Presidents Message

 

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE OCTOBER 2011

The first meeting of our new year went really well. We were so pleased to welcome our new board members who were elected at the AGM in June.  Thank you all so much for coming forward and volunteering. We have a strong board with great enthusiasm for progressing events, programs and upkeep for the community association and facility.

We were also really pleased to welcome members of the community who came out to discuss issues with us. One was in regards to a development permit for a home-based business, and the other was about the re-instatement of Bus Route 82 which was suspended about 2 years ago.

The first issue is not actionable by the association as it is approved. However, after a year it may be revisited. The issue of Bus Route 82 – well, it clearly appears that there is a need for this route. We have recommended that this be brought forward to Tim Derkitt, our traffic director, and we set up a chain of contacts within the board and the residents to get this going with City Transit. If you have concerns regarding Route 82 please do call Tim.

Our new vice-president, Keith Erikson, will be holding a revitalization workshop with board members to look at what we need to do as we progress forward this year. Items to be discussed include, but are not limited to, events, programs and maintenance. This will be linked with the budget process. All board members who have a portfolio that will need money allocation are sending in their plans together with their projected budget amounts to Alec, who will be doing up a preliminary budget. This will be discussed and fine tuned with the goal of being finalized by December.

Alec and Bob are meeting this month (September) to fill in applications for grants available for facility maintenance and up keep.

The casino dates are set – February 16 and 17, 2012. Look for the notices in the newsletter!

The next meeting is October 6^th 2011 at 7pm!  See you there!

Vivien Jonathan

President

 

 

 

President’s Message for Sept 2011

First and foremost, a very big thank you to all the volunteers on the Southwood Community Association Board of Directors for the 2010-2011 term. It has been a pleasure working with you all.  A finer group I cannot imagine.

We had a good year with several projects having been moved along and completed admirably. I was looking at the previous AGM minutes from the 2009-2010 term and I saw what looked like the beginnings of the community garden project. Well, look where we are now – what an accomplishment. The committee for the community garden needs to be congratulated for a great job.

Here is the update on our facility:

-    The City is renewing the licences of occupation (LOC) for all community centres this year. The changes are not that onerous and we feel they will provide us with better tools as we move forward in managing the affairs of the community association and the facility. We have been told that the final documents will be available later this year. Letters to our long-term sub-licensees — the cadets and the Learning Tree — are being sent this month (August) to assure them that their leases will be in good standing and will be re-negotiated under the terms of the new LOC from the city as soon as we get it. .

-    Our hall rental supervisor, Geof, has done a great job and we have a new janitor and maintenance person, Rob, who has kept the hall spic and span!

-    We are looking at upgrading various things within the hall – starting with some electrical upgrades. Alec and Bob have taken that on.

-    We will be having another casino. The dates have just come in: Feb. 16 and 17, 2012. Keep those dates blocked off in your diaries because Bob will be calling!

Lynda Harrison represented Southwood Community Association in the Stampede Parade. She marched the parade route wearing a Southwood sash as part of the Federation of Calgary Communities entry.  Thank you to Lynda for representing us.

Rob Dickinson organized our Paint the Pavement event on Aug. 6. It was a great success and there was a great article in the Calgary Herald on the following day,  Aug. 7, about this project. Congratulations to Rob and his hard-working committee.

A vibrant community blossoms when people get involved and it thrives when it gets a good base of volunteers. Come on out to the meetings each month – you may find you have hidden talents that you can share. Remember that volunteerism is a great plus to have on a resume – not to mention the fun that we have!

The next meeting is Sept. 8, 2011 at 7 p.m.! See you there!

Vivien Jonathan

President.

 

Presidents Message for June 2011

Hello Southwood,

The weather has finally warmed up and we are gearing up for the last meeting of the regular sessions on June 2^nd. Then comes the Annual General Meeting and after that we are formally on summer break. So at this time we all wish you a happy, healthy and fun-filled summer!

Please note that the “Our City Our Budget Our Future” process is still under way. The link is : http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=267131&q=303562909&qz=5ce7ca Visit this site and have your say!

Cell Towers - The public meeting was held on May 2^nd. Some amendments that were requested (to be discussed when it comes before council later in May) are:

• some improvements in notification
• deletion of the potential large loophole of allowing additions of 25% on existing towers without public consultation in favour of public consultation

There will be a report from administration back to LPT in a year with the results of the implementation.

