, YOU need to help out. It doesn’t have to be as President. As opposed to other years, we already have a nominee for President and one for Treasurer, which are two of the more involved positions. You could be in charge of Programs, Director of Traffic, Director of Development, Vice President, Secretary, Director at Large….whatever interests you, just so your voice can be heard. We will also be looking to add a new position or rename one of our existing ones to continue with the implementation of the Dog Park Report recommendations. We are not limited to the positions we have already created…maybe you would like to get the Seniors group going again. It’s up to you. It’s YOUR Community Association. The commitment involves coming to the monthly meetings (a couple of hours a month) and whatever time you can afford to give during the month.
I’ve said this before, many hands make light work and this is a way that you CAN make a difference. If you are interested in any of the board positions, please contact our Past President, Jill Negenman.
When I got involved some years ago, the issue was illegal suites. I stepped up (actually, my wife Margaret did….she just lets me write these messages) and over 3 years later the Subdivision Development Appeal Board upheld the message that I was sending. I made a difference. Sure, I haven’t accomplished everything I set out to, but I made a difference in my own life and the lives of my children. No, I didn’t end poverty, nor did I stop crime, but what I did do was influence the direction of my community and I got to meet some great people…no, make that great neighbors. It has been rewarding and in all honesty, I feel I got WAY more out of this than I put in.
See you at our AGM on Saturday, June 5th at the hall. We will have memberships for sale if yours has expired.
Summary of the Southwood Dog Park Committee Report.
(for the full report go to Dog park committee page here.) In 1987, The City of Calgary passed legislation allowing for off-leash dog parks in Calgary. The community of Southwood has a number of these parks. These parks do not have official names, and are referred to by geographical location by The City of Calgary.
The Southwood Dog Park Committee (SDPC) has been created to research the number of outstanding concerns with the Southdale Off-Leash dog park and to provide the Southwood Community Association with a viable solution.
The SDPC has identified several issues that are impacting the Southdale Off-Leash dog park. The SDPC focus is on making the Southdale Off-Leash dog park a better place and an improved community asset for all the residents of Southwood to enjoy. At this time the SDPC does not recommend a redesignation of the park.
The SDPC’s major recommendations involve a limited time commitment and low costs, and recommend the following be implemented immediately.
- increased communication as to the proper use and expectations of the various user groups of the Southdale Off-Leash dog park, as well as the consequences of their actions.
- restricting parking along Southdale Crescent,
- improving garbage bin and pick up bags availability,
- increasing community involvement not only in Southdale Off-Leash dog park but in all of Southwood Parks through Clean Up and Adopt-A-Park programs
- provide an official name for the Southdale Off-Leash dog park
- approach The City to use the SDPC as a pilot project for other City Community multi use Parks.
March Presidents Message by Blaine Moen
Our community has had an eventful year so far. We have had enough concerned citizens to create two committees, one involved with traffic and another trying to improve the dog off leash park at 14th Street and Anderson Road.
The Traffic Committee went door to door in the area of Sacramento Drive gathering signatures for a petition to get the City to look at doing a traffic study on that corridor.
The Dog Park Committee has presented many challenges, not the least of which was putting two opposing views on an emotional issue together to provide some solutions to problems that have arisen in the park in recent years. It is an emotionally charged topic and I thank the individuals who have stepped up to create a better community. I never expected the Dog Park Committee to resolve ALL the issues facing residents in that area in the short couple of months since its inception, but I believe the committee has made and is making progress.
Each of these committees began with one concerned resident coming to the Community Association looking for some help. What started as one person’s concern has evolved into a group of concerned neighbours working together to find solutions. Cooperation, understanding, patience and compassion are all that’s required to make things better, not only for those involved, but for each of us in our community. And we aren’t in this alone. The City of Calgary provides us with a Community Resource person that informs us of available grants and programs, and helps put us in touch with the appropriate people to answer our concerns.
