Monthly Meeting
January 11, 2016
Attendees:
- Christine Johnson, President
- Sue McCarthy, Vice President
- Peter Foulger, Treasurer
- Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
- John Sankey, Past President
- Fred McLennan, Director
- Vanessa Sutton, Director
- Ijeoma Udechukwu, Director
- Riley Brockington, Councillor
- Kathy Ablett, Ottawa Catholic School Trustee
- Sana Abu Barhem
- Adam Deslauriers
- Geraldene Dixon
- Joe Donalli
- Mike Gorman
- Dan Kaplansky
- Ahmad Khodi
- Bob Morey
- Jennifer Morey
- Nick Junqin Mou
- Octavia La Prairie
- Mike Storeshaw
- George Taylor
- Margaret Taylor
- Scott Thurlow
- Marc Trottier
Christine Johnson: Asked for approval of the agenda.
Dan Kaplansky: Asked to talk about pedestrian crosswalks.
Motion: To approve the agenda. Moved by Sue McCarthy, seconded by Peter Brimacombe, carried.
Motion: To approve the December 2015 minutes. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Dan Kaplansky, carried.
Councillor’s Report
Riley Brockington presented the Councillor’s Report. He wished everybody Happy New Year. The main subject of tonight’s presentation is traffic calming. He passed out a full-colour sheet summarizing traffic calming initiatives.
Speed Display Boards is a traffic calming measure. They detect cars and display their speed on a sign. The idea is to show the drivers their speed so they will slow down if they’re going too fast. The Speed Display Boards collect statistics of the cars and their speeds.
Yellow flex sticks is another traffic calming measure. They are flexible plastic sticks attached to the road. They present a visible obstacle to cars which encourages them to slow down. These traffic calming measures need staff time to maintain. In the case of the Speed Display Boards there is only one person in the City of Ottawa to look after them. This year, each ward has $40,000 to spend towards traffic calming measures. Councillor Brockington is consulting with the different communities to determine the best way to spend the money.
Mike Gorman: He lives on Paul Anka between Hunt Club Road and Uplands. He has lived there 30 years. He hasn’t seen accidents or deaths but speeding is a problem. Speed Display Boards are effective but he doesn’t like the yellow flex sticks. For one thing, they’re not up in the winter. The intersection of Paul Anka and Uplands would be good place for a traffic light.
John Sankey: Speed Display Boards are effective when the drivers come on them suddenly. They’re not as effective on long straight sections of road where the drivers can see them for some period.
Octavia La Prairie: She has seen school buses drive right over the flex sticks.
Adam Deslauriers: He lives on Rhapsody Lane and is a cyclist. The flex sticks effectively narrow the road and force the cars to pass him too closely.
Bob Morey: He lives on Plante. Plante is not a through street and the traffic comes from people that live on the street. He would like to see the statistics from the Speed Display Boards. How successful has traffic calming been?
Councillor Brockington: He cannot show evidence of success but he does feel the measures are successful. The issue on Plante is speed. There already is a stop sign on Plante and the City did put up Speed Display Boards.
Bob Morey: Senior citizens should have cross walks to get to the new mail boxes.
Councillor Brockington: The schools are asking for cross walks.
Sue McCarthy: She lives on Uplands. Black strips can be used to get traffic counts. ( black strips are pneumatic road tube counters )
John Sankey: There is a big difference between Speed Display Boards and black strips. Traffic engineers trust black strips more than Speed Display Boards.
Dan Kaplansky: He lives on Pigeon Terrace. There’s a lot of cut-through traffic on Pigeon from Owl Drive to McCarthy Road and there’s a lot of speeding too. He supports the proposed cross walk on Owl Drive at Pigeon. There should be a cross walk on McCarthy at the Quickie too.
Councillor Brockington: There are three day-care centres on Pigeon Terrace. He’s looking at a cross walk on Owl Drive at Pigeon. He’s also looking at a cross walk on Walkley Road to let students cross the Road to Fielding Public School.
Adam Deslauriers: There was a classic speed trap on Walkley Road just west of the train tracks. His impression is that there is less police enforcement.