Licence of Occupation The LOC between Southwood Community Association and the City of Calgary is up at the end of December this year. The city is updating their current Licences of Occupation. Alec and I are attending a seminar on the changes to the Licenses of Occupation for community associations on May 12th. The sub-leases we have at the Southwood community centre are under the LOC that we hold with the City – the same as all older established community associations in the city. After the seminar we will know what they have changed, and what we need to do (if anything) to revamp our sub-leases.

Paint the Pavement Aug. 5th to 7th- This is going to be a great event – and one we are all looking forward to. We measured the road area this week. Goodwill have offered to provide a bin and a person at this event and truck donated clothing and household items away afterwards. We think this is a great idea, as Goodwill is a not-for-profit organization that supports training and jobs for Albertans with disabilities and barriers to employment. The Paint the Pavement event draws us all together as a community and the idea of supporting such a worthy cause while we are enjoying ourselves seems a good one.

Southwood Community Association Annual General Meeting (AGM):  Another reminder: The date has been set: June 25^th from noon to 1p.m. Please renew your memberships and plan to attend. There are issues that affect us: the southwest ring road, secondary suites, the Anderson LRT (transit-oriented development) station and cell towers, so make sure you attend.

The election of the executive and the directors for the association will be held at this AGM.

Babysitting will be available. There will be a free light lunch provided for Southwood Community Association members. It will be followed by the Community Gardens solstice party – come out and celebrate this wonderful community project.

June 2^nd is the next meeting – do come and join us.

Kind regards,

Vivien Jonathan

 

Presidents Message May, 2011

Hello Southwood,

Whew -  what a busy month it has been!

We have movement on the Board: Sadly, Bob Jonathan has had to resign from his position as Vice President. He remains as the Casino Director. This latter position posed a conflict. Thanks, Bob, for staying with us as Casino Director. What would we do without you?

We have a new Development Director , Alec Simpson. He is also our Treasurer. We thank you very much, Alec, for taking this position. Alec comes with a great deal of prior municipal and development experience, so I know he will be of great assistance to guide us through the upcoming development and transportation issues that we face.

We all have the opportunity to participate in the “Our City Our Budget Our Future” process – the link is : http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=267131&q=303562909&qz=5ce7ca – visit this site and have your say!

The Calgary South West Ring Road (CSWRR) Project is under progress: I was invited to a meeting called by concerned residents of the PBP (Pump Hill-Bayview-Palliser Community). It was also attended by the CSWRR Consultants: Project Lead:  Alex Broda, Focus Engineering consultant Aziz Merali, and City of Calgary Transportation Planner Kara Wolfe. Kara gave updates on the BRT – see below. Here some facts and updates from that meeting:

• CSWRR Open Houses: There were over 3000 attendees at the five open houses. There have been over 1700 respondents to the open house questionnaires, and numerous emails and letters. The entire project can be viewed online. The link to the Planning Study and open houses is www.cswrr.info
• Routes 1,2,3 and 5 ALL converge on the Glenmore causeway and Routes 2,3 and 5 all use 14^th Street. All four of these routes have high levels of direct impact on surrounding communities.
• Route 4 has the least direct impact of all the routes in regards to rights of way, because the rights of way are already in place from 22x up to the Glenmore Dam.
• Any construction of the roadway over water has to go through the CEA, (Canadian Environmental Evaluation and Impact Approval), before it can be done.

• The funding for the ring road is PROVINCIAL and will be done through a P3 process.

NEWS UPDATE: They are at the selection stage now. By the end of June 2011, they will have narrowed the options. These will be determined on many factors including direct and indirect impact, costing and so on.  There will be a report in early June to showcase these options, followed by a second round of open houses.  Keep your eyes open for the dates of the open houses and plan to go!

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Report:  The SW Bus Rapid Transit on 14^th Street was approved by the City in February 2011. The BRT will run from 24 Street and Woodview Drive to Downtown. The BRT will have two extra lanes dedicated for buses only on 14^th street with BRT stations at Rockyview Hospital/Heritage and Glenmore Landing. There is currently no funding in place for this.

Cell Towers - the Standing Committee on “Land Use in Relation to Free Standing Wireless Communication Towers” will be bringing their report to a meeting at the Engineering room at City Hall on April 20^h.  This is the link to the report: http://calgarycommunities.com/ eventuploads/PROPOSED%20TELECOMMUNICATION%20POLICY.pdf This is good news, because it means that Calgary has finally moved forward to having a Land Use Policy that Cell Tower providers have to abide by. This is the preliminary report and still has to go through the approval process, so there will be changes to it.