Your community association needs you to get involved. My time as President and Margaret’s as Vice-President and Director of Development is rapidly coming to an end. A new board will be voted in at our AGM in June. We are looking at splitting the duties for some of the jobs involved and I will try and get them posted before the AGM in June for you to review, but if you would like to find out more information before then you can phone me. Please consider helping, as many others have done recently. One of the available positions may just suit your interests or expertise. It takes little time – as little as an hour or two a month to help, and the rewards are numerous. I have enjoyed being involved with the Southwood Community Association. It’s been very rewarding and I feel I’ve gotten WAY more out of getting to know the people involved than I’ve contributed. It has been a great way to give back to the community I grew up in.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Vice President’s Message By: Margaret Moen
The President has been extremely busy at work and with home renovations, so that has given me an opportunity to use this forum to thank some of the people who have helped out the community association by getting involved, not necessarily by being on the board, but just giving us a hand where it is needed.
A long overdue thank you to Wes for watering the flowers in the planters on Elbow Drive last summer.
To Teresa for pitching in and doing a great job at revamping our website and keeping it up to date.
To April, for jumping in to organize a great Halloween party and also the Santa Skate. (and to Mieke for helping April).
To Paul and Alec, our “rink rats”.
To Bob for flooding the ice surface near the library.
To the members of our Traffic Committee: Darren, Tim, Tracy and Peter.
To the many members of our Dog Park Committee: Steve, Ally, Belinda, Bill, Brian, Chrissy, Fawn, Garen, Lola, Jean, Howard, Marty, Pamela, Pat, Peter and Sven.
Thank you all.
If I have left anyone out or misspelled names, I do apologize.
Maybe you won’t recognize any of these names, but many of these people are your neighbours. Their contributions help to make our community a better place to live for everyone.
And finally, thank you to Constable Earl Courage, our Community Liaison Officer for acting on our concerns. We wish you luck in your new position and look forward to working with your replacement.
President’s Message – January 2010
By Blaine Moen
Happy New Year
I hope you had a great holiday and a very merry Christmas.
As I write this there are several updates on issues pertaining to Southwood, which I will get to, but first I want to thank everyone for their involvement in the newly formed committees. The dog off leash and the traffic/speeding committees are underway and I look forward to their input.
I attended the first dog off leash committee meeting and although at times the discussion was “spirited”, I must say that by the end of the meeting even opposing views were working together and I am now very optimistic that the committee will improve things with respect to the off leash area for both homeowners in the area and dog owners using the park. Southwood residents should be proud of the compassion and understanding that these committee members are demonstrating.
On that note, city council met on December 1st to discuss that very topic, dog off leash areas, which is rapidly becoming a large issue….maybe an election issue? I would hope that the upcoming civic election will help gain some attention and answers to the dog off leash areas and other issues, like traffic.
Find out more about the traffic committee at Traffic central.
I received a phone call in November from a concerned neighbor about scavengers looting the blue bins (recycling bins) which I hadn’t heard of yet. Kate Daniels, our community liaison with the City of Calgary, has been extremely helpful in providing some information on this subject, so thanks to Kate.
For those of you that haven’t heard of this yet, some individuals have taken to going through blue bins and removing recyclable items which is against the law. Council made changes to the Waste Bylaw to include the blue bins. As with any other City issue, call 311 if you notice people rummaging through the bins in your alley. My larger concern is that of individuals prowling around in our back alleys. Nothing good can come of that. Sadly, this is likely a reflection of our current economy and the state of jobs in our community, but I’m not about to attempt to address the social responsibilities we share as a community in this newsletter.
And finally, my wife and I are definitely stepping down in June. My second term as President will have concluded and both of us need to focus our attention at home. It has been a wonderful experience and I have made some new friends. The Community Association still struggles in finding participation, so again, I urge you to come out. You don’t have to be “President” (although we will need that position filled), but you can make a difference, even with an hour or two each month.
I hope to see you out at our meetings. They are on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 pm and don’t forget, we have our AGM coming up in June.
