ADDED COMMUNICATION TO CPSC COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH 1, 2010
FROM: KIPPS LANE TENANTS/COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
RE: SUMMARY WORK OF KLCA IN KIPPS LANE COMMUNITY -
HIGHLIGHTS (2004- 2010)KLCA AND UPDATE ON KIPPS LANE INITIATIVE
SUMMARY OF FIVE & A HALF YEARS WORK OF KLCA - HIGHLIGHTS
The Kipps Lane Tenants Association (KLTA) was formed in September of 2004 in the 650 unit 6 building Transglobe – Kipps Lane property near Adelaide and Kipps Lane on London’s Northeast side.
Its original purpose was to purpose was to help tenants deal with our new landlord, recent high rent increases and extreme difficulties in obtaining maintenance to our units. Property crime to our vehicles was also a major concern. Through education, meetings, better tenant communication and a web site some issues slowly showed improvement.
In 2005 I met and welcomed Shannon Calvert and her work with NELCE (LIHC) into the area. I offered my assistance and that of any members of our group to her as she began her work. Some members of our group continued to attend NELCE for several years.
In 2006 we organized a successful neighbourhood cleanup with our neighbourhood and new property manager. Councillor Bernie MacDonald attended.
We also planned and held a very successful community/candidates meeting held at Sir. Georges Ross Secondary School. Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best and Councillor Orser attended along with a packed room of other candidates, presenters, and others.
In 2007 we presented before the CPSC Committee to welcome the Kipps Lane Initiative to our area. Within two months, the KLI and the renamed Kipps Lane Community Association, (KLCA) held a joint meeting at Ross S.S.
It was successful in introducing the KLCA to the KLI and introducing the KLI to the wider community. KLCA members assembled a detailed attendance list and promptly provided it to City staff.
Late in 2007 the KLCA was awarded a Created Cities Neighbourhood Initiative Grant which was used to help build a Community Web site found at http://www.northeastender.ca. I learned about this grant through KLI staff.
After two years of operation, the site has attracted over half a million hits and it regularly posts news from over 20 media outlets including the City of London and posts a great deal of original articles, photographs and other content from a wide range of sources.
In 2008 the KLCA helped a resident of a neighbouring high rise who was trying to clean-up a bush in back of high rise where youth congregated and caused trouble. With his support and that of the media and several other area agencies the bush was cleaned up.
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The area has been a sore spot for many years. Sadly some of the area that was cleaned up has returned to its original state in less than a year but this experience has shown our group several things. Firstly, the problems that we experience in our complex go further down Kipps Lane. Secondly, the web site where this resident originally found the KLCA contact info was effective.
In 2009, Kipps Lane was devastated by the murder which occurred on February 14th near the strip plaza at 1050 Kipps Lane. I was deeply disappointed by the lack of support or help that the KLI and City staff and City Police provided to residents of Kipps Lane and area immediately after this horrific incident.
Six Police officers showed up to a special KLI meeting after the murder but none of them seemed to have come prepared to help residents deal with the murder. Other members of the KLCA echoed the same sentiments to me.
At meetings of the Kipps Lane Initiative and the Kipps Lane Residents Working Group I tried several times to explain to the City staff and residents the work that the KLCA had done in the past 5 years. City staff refused to allow me to do so at any of the KLI/KLRWG meetings. The Terms of Reference of the KLI stated that they would work with existing Community Associations. The KLCA remains the oldest community association in the Kipps Lane area.
Many of the items that I have read about in tonight’s update regarding the KLI are issues that the KLCA have either dealt with in some manner or are continuing to work on. Is the City ready to disregard 5 years of hard work that both Councillor Orser and Councillor Macdonald know the KLCA have been working on?
In 2010 I moved a short distance from Kipps Lane but I remain active in the community. I was disturbed after reading that the KLRWG has now disbanded and the KLI is now apparently using City Staff and City funds to nurture a new Community Association in the Kipps Lane Area. This is completely outlined in tonight’s CPSC agenda report regarding the KLI. At the very least, other community groups or associations should have access to the Northbrae Hub for meetings like this new group apparently is receiving.
I have provided a small snapshot of the work that our group has accomplished in this community. We have done so without ever asking for operational funding. We never will. The KLI will have cost the City of London at least $580,000 by the end of 2010 with this year’s funding in place.
At the very least I should have been allowed to explain what the KLCA accomplished in the Kipps Lane Area during KLI/KLRWG meetings.That never happened. Those meetings are finished and the KLI is now supporting the formation of another community association as outlined in its update. The KLCA sees this as duplication.
We have held meetings out of our units and done things in innovative ways to save money. In doing so we have not been a burden on the taxpayer.
Any group in London can form a community group on its own dime as the KLCA did. However, it is patently unfair for the City to nurture one community group with City dollars while another one in the same area works in the same area virtually unrecognized, unsupported and unwelcome in the process
No community group should receive access to a public facility that is not open to all community groups. No community group should receive services or help in their work from City staff that is not open to any other community group.
