Submitted by Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper
It’s summertime in Kitchissippi! With the weather heating up and more businesses reopening, we want to remind everyone to please continue practicing physical distancing as much as possible and to wear a mask whenever physical distancing is challenging. Let’s all work together to make sure everyone can enjoy the summer.
McKellar Park neighbourhood residents will have noticed that the life cycle renewal of Tillbury Park has begun. This involves the construction of new play facilities. The finalized design of the park can be viewed here – we know this was an active conversation among area residents, and we thank everyone for their involvement. I was glad to be able to put a portion of the Ward’s cash-in-lieu fund towards making sure this project could be completed. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
I’m very excited about a partnership the City has started with Just Food to provide materials for growing fruits and vegetables to low income households and households whose income has been impacted or reduced due to the pandemic across the city. A seed and soil package contains the seeds and soil necessary to grow a variety of foods at home. I hope this initiative will help address issues of food security for our most vulnerable residents. You can find more information about the program here.
The Beech Street bridge over the O-Train Trillium Line will be closed starting sometime in July and will remain so for approximately three months. The closure is needed to rehabilitate the bridge, as part of the Stage 2 LRT work being done on the Trillium Line. A notice will be going out to residents and businesses in the surrounding area with more details very soon. During the closure, vehicles will be detoured to Carling via Preston and Loretta/Hickory/Champagne. One sidewalk will remain open throughout the work and flag people will be present. This work will have no impact on pedestrians and cyclists using the Trillium Pathway.
The Community Safety and Well-Being Plan consultations will re-open in the fall. This plan will have extensive opportunities for public consultation to create a strategies and actions to make Ottawa safer for everyone. Right now, you can visit the project page and sign up for email updates, as well as share your story about community safety and the changes you want to see in our city. I know that defunding the police and redistributing that budget to community services has been a topic on lots of peoples’ minds lately; engaging with the Community Safety and Well Being Plan is one way that we could make some genuine change on that front. I urge everyone to participate.