—————————————————————————————————–
Past President’s Message- December 2009
By Jill Negenman
An important Special Meeting was held on October 21s, 2009 devoted to two hot topics in Southwood: the off-leash dog area at Anderson Road and 14th Street, and speeding on various streets. See below for Blaine Moen’s update about those topics.
At the request of our Alderman, Dianne Colley-Urquhart, I propose to revive what was a hot topic two years ago: the issue of “illegal suites”. Lately, our Alderman has heard from many Southwood residents who are upset with suites being built in homes whose zoning was formerly called R-1. (The City has since adopted new terminology when it passed a new 600+ page Land Use Bylaw: R-1 became RC-1; R-2 became RC-2. For more information, see the City’s website at www.calgary.ca. I’ll be sticking with the old terminology for the rest of this article.)
The Southwood Community Association addressed the “illegal suites” issue with a Special Meeting of Southwood residents in May 2007. If you missed it, you may need a quick refresher about what makes a suite illegal: Suites can be illegal for safety reasons (i.e. breaching Fire Codes), for ignoring minimum parking requirements, or for being located within a building not zoned for that purpose (i.e. R-1). The Special Meeting concluded with a vote, and SCA members voted overwhelmingly that Southwood, as a community, does not want to see the conversion of R-1 (single family) homes into R-2 homes (the ones legally eligible to have suites added). As SCA President at that time, I sent a letter saying as much to Alderman Colley-Urquhart.
There were and still are good intentions behind the drive to find more suites in existing homes. But like all change, avoiding unintended consequences requires properly planning its implementation. Part of “planning properly” – I would humbly suggest – is exhausting the potential you have on hand, before resorting to drastic measures. By this I mean that there should have been some effort to ensure all R-2 homes were suited before targeting the R-1 homes. To do otherwise is to throw market price (and any predictability about capital gains) out the window when purchasing a home. Myself, I paid a premium to buy an R-1 home, because (until two years ago) that was forever a permanent, implicit promise that all homes surrounding me would stay similarly zoned, except perhaps for the odd home office that promised not to unduly increase local traffic.
Let’s imagine your next-door neighbour applies to rezone his or her single family R-1 home to R-2 so that a suite can be legally built. What harm could that one conversion do?
A) To you personally? That depends on whether the homeowner / landlord plans to live on site, or at least nearby. If he does, any unruly tenant behaviour would hopefully be minimized. But even then, years down the road, you won’t have any say in who buys that property: could be another onsite landlord, could be an absentee landlord who lives in Ontario. Once that house is suited, however, you can be sure that when it does go up for sale, as many investors will be circling as first time homeowners looking to subsidize their mortgage.
B) To the character of Southwood? One suite conversion in Southwood’s R-1 area probably wouldn’t make a large difference, but it would create a precedent for more. In Pump Hill or Eagle Ridge, fears of an influx of R-1 to R-2 conversions would be silly, because affordable suites wouldn’t be in demand there. But in Southwood – with our two LRT stations and our “inner-city” status – we risk becoming the epicenter of affordable suites. Those voting in May 2007 were not trying to deter suites being built in R-2 homes. They were just looking to protect their investment by ensuring that R-1 streets would remain zoned R-1. Remember that for most of us, our home is the biggest asset we will ever acquire, and the one that will ultimately decide how well we can retire after we sell the house and downsize to smaller accommodations.
Our concerns about the new Land Use By-Law fell on deaf ears: the provision which makes it possible to apply for residential rezoning on an individual basis remains intact, and has passed into law. Will we become the next Vancouver, where there is a virtual carte blanche for suite conversions? Or will we follow Edmonton’s lead, where rumor has it the Municipality has identified specific suburbs where R-1 homes can be changed to R-2? Quite simply put, that’s up to us.
The fact is that, although the affordable housing crisis has eased a bit since May 2007, there is still demand for more affordable housing in Calgary. And another housing crisis will inevitably come if we don’t properly plan for future growth spurts. When the heat again rises under City Hall’s collective butt, they may well again resort to quick fix solutions that affect us all irreversibly.