Southwood Community Association Annual General Meeting (AGM): The date has been set: June 25^th, 2011 from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm. Please renew your memberships and plan to attend.  There are issues that affect us: the Southwest Ring Road, secondary suites, the Anderson LRT (TOD) development and cell towers.

The election of the Executive and the Directors for the Association will be held at this AGM.

Babysitting will be available. There will be a free lunch provided for Southwood Community Association Members. It will be followed by the Community Garden Solstice Party. Come out and celebrate this wonderful community project.

May 5^th is the next meeting – do come and join us.

Kind regards,

Vivien Jonathan

 

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Presidents Message April, 2011

Hello Southwood,

There is a lot going on it seems.

As you read this the issue with secondary suites may have been decided upon by City council. As of writing they postponed the vote.

Open houses on the proposed ring road have all been done. There were five options presented. A report in The Sun newspaper on Saturday, March 5 had Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette saying – and I paraphrase: Of the five open houses, only one was hostile and the rest seem to be saying: “Get on with it.” It went on to say the results indicate the early favourite is option 4, using 37^th Street. There is still the T’suu Tina option, “but there is no time to waste.”

At the Southwood Community Association meeting last week we were told our MLA, Paul Hinman, and the mayor were hoping to meet with the T’suu Tina again.

Southwood really needs a development director to ensure our needs are represented as a community on many fronts, not just particularly the ring road, however that could be quite an issue as one of the options is using 14^th Street.

Cell Phone Towers – I was somewhat disappointed that the information I sent to Alderman Pincott as a result of February’s meeting regarding the issue of Calgary’s land use policy in relation to cell phone towers received no reply. However, I had copied the mayor’s office, and was contacted by a city hall policy analyst. We met and briefly discussed the Industry Canada policy, and compared Calgary’s land use policy with Edmonton’s and Toronto’s. I also put him in contact with the Cell Tower Group who is working for the residents of Calgary. He emailed a week ago to say this has been taken further up the chain of command.

If you get any form of contact from a cell tower provider telling you that a tower is about to be erected near your property, please contact me immediately, as they have to give an adequate, written, hand-delivered notice if the proposed tower exceeds certain structural limits. If the tower does exceed these limits there has to be a community consultation meeting, details of which should be in the written notice.

Details can be found in the Freestanding Telecommunication Antenna Structure Planning Criteria Policy. The link to this City of Calgary policy is also available on our website, http://southwoodconnects.ca.

We will be posting the cell tower link www.celltower.ca, on our website.

That is all from me for this month.  Stay warm and please do feel free to come out to the next meeting which will be April7, 2011 at the hall.

Kind regards,

Vivien Jonathan

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Presidents Message March, 2011

Hello Southwood,

We all hope you were able to get in some fun or maybe just rest and relaxation with your loved ones on Family Day. Now we start to look forward to spring.

At the meeting in February, we welcomed our alderman, Brian Pincott, and our police liaison, Constable Stephen Mann.

Mr. Pincott asked us, “What do we want as a community?”  The question was directed to supporting and growing the feeling of community and belonging to a special place. An idea that was received with enthusiasm was the Paint the Pavement program. Const. Mann noted that this program can be a traffic calming exercise and we all immediately thought of Sacramento Drive. However, apparently there are some restrictions on the types of roads that can be used for this program. Mr. Pincott is able to assist with this.  It has been done very successfully in Braeside, so if anyone here in Southwood has enthusiasm for this project, contact Rob Dickinson at

southwood.feedback@yahoo.ca.

Const. Mann is also very enthusiastic about this program and indicated he would endeavor to get police assistance, if required, when we put it together. He had some traffic statistics with him but indicated it is quite difficult to pull individual statistics together from the program the police use. I know he and Tim will be sharing this information. Sadly, Tim was unable to attend the meeting.

We also had a short discussion on cell phone towers initiated by a community member at the meeting. I called a director on the Elbow Valley Community Association, as they have had recent experience with this issue. I found out that Industry Canada requires cell-phone-tower providers first and foremost abide by all local policies if they exist.  Sadly, Calgary has just a one-page policy entitled “Freestanding Telecommunication Antenna Structure Planning Criteria Policy.” The title probably takes most of the page!! Edmonton and Toronto on the other hand have very explicit polices that include sections on location, visual impact and design.  We told Mr. Pincott the city had better start looking at setting a proper telecommunications policy and they should do it soon. I have forwarded the information I received to Mr. Pincott.

We also attended the South West Ring Road Functional Planning Study. The study group was very well set up. It did not allow for any individual community bias to dominate. The results have been published in the paper. This is just the beginning – stand by for more.