Councillor Brockington: There is less traffic enforcement due to other priorities.
Vanessa Sutton: Can we fool people into thinking there is more traffic enforcement by putting up signs?
Mike Storeshaw: He lives in Quinterra. Police resources are limited but they do respond to complaints.
Kathy Ablett: She has lived in the community for 41 years and is a Trustee of the Catholic School Board. She sees the meeting as very positive. The principals are anxious to have the flex sticks back. The schools will co-operate with the traffic calming initiatives.
Scott Thurlow: He was living on Plante Drive but now lives on Country Club. Flex sticks combined with more people parking their cars, does help slow traffic. Police provide data that is important to understanding traffic. He’s happy to see a robust police presence.
Christine Johnson: She lives off Paul Anka on Erin Crescent. She agrees that flex sticks combined with more people parking their cars, does help slow traffic. It should be an intentional strategy.
Mark Trottier: He lives on Plante Drive. He has witnessed severe speeding. He has confronted speeders and got support from the police.
Ijeoma Udechukwu: The speed limit on Uplands is 50 km/h. It’s too high.
Councillor Brockington: Thanks to everyone for coming. His interest is public safety. To make the best use of limited money he must prioritize the issues. He will report back in March.
Membership
Christine Johnson: She is looking for more members. Especially young people. She would like to have 100 members for the 150 anniversary of the City of Ottawa.
Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Report:
Sponsorship of $200 was received from Riverside Pizzeria for the September and December issues. It was too late for the December issue so it will be applied to the March issue.
Memberships of $20 were received and deposited. Interest from Alterna was $0.26 for December.
There were no payments.
The signing authority for the Alterna accounts was updated to Christine Johnson in place of John Sankey. The Alterna Term Deposit comes due in mid January and is to be deposited to the chequing account.
The summary for December:
Year to date receipts $ 2,444.03
Year to date expenses $ 2,076.20
Increase/(decrease) for year $ 567.83
Members’ surplus $ 9,394.85
Cash not deposited $ 0.00
Alterna share $ 15.00
Alterna Account $ 3,339.41
Alterna Term Deposit 14 Jan 2016 $ 6,040.44
Receivables & Liabilities:
We have a $100 advance from Riverside Pizzeria for the March issue
Refugee Family
Motion: The Syrian Refugee Project is an official project of the HCCO. Moved by Sue McCarthy, seconded by John Sankey, carried.
Sue McCarthy: She and Christine Johnson are leading a group who want to sponsor a family from Syria. Sana Abu Barhem is an expert in Canadian immigration and she is helping. So far they have collected $5,000. They need $30,000. They have advertised in the Newsletter and on the HCCO’s Facebook page. There are other groups who are already organized. She and Christine are open to joining one of them.
Kathy Ablett: We have families here in Ottawa that we need to sponsor. There are other groups who are already organized. We should join one of them.
Newsletter
Sue McCarthy: March is the next issue. She is looking at on-line publishing such as the website and Facebook. The newsletter is now in its third year.
Adam Deslauriers: Likes the newsletter
Octavia La Prairie: Likes the newsletter
Kathy Ablett: She hasn’t received it. She lives in Cahill Drive West.
Paul Landry Park
Christine Johnson: Thanked Councillor Brockington for his support.
Odds and Ends
Nick Junqin Mou: He just moved here. He would like to give cooking lessons – Chinese dumplings. People expressed interest: Christine Johnson, Sue McCarthy, Peter Foulger, Vanessa Sutton, Ijeoma Udechukwu, Kathy Ablett, Sana Abu Barhem, Octavis La Prairie, Ahmad Khodi.
Ijeoma Udechukwu: On the eastern end of the Pedestrian Bridge there’s a paved path but people take a short cut and have beaten down their own path. It should be paved.
Councillor Brockington: He’s seen it. There was a safety audit of the Bridge with seven recommendations.
Christine Johnson: Suggested a name change for the Hunt Club Community Organization. One idea is the Old Hunt Club Community Association.
Next meeting: Monday February 1 at 19:00