So: What are we prepared to live with? How do we fix this?
By addressing the systemic blunders that led up to the affordable housing shortage in the first place. Here’s what I think needs to happen.
1. We need to loudly demand that our civic government STOP the conversion of currently affordable apartment buildings into luxury condos. We are not the ones who rubber-stamped the conversion of thousands of formerly affordable apartment units into condominiums over the last decade, so why should we be the ones compromising our neighborhoods to offset the resulting homelessness?
2. We need to lobby for whatever legislative changes are needed to Alberta’s Municipal Government Act, so that the City of Calgary is delegated the power to enforce how many affordable housing units developers must build for every X# of McMansions they apply to build. Currently, there is no financial incentive for a developer to choose affordable housing projects over Estate Homes (the McMansions offer better profit margins), so it’s not likely the developers are going to take a leadership role there. Only those elected for office are accountable to you about what mix of housing we create, and at the moment, those elected are able to shrug their shoulders and say “Nothing we can do. No one is approaching us with affordable housing projects”. I’ve heard other provinces have delegated this power to their large cities, and if that’s true, we should be leaning on our MLA’s to lobby for the same.
3. We need to embrace the City of Calgary’s $25,000 grant program aimed at assisting owners of R-2 homes to build suites, or to bring their existing suites into conformity with the law. I recently read in the Calgary Herald that, despite all the initial enthusiasm when the grant program began, many have applied and only a handful have been successful … but that had more to do with the specifics of the applicants’ lot (i.e. perhaps the lot size was too small to accommodate a “legal” suite, even if parking & safety were addressed.) Maybe those criteria need to be revisited and maybe they don’t; I don’t know if the minimum size chosen was arbitrary, or based on what’s been proven to be unsafe. My point is, I would hate to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater: the R-2 grant program has sound goals, and can create more affordable housing in a way we can all live with. Let’s just work out the bugs in its implementation.
Elsewhere in this newsletter, I will supply a Southwood map that clarifies which homes are zoned R-1 and which homes are zoned R-2. This will help you figure out whether your suites are potentially “legal” and eligible for the City’s grant. It will also help you decide whether a suite is “illegal” (at least by virtue of where it is located) should you decide to call 311 to complain and request an inspection by By-Law Officers. It is the wish of your Alderman that we all abide by proper zoning designations, and report those who don’t. Staying uninvolved and hoping someone else will report it doesn’t work. You will need to call 311 yourself, and follow up with a letter (or e-mail) to Southwood Community Association and also to Alderman Colley-Urquhart. She can’t help us fix problems she doesn’t know about.
SPECIAL MEETING held Wednesday October 21s, 2009:
Off Leash Dog Area / Speeding
By Blaine Moen
Thank you all for coming out and getting involved. About 70 people (95% of whom live in Southwood) came to discuss some speeding concerns, and also some problems occurring at the Off Leash Dog area at Anderson Road and 14th Street SW. We were able to persuade several of those attending to form two separate committees that will liaise with other stakeholders and report back to our Community Association as potential solutions start to develop. In particular, the committees will consult with those who live alongside the problem sites, and will also liaise with Calgary Police Service, Calgary By-Law Officers, and Calgary’s Traffic & Engineering Dept as required. The mandate of both committees is to improve the quality of life for as many Southwood Community members as is possible.
If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, but are interested in being on one of the committees, please email me at moenbm@telus.net.
Thanks again to everyone for coming out. Hopefully EVERYONE that came out to this meeting can remember how to get to the hall on the second Wednesday of every month and join us for our (much shorter) monthly board meetings.
The next monthly meeting is Wednesday, December 9th 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.
As much as we needed your involvement in the two issues discussed above, we still need your continuous involvement and help with the Community Association. Remember: we are all volunteers and there will be some board positions being vacated at our AGM in June. Others need to step up and get involved. If you really want to make a difference in your community, this continues to be a great way to do it.
