Monday, March 30, 2009

Hi Britannia Neighbours,

Just thought I'd provide some quick notes from the meeting we had on March 17th. In attendance: Pat, Jane, Ann, Cynthia, and me.

1. Garden Tour
Car-Free Day is June 14th. The Garden Tour is June 21st. The blog has been updated so all info on it is current. Check it out for details:
http://eastsidegardentour.blogspot.com/
Pat and Ann will choose gardens.
Jane will sit at the Garden Tour table at the Trout Lake Farmers' Market.
Penny will compile e-mail addresses of people who went last year and will send e-mail message out. (Pat will give Penny the sign up lists from last year for the e-mail addresses)

2. Mason Bees
The mason bees are installed. So far no sign of them. Hartley Rosen (EYA) has said he will get us plants. Pat and Penny will do a tour of the Greenway and decide how many plants we can accommodate and Penny will let Hartley know.

3. Carving Project
There will be a carving project to make a welcome archway for the entry to the Britannia rink for the Olympics. Britannia and Brit Neighbours and the Site Security committee are jointly proposing that the carving itself will take place in the greenway over the summer, in the "living room" corner. The hope is this will effectively evict the drug dealers for the summer. The carving will go in front of the rink when completed and then, after the Olympics, will be installed permanently at the Napier entry to Britannia.

4. Site Security
We had a discussion about the police reply to our letter about the "living room" corner. We discussed the Mosquito, surveillance cameras, etc. No decisions were made. No action items. Penny will attend the next Site Management meeting at Brit on April 2.
Signs were posted in the greenway saying something like "This is a drug- and alcohol-free zone. Our kids go to school here." We agree with the content of the signs but they were stapled to the trees, so Katherine removed them. I talked to Bev Seed, the principal at Brit and left a voice mail for the Aboriginal advisor at Brit asking that he please not staple signs to the trees.
We talked about protocol of when calling the police, when to call 9-1-1, when to call the non-emergency (604-717-3321), and when to call the CPC. They prioritize at the ECOM so it's okay when there is something "in progress" to call 9-1-1. Good to call CPC as well so it gets recorded in their stats.

5. Curb-to-Curb Green Streets Book
Submissions Deadlines are May 22 for high-res photos and April 30th for text (one short paragraph). Penny volunteered to write the text and find appropriate photos. Pat will review text. We thought the subject of our piece should be about the mason bees. Volunteerism and mason bees. More to come.

6. Work parties for the Spring
We decided that we will buy small amounts of compost rather than getting a large load of it delivered by the City.

Next meeting Tuesday April 21, 7:00.
We will plan Spring work parties then.

Thanks everyone.
Penny

Let me know if there's anything significant I forgot to mention.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Hope you can make it to the next Britannia Neighbours meeting, Tuesday, March 17th, Brit Info Centre, 7:30 p.m....
Our local Carnival Band played in the neighbourhood Saturday March 14th to publicize a Baby Fair at Britannia.


Thursday, March 12, 2009

What's next? Chickens in the greenway?





Working with the Environmental Youth Alliance, Britannia Neighbours has installed a Mason Bee Condo in the Napier Square Greenway. Mason Bees are great pollinators. See http://www.masonbeevancouver.com/ for more information. The cocoons in the condo should hatch at between 8 and 12 degrees. Female bees will lay eggs in the little tunnels.

Labels:

Saturday, March 07, 2009


Hi Britannia Neighbours,
Spring is here! And we're having a meeting on Tuesday, March 17th, 7:30 p.m. at the Britannia Info Centre.
Please come if you can!
Penny