Well, that is all for now, so stay warm, and plan to attend the next meeting on March 3^rd at 7 p.m. at the hall.

Kind regards,

Vivien Jonathan

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Presidents Message February, 2011

Hello Southwood,

Well here we are into 2011 already!  Time flies! Happy New Year to you all – and we wish you all Health, Happiness and Wealth.

We had our first meeting of the year last night. We had all taken a break over the festive season to catch our breaths, but it looks like we are onwards and upwards again!

We were very pleased to welcome Paul Hinman, our MLA, and his assistant Julie  Huston, who attended our meeting. Thank you Paul and Julie for taking the time from your hectic schedules to come out and spend time with us; we very much appreciate it!

We sent an open invitation to our new alderman to attend meetings and we look forward to his attendance at some time.

We are starting the process of overhauling the hall rental contracts. Bob, our vice-president, investigated our insurance to ensure we have the correct terms that should be in the new rental agreements. I would like to thank Jeff, our hall rental manager, for taking the time just prior to Christmas to go over his end of things. We are now going to move this process forward.

We are also working on streamlining our office and procedures. Since we do not actually have a real “office space” in the hall (we never really did), we are looking at the digital technology available today, to give us a business platform that everyone on the board of directors who is authorized, will be able to access.

Rob Dickinson, who heads up our steering committee, would really love to hear from you all in the community. You can see his notice on the SWCA website:

Do you have any suggestions, concerns, comments for the direction

of our community of Southwood?
We want to hear your voice!
Send your feedback to:
southwood.feedback@yahoo.ca

Please do contact him with your ideas!

Please do visit the Southwood community website southwoodconnects.ca. It is excellent, and features information and news not only about the community, but also news and links to events and information all over the city.

There is nothing new on the Transit Oriented Development at Anderson to report as of now, however Dorothy reports there is a development at Hillhurst going to city council in the next few weeks. She reports that the Hillhurst development does not fit with the locale, and hugely increases density.

We have been invited to attend a functional planning study on the Southwest Ring Road. We will be sending two people from the board. Hopefully, Tim our traffic director will be free that day, with the other person to represent development issues. We will keep you up to date on whatever information we glean from it.

Until next time, stay well, and please do put it in your diary to come on out to the next meeting: Feb. 3^rd 2011, at 7 p.m. at the hall.

Kind regards,

Vivien Jonathan

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Presidents Message January, 2011

Hello Southwood,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We had a great meeting on December 2^nd 2010 we got a lot accomplished and we are ready to start the new year..

We have some special people to thank this month -

- Kathryn Swinimer, our previous newsletter editor, who held this job for awhile.

- Paul Webber our Director of Ice, for his great ice on our two ice rinks. PS If anyone sees him out there – offer him a helping hand!

- Bob and Daniel Jonathan for the pleasure rink in the Adopt a Park rink behind the Southwood Library.

We are making great strides at the Association – Rob Dickinson, who heads the Steering Committee, would still like to get feedback from you all with your vision for the Community. We would like a series of events planned that will become ongoing events each year.

To do this we would like to have a Community Events Organizer join us on the Board. This can be a lot of fun – so anyone out there with a penchant for organizing events – call us or come to the next meeting which will be on January 06 2011. Some of the ideas that have been discussed are – skating parties, a spring or easter event, morning bridge and coffee klatches for retired people or seniors, potluck dinners and movie nights in the park. See our advert below seeking a volunteer for the position.

Rob has also accepted the position of Director of Corporate Memberships. In both capacities he is making very positive changes, and we welcome his enthusiasm.

We have a new newsletter editor – Lynda Harrison. She will start to handle newsletter items from this month (January 2011) forward. Thank you Lynda!

Tim Derkitt has put a good plan together in his position of Director of Traffic – with his plan we will be able to pinpoint our problem areas. These will be backed with statistics which will give us the clout to get action from the police and city hall as required.

Teresa brought the proposed Community Garden a step forward last night with the approval of a motion to support the creation of the garden by the board.

The Southwood Web Site: www.Southwoodconnects.ca has all sorts of information on it, and it is growing. Give it a visit every month and you will see new items all the time.  You can even read the monthly newsletters in .pdf format.

Tracy Neal, our Janitor and Maintenance Supervisor, is leaving to live out of the country. He has found a replacement. We would like to welcome Robert Schiaroli to the Association, and look forward to working with him.

So we enter the New Year on a very positive note and it is definitely due to the work and enthusiasm of our current board members and associates. THANK YOU, all of you.