President’s Message – November 2009
By Blaine Moen
Hi all. By the time you read this, we will have held our meeting to deal with Speeding in our community. Hopefully, with some help from The City, we can make some progress on getting people to slow down in their vehicles.
It’s that subject that I’d like to address this month.
Speeding in our Community.
When I say speeding it is really a broad and oversimplified word, but what I actually mean is “drivers not paying attention to the road”.
We are ALL busy. Too much time spent doing things we don’t want or have to do and not enough time doing what we enjoy. This is the underlining excuse we all use for unacceptable behavior, MYSELF INCLUDED!
There are times that we all need to take a step back, take a breath and remember that although traffic is bad and there isn’t enough time in the day, we MUST be accountable for our actions. There are other people on the road just going about their daily routines too.
Talking on our cell phones while driving.
Texting while driving.
Speeding.
These are all things that are within our control to stop, plain and simple.
I’m not naive enough to believe that young people read this, but for the few more experienced folks that do, I ask you to speak to your children, grandchildren, wife or husband about what they might be doing while they’re driving.
Recently, I was following a young gal southbound on 14th Street as I was headed home. She was in the far right lane and without much notice, signaled and quickly cut across three lanes of rush hour traffic, all the way into the far left hand turning lane at Heritage. As all the vehicles were stopped at a red light, I had a chance to watch her and she was gesturing with one hand as she held her cell phone in the other, obviously worked up about something. Then, when the light changed, she held up the traffic behind her and cut back to the lane beside her to go straight through the intersection instead of turning. She crossed over all the lanes without signaling, cutting off two cars, all the way back into the far right hand lane and turned off into Glenmore Landing. The entire time she was talking on her cell phone! What was so important that she was risking her life and the lives of those around her?
I think back to the sixteen year old driver a couple of years ago that fumbled with her phone as she drove through a crosswalk and into a mother and her child in northwest Calgary. Let’s hope that girl has changed her driving habits, but a tragedy SHOULDN’T have to happen before people wake up.
This is what I’m talking about. Not people talking on cell phones while driving, but us, not doing anything about it!
I ask you again to talk to your family about the difference between the privilege (and it IS a privilege NOT a right) of driving and the agony of living the rest of your life knowing you killed a kid crossing the road because your conversation was more important than another person’s life.
When I was 14, I was at my uncle’s place, south east of Sacramento Drive, and I was playing football in the park with a friend. I watched in horror as a 3 year old boy ran out onto Sacramento Drive and was struck by a truck. I’m not going to go into the details, but it has stuck with me ever since.
At our September board meeting there were a couple of pessimistic people who were more or less asking “why bother, nothing ever changes anyway?”
THIS IS WHY! We all have an obligation to make our community safe, for ourselves and our neighbours.
So here’s what I need all of you to do. Phone your MP and MLA and demand legislation on distractions while driving. I’m not just talking about cell phones, but all distractions. People MUST be responsible for their actions, and the more complicated our world gets, the more people seem to ignore common sense.
I’m no lawyer, so I can’t speak to the legal implications of criminalizing distracted drivers, but I don’t think the parents of a child hit crossing the street on their way to school would care that the person that hit their child was texting, drinking their coffee or was drunk. They shouldn’t be doing anything other than paying attention to the road.
It’s time to call your MP and MLA today and demand changes to distracted driver laws.
Also, do your part, slow down and report irresponsible drivers to the police at 403-266-1234. We have the power to change the community around us if we only care to get involved and do so.
Hope to see you at our next meeting in November. We normally meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm at the Hall, but as that falls on Remembrance Day, the November meeting date may change. Please check the front doors of the hall for a sign marking the day of the next meeting if it has changed, or call me at 252-0441 and I will let you know.
