The Kipps Lane Community/Tenants Association will disband in the Fall of 2010. What began as a protest against a massive rent increase by Transglobe Management Corporation in September 2004 has clearly accomplished many but not all of its goals.
These services have never been available to the KLCA. I did inquire about using the space about a year ago. I was unsuccessful in obtaining use of the community space.
The www.northeastender.ca web site which has helped it to survive in a truly unique way for a community association will either go off the web or the space will be used for other purposes.
The most important goal for the KLTA as it was called from 2004 to 2005 was to teach tenants about the current tenant-landlord law and how to deal with our property manager. We worked very hard to teach tenants about documenting repair orders and remaining persistent about repairs. The FMTA in Toronto was a great help to our group. Repairs were the biggest problem when we started.
Once that problem was tackled we started to move out to the bigger problems around the complex such as crime, lighting, auto-break-ins, guns, knives and other violence. For a while it seemed that we were making strong progress with bbq's and clean-ups in the neighbourhood. Still the constant changeover in apartment staff was an insurmountable problem.
On top of that there was the major problem of crime on Kipps Lane and in the area. Problems often seemed overwhelming. Many tenants only hung around long enough to fix their specific problems. Then of course there were tenants who were quick to criticize and very slow to actually do any constructive work. Lack of support from Ward Councillors did not help the situation and remains a major problem. The two recent sexual assaults and the two murders in the last two years demanded a response from Councillors MacDonald and Orser which never came.
In 2007 the tenants in our group were elated with the announcement of the Kipps Lane Initiative (KLI). That hope quickly faded after a joint KLCA-KLI meeting in July 2007 when City staff refused to do any seniors programming or commit to another meeting.
Late in 2007 www.northeastender.ca was born. This site helped keep our group members informed and up-to-date and we contacted each other frequently through emails and phone calls. This "virtual community association" was cost-effective and it reached large numbers of people. I never pressured people who called or emailed to join our group. I tried to provide help for their question and allowed them to make the decision as to whether they wanted to become more involved. I had calls from all over London and the GTA.
It was clear to those who had attended KLI meetings that we were not going to be allowed to share the 5 years of work already accomplished at KLI working group meetings. It was as if our five years of work had never happened at the meetings of the KLIwhich I attended. We had done so much since 2004 and it was documented in the media, on Kipps Lane and in so many other places. However it was clear that we were not wanted in this program.
I no longer live on Kipps Lane. Crime, dissatisfaction with my 8 year landlord and other negative factors on Kipps Lane made the move necessary. It would be nice if someone who lives on Kipps Lane would like to continue the KLCA. I would be glad to help make the transition smooth. For now I will keep my friendships alive that I made On The Lane and and go on with my life. It's a painful break to make right now but I believe it's the right one.
I hope I made at least one person's life a little bit brighter during my year's as leader of the KLCA. I had no special skills to lead this group. I just truly cared about those who couldn't fight for themselves in a badly neglected part of London.
As for the City, they have spent over $600,000 on the KLI and I only wish Mr. Orser or Mr. MacDonald would ask for some accountability on this project. The money was supposed to end after 2 1/2 years and it just keeps on flowing with little oversight.
The Kipps Lane Community/Tenants Association will disband in the Fall of 2010. What began as a protest against a massive rent increase by Transglobe Management Corporation in September 2004 has clearly accomplished many but not all of its goals. 