Looking forward to the year ahead,
Kind regards
Vivien Jonathan

Presidents Message December, 2010

Hello Southwood,

This is an update from the Board meeting held on November 4^th.  Ed Stewart resigned as President at the end of October. The Board accepted his resignation and elected myself, Vivien Jonathan, as President and Bob Jonathan as Vice President. As you know Bob has been the Casino Director for many years and we are really thankful that he came forward to take on this added position.

We had a very good meeting on the 4^th of November- we covered a lot of ground and we have some new Board members – We welcome Tim Derkitt who has taken on the role of Director of Traffic. Thank you Tim.  Please go to our Web Site to see what Tim has already done in regards to the problem speeding along Sacramento Drive. This is a perpetual problem – I have lived in this community for 30 years, and was on the Board back in the late 1990’s and it was a problem then. We hope that with Tim’s persistence at City hall, we can fix it for once and for all.

We have formed a Steering Committee to deal with all the items that are currently on the table at the Community. We need to prioritize them and then determine what resources and budgets we need to bring them to fruition. I asked all the Board members for input and we would love to hear from all of you too. To this end we welcomed a member of the community who has volunteered to head the Steering Committee – Robert Dickinson  - thank you Robert. He will be our point of contact. We would welcome some of you to come and join him! We would love to see as many of you out at the next meeting on the 2^nd of December to meet the new members.

I have contacted our New Alderman – Brian Pincott and asked if he can come to the next meeting – I will likely not hear back in time before this news letter goes to print. However we will be asking him to make another appearance which we will advertise to you all specially. I am also contacting the Mayor’s office to see if we can receive input from his office as to developments at the city level. Paul Hinman our MLA has also been in contact, and I have asked him also for information on a monthly basis, so we can all be informed of what goes on at the Provincial level.

Sadly we have had quite an upheaval on the Board at a most inopportune time, so hence we have no plans for the Festive Season this Year.

As my parting note – Remember, without your voice, our Community has no say in what happens at the City – our community and its needs can be steamrollered by the City Bureaucracy if we do not make ourselves heard, so come on out and lets get a team going together!

Kind regards

Vivien Jonathan

President

Presidents Message November, 2010

Hi there to all Southwood Community residents,

Bob and I are pleased to be able to help out the Community at this time. We thought that you may like to get to know us a little through this blog, but we encourage you all to take the time to come out to the meetings every month.

Bob as, you all will know, has been the Director of Casino for the past 11 years. Every 18 months or so, (sometimes less), he gets the dates for the Casino from the government and then out goes the call out to his volunteer list for people to work the Casino. He has kindly offered to be Vice President and will still retain the position of Casino Director. Thank you Bob!

I started back in 1998 or so, and was the Entertainment Director until June 2000. In that capacity I organized Pub nights once a month, and other events. And we held our Southwood Millennium party for New Years Eve 2000. After that I became Vice President and then President, retiring after 3 years.

Between us, we have a lot of background information and knowledge of how things worked and what was needed to get City Approval for some of the motions put forward by the community. In my capacity as President I sat on the Presidents Council every month with our then Alderman – Dianne Colley Urquhart. We will see what our new Alderman does with his Community liaison, and I intend to try to get him out to a meeting as soon as I am able.

Bob and I are keen to learn about how things are run at the Association level now. There have been some very savvy people on the board these past years, whom have done some marvelous work and we know we have some large boots to fill!

We also know that there is a fine group of people on the board right now, who hold the Communities best interests at heart and who have worked very hard for us all.

As a parting note – Remember, without your voice, our Community has no say in what happens at the City – our community and its needs can be steamrollered by the City Bureaucracy if we do not make ourselves heard, so come on out and lets get a team going together!

Looking forward to meeting you all,

Kind regards

Vivien Jonathan

President.
Phone- 403 253 5885
Email- wiznzim@shaw.ca

FINAL PRESIDENTS MESSAGE by Blaine Moen

Our Annual General Meeting is fast approaching (June 5^th), 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 50^th 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***

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May Presidents Message by Blaine Moen

At our meeting on Thursday April 1^st, 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 14^th 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 14^th Street widening on hold….for now.  But, without continued
involvement from our community the changes that happen on 14^th 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 5^th 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 14^th 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.

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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.

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Past President’s Message- December 2009

By Jill Negenman

An important Special Meeting was held on October 21^s, 2009 devoted to two hot topics in Southwood:  the off-leash dog area at Anderson Road and 14^th 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 21^s, 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 14^th 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 9^th 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 14^th 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