Blaine
President’s Message – October 2009
By Blaine Moen
Hi, first off I’d like to thank everyone for coming to the last board meeting on September 10th. It was great to see some new faces. Like I said at the meeting, it’s issues that drive people to get involved and we have a couple now.
There are a couple of problems that Southwood residents are facing today: abuse of the dog off-leash area at the corner of Anderson and 14th Street and vehicles speeding along Sacramento Drive and in other areas of our community. Although they are 2 separate issues, we will address both at a special meeting on Wednesday, October 21st at 7:00pm at the Hall.
Let me start by relaying a few of the concerns raised by homeowners in the area of the dog off-leash area at the corner of Anderson Road and 14th Street.
Vehicles speeding, pulling U turns and parking improperly.
Some dogs are not under control and in some cases actually get into adjacent yards and homes.
It is not uncommon for some dog owners to arrive at 5:30am or late at night, even on Sundays.
Some dog owners don’t clean up after their dog, so much so that some kind hearted dog owners bring bags and spend much of their time cleaning up other people’s (dog’s) messes.
These are only a very few of the real complaints that residents in the area have, so clearly the Southwood Community Association MUST help them. During the meeting it was brought to my attention that there was no public consultation when the park arrived in 1995. Residents woke up one morning that there were signs “Dog Off-Leash area”. The off-leash area in question was designated for “community”, NOT regional use, but it is currently being used by people from other communities in south Calgary.
Businesses and even the media in some cases are actually advertising the area to dog owners as an alternative to the busy, regional off-leash area at Southland Drive and Deerfoot Trail. Clearly this is unacceptable, but even if we stop these people from promoting the off-leash area, we can’t un-ring a bell. The fact is that the privilege of the dog off-leash area in question is being abused and although I believe the abuse to be from a small minority of dog owners, it is causing some major problems for our neighbors.
As well, you should know what the area residents have already done to improve the situation. They call Bylaw Enforcement regularly, they’ve talked to Parks and even the police in some cases but still their problems have escalated.
So what to do?
At the Special Meeting on Oct 21st we will be discussing possible solutions and I will try and bring out some people from the City that can hopefully help improve the situation. We will be looking at everything from permit parking to the removal of the off-leash designation altogether. Remember, removing the off-leash designation doesn’t mean “No Dogs”, it just means that all dogs must be on a leash.
One final word on the off-leash area, this may be a moot discussion as a bike path is currently being built through the park which may mean that the “off-leash” designation could be removed as a result.
Now to speeding.
We have fielded dozens of complaints, many of which are from residents along Sacramento Drive about people speeding. As speeding is also one of the issues facing the residents around the dog off leash area in question, we will try and come up with some potential solutions to this at the same meeting on the 21st. I will be inviting representatives from the CPS and hopefully we can get an Alderman out as well.
Excessive speed is something that we all deal with, no matter where we live. One of the suggestions that I’ll be making to the City is to further reduce the un-posted speed limit from 50 to 40 kmph. This may not seem like much, but I’d like you to try it, get in your vehicle and drive 50 kmph on Elbow……not an unreasonable speed for a major road, but then turn off Elbow and drive the same speed on Sabrina and tell me 50 kmph isn’t too fast for an area with cars parked and kids playing?
Of course this only pertains to the people who respect the law and the bulk of our current problem comes from people who drive outside the law. In these cases we need more CPS involvement, especially along Sacramento Drive and we need to look at other solutions. Again, I hope to discuss these at the October 21st meeting.
Please come out and bring your ideas to help make our community better for ALL our residents. Neither of these issues may come to a vote, but should a vote be required on either item, only residents who hold a current Southwood Community Association membership are entitled to vote. You can purchase a membership at our partner facility, Trico Centre, formerly Family Leisure Centre.
One final note, any changes or proposals we agree on at the meeting are still subject to the City of Calgary requirements and as such may require further measures before they are initiated.
Thanks, hope to see you at both our next monthly meeting, which will now be held on the second Wednesday of each month, and/or at the special meeting on October 21st.
Thanks
Blaine