New Playground for Kiwanis Park
A great update for Ward 2 residents from council. We have officially approved the contract to begin the work for a new play structure in Kiwanis Park!
Way back in 2017 we voted in the first Neighbourhood Decision Making program. Back then, before I was your councillor, I was promoting this opportunity as the chair person of the Argyle Community Association, encouraging people to submit their ideas and participate in the online voting. That year the Argyle area voted to have a naturalized playground installed in Kiwanis Park as our top choice for a community investment.
However, at that time we were also working to get the pedestrian and cycling bridge over the CN Rail corridor to connect the Argyle and Fairmont neighbourhoods through Kiwanis Park. We also had to undertake bridge replacement work in Kiwanis Park South, over Pottersburg Creek at Trafalgar. This meant a delay in moving ahead with the playground. But, although the project was held back until this year, because of partnerships with the federal and provincial governments around the bridge work, we were able to invest a larger amount of dollars into the playground than the original Neighbourhood Decision Making program provided.
Below is the concept drawing for the play structure with lots of wood and stone (instead of plastic and metal used in other play structures). This is not replacing the play structures elsewhere in the park, this is a new addition that offers a different type of play experience for our children than the other structures, because after all different kids like different things.
The Ward 2 2019 Year in Review
My first year as your city councillor has flown by, but it has been a very exciting and productive first year.
In 2019 engaging the residents of Ward 2 has meant:
Naming the EAST LIONS COMMUNITY CENTRE!
In 1951 the newly chartered East London Lions Club purchased a block of land which they cleared for a baseball diamond and park. Continue Reading
Ward 2’s Vimy Ridge Park Becomes Official
More than two years after it was opposed by the former Ward 2 Councillor and referred back to city staff to review other options, the Community and Protective Services Committee of London City Council unanimously endorses the motion by new Ward 2 Councillor Shawn Lewis to officially designate Vimy Ridge Park. Continue Reading
An Inside Look at Construction of the East London Community Centre
Opening in the fall of 2019, even if it might not appear so from the roadside, construction of the East London Community Centre is moving along well.
Kiwanis Park Improvements
Shawn Lewis Campaign Flyer on the Issues
Building the East London Community Centre & Infrastructure
Bus Rapid Transit, an Argyle Neighbourhood Viewpoint
As chair of the Argyle Community Association, I have been pressing the City of London to hold public information sessions on the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan outside of the Central Library and in neighbourhoods where people live. This week, BRT information FINALLY came east of Highbury, when the Argyle Community Association hosted city staff at an information session at Clarke Road Secondary School.
What I learned in trying to get people to attend was that people feel that this is a done deal, that there is nothing they can do to stop, change, or improve it. They feel nothing they have to say is genuinely going to be listened to. Continue Reading
Urging Council to Connect Argyle to BRT
Members believe the college is too isolated and would prefer the transit hub be located at Argyle Mall, or close to it.
“People want to see transit improved,” association chair Shawn Lewis told AM980.
Full story and audio clip:
Continue Reading