Liz Bernstein,
LCA President
The canal has opened, our rink at Bingham Park is busy with skaters, snow covers our parks by the rivers, and it’s a beautiful winter day. It’s the start of a new year, and a new term of Council, and it is my first letter to you as I am privileged to serve as the newly elected President of the Lowertown Community Association. I am excited by all before us this year, and all those working to improve our community and City.
As I sat at our Annual General Meeting at the close of last year, I could not help but be struck and inspired by the sheer amount of work we did together. Passionate about community service in Lowertown, residents volunteered for candidates and organizations throughout the elections.
- Passionate about sustainable planning and development, our planning committee members followed proposals, met developers, provided input from the community and organized many presentations for us all, involving us in discussions on Rideau development and ByWard Market.
- Passionate about parks, we hosted celebrations for the 100th anniversary of MacDonald Gardens and the re-opening of Bingham Park. We celebrated the opening of a basketball court, long advocated for! We held winter and summer festivals, operated the rink, put up a mural and two gardens in Bingham Park.
- Passionate about our community’s heritage, residents documented threatened homes, met and briefed the Built Heritage Subcommittee, led heritage tours, hired two summer students who conducted research on houses around Macdonald Gardens and prepared oral histories.
- Passionate about our environment, we pushed for walkability audits and for Complete Streets policy, now enshrined in City policy. We worked for more protection for our trees, funding for the Ottawa River Action Plan, and a Water Environment Strategy to best protect and enhance our water resources, and pushed for a new Air Quality & Climate Change Management Plan.
Now, as the new Council takes office, we are setting priorities for the improvement of our community and Ottawa for the next four years. We shall continue to work with Councillor Fleury, the BIA and City staff so that our vision for a revitalized ByWard Market is realized in time for the 2017 anniversary celebrations – a vision that includes vibrant public spaces with safe access for pedestrians and a healthy mix of businesses.
Our planning committee members have already sat down to meet two business owners seeking liquor licenses. In pre-hearing mediation talks they have developed compromises good for both the residents and the small business owners. They’ve also met the Archdiocese to share community concerns about their request for a permanent surface parking lot behind the Basilica, urging them to develop the site as originally promised 10 years ago, and in keeping with the City’s official plan. While no compromise was yet reached there, we’ve shared our views with residents and the media.
Lastly, we’re excited about the creation of a Ward Council. We’re working with our neighbours in Sandy Hill and Vanier Community Associations to create a new way for us to collaborate more effectively together and with Councillor Fleury to improve our community. Please join us in these exciting times!