By Norman Moyer, President Lowertown Community Association
A community association may have several functions: it can organize events, maintain hockey rinks, bring neighbours together, identify key issues affecting neighbourhoods, conduct research on community issues and promote the interests of the community with public and private interests. The LCA does all of these things and more. We will do it more effectively if more members of the community get involved.
The Lowertown Community Association represents residents and businesses in an area bounded by Rideau Street to the south, the Rideau Canal to the west, the Rideau River to the east and the Ottawa River to the north. Within Lowertown there are several distinct neighbourhoods. Roughly it divides into four quadrants divided by King Edward Street and St Patrick. To be effective the LCA needs representation from all of these neighbourhoods.
The LCA is open to all residents of the community. There are no membership fees. All residents who sign up to receive LCA agendas and communiques are considered active members and can vote at the Annual General Meeting. The week-to-week affairs of the Association are managed by an eleven-person Executive. The LCA publishes the Echo, our community newspaper. Every month except July and August the LCA meets to hear presentations on key issues for the community and to discuss the actions that the community would support. These meeting are generally held on the second Monday of the month at the Routhier Community Centre, 172 Guigues Avenue. All resident are welcome. Generally 30-40 residents attend the meetings.
This year there is a special opportunity to help the LCA strengthen its impact and focus on the future of our community. As Peter Ferguson describes in another article in this issue of the Echo the LCA is using this year to define a vision for our community for the next 15 years. This vision will look ahead to 2035 and help the LCA and the Community to focus on supporting the most important opportunities for our development. WE NEED YOU TO HELP US GET THIS RIGHT!
As we start this year the LCA has more than 600 residents who are involved in our activities. We want to double that number by June 2020. Please send us your name through our website at http://www.lowertown-basseville.ca/contact.html