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.
New Crosswalks Coming to Ward 2
There are several areas in the Argyle neighbourhood where crossing the road safely can present a challenge.
I worked with the Ward 2 community, including our school communities and the people at Trinity United Church and Community Centre. Then, I took that community feedback to city staff. As a result, 10 of the 34 new pedestrian crosswalks approved by City Council for 2020 installations are in Ward 2!
Continue Reading
Ward 2 Infrastructure Renewal: Churchill & Spruce Projects Approved
Even during COVID-19, I am continuing to fight to ensure that Ward 2’s long list of needs gets addressed, keeping the promise I made to residents when I ran to be your City Councillor.
Public construction work is still moving ahead where it involves the delivery of essential services the city provides and there is no more essential service than water coming into and leaving homes.
Ward 2 has 2 such projects to replace watermains, sewers, sanitary sewers, resurface roads, and put in proper curbs and gutters where they don’t currently exist, ready to start construction in May (other projects, including Jena Cres, & Pottersburg Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Churchill project which will include Calgary St, are in the works with more to come on those later).
Continue ReadingThe 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 Townhall Meeting
Wednesday October 2nd
6:30-8:30pm at the East London Library
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
UPDATE ON EAST LONDON COMMUNITY CENTRE CONSTRUCTION
Dear Argyle Residents,
I know we’ve all been waiting a long time for the Argyle neighbourhood to get a proper community centre, over 19 years in fact.
It was a privilege to stand with (then) Mayor Brown in the fall of 2017 and officially break ground on the construction site.
And, it has been a disappointment to have the opening repeatedly pushed back from fall of 2018 to spring of 2019, to fall of 2019.
Since being elected I’ve stopped by the work site and connected with the management team on a regular basis. I know they’ve been doing what they can.
Unfortunately, it falls to me to share the bad news that we are still behind schedule.
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.
Ward 2 Gets $6 Million Infrastructure Renewal Approval
During the election campaign one of the things I promised to do was to make the renewal of the Calgary, Churchill, Edmonton, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Whitney Street area of Ward 2 a priority.
I was sworn in as your Councillor on December 4th. Getting started on this was my first priority and on December 5th I sat down with our City Engineer, Manager of Roads, and Director of Water and Wastewater. As you know, it is not just the roads that are in bad shape, sewer and drainage upgrades are needed as well, Whitney and Calgary Streets shouldn’t flood every time it rains. It was at this meeting that I learned that some of the drainage in the area dates back to the 1920’s and the City of London’s infrastructure renewal for this neighbourhood was not in the plans to be completed until 2029- 2030!!!
I made it clear that wasn’t good enough. Not only had residents been led to belief for years that improvements were “just a couple of years away”, but the city was constructing a $20 million community centre in East Lion’s Park with no plan to upgrade the roads around it for another decade!