A beautiful day in May
A beautiful day in May
Everyone has a favourite Great Glebe Garage Sale story. Mine is, we bought a house. Well, not at the garage sale exactly, but because of it.
When we moved from the Yukon to Ottawa three decades ago “for a couple of years,” we landed in a small Glebe house that was fine for a family of four. Soon we were five.
At the GGGS one year, hunger sent me down the street to a neighbour who was selling her famous homemade samosas and pekoras. I was attracted by both her cuisine and the for-sale sign on her lawn. I said I’d take a half-dozen samosas and the house. She laughed and offered me a tour. As lunch waited, I walked through the house and thought, this is the place. We weren’t quite ready to move, and eventually the owners rented the place out. A couple of years later, it was for sale again and we bought it.
All this by way of an introduction to an important theme typified by the GGGS but by no means exclusive to it. That theme is community.
This year, the community came together to hold the biggest and most successful garage sale since before the pandemic. While heartfelt thanks go to all the people and organizations behind this annual event – the BIA, local businesses, GNAG and the GCA’s tireless volunteer team – it only succeeds because of community participation.
Just as our community is known for its generosity, it is also known for its activism. Community activism led to the creation of the GCA in the 1970s to protect the Glebe from encroaching high-rise development and road expansion that would have forever altered the character of the neighbourhood. If concerned neighbours hadn’t come together to demand their democratic right to have a say in development plans, Glebe Avenue would be a four-lane extension of Carling Avenue and there would be apartment towers on every street. This activism relies on volunteers and the need has not diminished over the years.
We are recruiting now for the 2024-2025 board that will be elected at our September Annual General Meeting. There are multiple openings. Find out more at https://glebeca.ca/board/ or contact vp@glebeca.ca.
Garden Angels
Have you ever wondered who looks after the planters and gardens that dot the Glebe? It is volunteers with the Garden Angels. Although the Angels have been active for years, the City now requires an agreement stating that the GCA “is committed to ensuring that these gardens and planters will be sustained over the long-term including any ongoing maintenance of right-of-way gardens and planters.” This agreement is another example of how the city is formalizing arrangements that have traditionally been ad hoc. The GCA is now required to carry $5 million in insurance to cover the Garden Angels and all other activities on city property.
To see what the Garden Angels are doing, drop by sites at many of the cross streets along First and Glebe Avenues or visit the garden bed at Imperial and Renfrew. Thanks to the Garden Angels for their great work!
Consultations – Bank Street Study
The City is planning an online consultation starting June 12 to discuss the Bank Street Feasibility Study. The GCA wants Bank Street to continue to be a great main street for our community and to serve pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers as well as providing delivery services to businesses. The businesses on Bank Street are essential to a walkable, liveable community, and we know they are one of the main reasons people choose to live in the Glebe. It’s important that residents get a say in the future of what is in effect our “High Street.” Go to Engage Ottawa to learn more (https://engage.ottawa.ca/).
Consultations – Lansdowne 2.0 – tell the city what you think
The GCA has always distinguished between Lansdowne activities and businesses and the process the City has used to ram through Lansdowne 2.0 that will end up costing taxpayers more than half a billion dollars. At the last GCA board meeting, we got wind of an in-person consultation on Lansdowne to be held at the Civic Centre on June 18 at 7 p.m.
It’s not clear if this initiative is connected with an online survey the city is running on its Lansdowne “Community Engagement Initiative.” Never heard of it? That might be an issue to be flagged in the survey: https://engage.ottawa.ca/embeds/projects/25667/survey-tools/47053
The next GCA meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25 at the Glebe Community Centre (Preschool Room). All are welcome.
