Ten people attended the December community group meeting, nine residents and our west ward councillor, Elizabeth Roy.
The Christmas party was discussed. On top of donations from local stores, a cheque for $200 was provided by the Town of Whitby Race Relations Committee (they also provide assistance for the July annual barbecue).
Four youths have been arrested and charged with the robbery and attack of the owner of a small convenience store on Michael Boulevard. One of the youths is from our community.
There was also talk about trying to set up Neighbourhood Watch in our buildings. This was discussed a few years ago and ultimately decided against as there needs to be 75% participation in order to be accepted. The 75% does not have to be all four buildings, or even one, it can be as small as a single floor. It will be discussed at further meetings in 2012.
Durham Regional Police are changing their patrols so more cars will be available in our area, this way we should have shorter response times. We're hoping to get a police officer in to attend a meeting (or more).
The town of Whitby is looking into renovating Jeffery Park and Central Park and we get to have some input into what should be done with the park(s). If this is of interest to you, please feel free to attend meetings. Currently the people who are sending information to the town are seniors with grown children. It would be wonderful if people who have children young enough to play at the park gave some ideas. The town is also looking into moving an underused bus shelter to the stop between 200 and 100. There was a shelter there until a few years ago when it blew down in a storm.
There is a group of children who literally run wild around the buildings. I have observed them a couple of times, running across Dundas Street between the traffic lights while both lights are green. Once was at rush hour and the kids were running in front of moving cars. The overwhelming consensus was that it wasn't our business and they didn't feel like "babysitting" children. If anyone has any ideas on what can be done, please feel free to leave a message or email me. Note, calling Children's Aid or the police only works if someone knows who these children are or where they live. I don't know who any of these children are or even which buildings they live in.
We currently have security. I know they are very elusive but they are apparently around (I have yet to see them). Our management has decided not to provide a phone number to tenants (something which was freely available with previous security companies) as they're worried that tenants might call for non-emergency problems like plumbing issues.
New tenants have to pay hydro and there are a lot of concerns regarding what they are paying. Several tenants have said they want to see their hydro meters. The community group is attempting to get someone from Stratacon to attend an upcoming meeting to explain how their bills are created.
Out of the nine tenants from the meeting, one is a college student, one is a middle aged mother of teenagers, and the rest are seniors living in 201. The handful that did not attend this meeting are also seniors from 201. This is not an accurate representation of our buildings. If you have concerns regarding the park at 101 (or the lack of playground equipment), accessible doors for wheelchairs and strollers, and activities for children please come out to the meetings and make your voice heard. Management does come to these meetings and does listen. However, right now all the management is hearing are the senior voices. We really need your help and your voice.
No comments:
Post a Comment