OurLakeshore Survey

Comment

Comment by Scott on February 24, 2009 at 9:20pm

Fran, Thanks for the comment. It's great to see many people like yourself contributing to grass roots information sharing. It would be great to see many of the people that interact on this platform come together to work on initiatives like Shop The Shore that help improve the community.

Comment by Fran Coughlin: Right At Home Realty, Brokerage on February 12, 2009 at 11:58am

Re: Lakeshore Survey;

Personally I would like to thank the working members of Our Lakeshore who have given their valuable time and put in their effort in to make our community better informed, interactive and involved. As someone who has worked with various charities, churches and organizations, I have learned that 10% of the people do 90% of the work, while ALL benefit. Sadly I also have learned that those same 10% take allot of "heat" for stepping up to bat.

Keep up the great work.

Fran Coughlin

Comment by originalsite on January 14, 2009 at 10:16pm

Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Fri, Dec 12, 2008 12:41 AM
Diana.

With the city's new LRT transit plan for the Lakeshore area, there will be even higher traffic speeds most of the time, although, there will also probably be gridlock during rush hours with the proposed reduction in traffic lanes.

As for local streetfront retail, you can kiss that goodbye. Elimination of storefront parking will reduce the commercial area into a wasteland. This is the same thing that is being done on St. Clair Avenue West with the transit right-of-way separation.

Leave it to the city to take good communities and destroy them with a plan that is basically all cost with no positive benefits in return (and a few minutes in reduced transit time simply doesn't count).
Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Thu, Dec 11, 2008 4:39 PM
THere shouldn' t be an issue about people not putting there names down here when they comment. it wasn't when we do that.

We had the online survey for support of the skating path in the park, and lots of people sent in multiple comments hid behind "anonamous" to put in more multiple comments, and even used false name to show support. for the city project.

This effort helped to drown out what other old people of the community wanted, so it helped us win. THis will be a great attraction to the area and will bring in more business. it is our lakshore now with help from new people living here..
Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Wed, Dec 3, 2008 5:38 PM
Articalert & NB

Wow! Secret meetings, secret handshakes or a special knock to get in the door . . . it all sounds very exciting but I'm sorry to let you down. I just don't think it's as exciting as you imagine. (Well, unless I've been excluded from these too).

Truly, I can't agree more on the benefits of open communication. . . and embracing the spirit of openness that you talk about, it would be great if you used your real names instead of aliases.

This website has over 800 members and 226 comments on our recent blog posts. In fact, Articalert, you represent almost 5% of those 226 comments on this website which illustrates that this is a forum that allows for an exchange of ideas and opinions.

This is not a lobbying group, or a political group, but simply a loosely connected group of neighbors (old and new) working to make some positive things happen. To extent that people have ideas (like Shop The Shore) that the community wants to participate in, there are a number of volunteers that are willing to facilitate the process.

Whatever this "loosely connected" group of people works on is openly steered "by residents" and "for residents".

In fact, 165 people attended our last "open meeting" that was an exchange of ideas via our online survey. Stay tuned - we'll soon be sending out the results of this with all of the input collected and suggestions of what we (the residents) should work on next.

Beyond the open process of asking all residents to give input on what they would like to work on, any other meetings are specific to working groups (like shop the shore) and there are many calls out for volunteers to come out and help.

In fact, we are hoping to do another Shop The Shore early next year. If would be great if you could come out and talk to some store owners or blow up balloons. That's about as exciting as it gets our meetings - splitting up to-do lists and inviting people that can come and help.

Lastly, RE: other groups. We are happy to post information on this website about things that local groups are working on. We sent out a link our mailing list to a website that a group setup regarding 51 Lakeshore, and you may also have seen post's like this: http://www.ourlakeshore.net/main/?p=142

If anything, OurLakeshore is a great platform for groups to get the word out on what they are working on. Personally, I think it would be great if we can develop something where community groups can create their own conversations with the community directly on OurLakeshore

So really. .. honest . . . we don't bite, don't have secret meetings, don't have an agenda, don't have a lot of time for meetings, but like to work with our neighbours on making some interesting things happen and are more than happy to play in the same sandbox as other more official groups that are out there doing great work.

I just don't see the need to throw stones. There are more than enough challenges in community development without questioning the motivations of neighbors that are working to improve the community. There will always be difference of opinions but let's try to play nice in the sandbox.

I'm a big fan of what many of the community groups and organizations are working on. I personally don't have time to be involved in them all but know the community is made better by the initiatives of many people out there working on different things.

Cheers

Scott
Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 1:18 PM
Something is very fishy here. And it stinks.
Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Sun, Nov 30, 2008 10:03 PM
It is interesting that the Our Lakeshore group has "become an important voice" in the Lakeshore, including press and politicians.

Yet, Our Lakeshore has three committees that meet - but these meetings are not advertised. How can members of the community be involved if that's the case? Other local community groups such as; Lakeshore Planning Council, Historical Societies, CCFEW, etc. do actually try to let the community know about their meetings.

It also seems that the active members of this group are largely new people to our communities. Why is their voice more important, so as to be heard? These newcomers could attend meetings held by other local groups to start learning about the Lakeshore communities they came to. They would, hopefully, benefit from that exposure.

If Our Lakeshore "truly" is “For Residents, By Residents”, then why are the meetings not openly communicated to residents of the Lakeshore? Why would these meetings be secretive or invitation-only, and not open to community members? They have a website to post this information.

And it also seems odd for Councillor Grimes to consult with this group "to explore strategies and tactics to improve the Lakeshore-Etobicoke communities", when there are many other longstanding community groups and residents in 'The Lakeshore' who have earned the right to be heard, and listened to.

The lack of openness of this new group, and their implied importance just doesn’t seem right.
Re: OurLakeshore Survey
Tue, Nov 11, 2008 8:57 PM
Thought I would share something which pops in my mind every time I see half of the Gardiner/Qew driving through the Lakeshore.

Once on a email from Councillor Grimes information newsletters, the following question was being asked- Should Lakeshore Boulevard be changed to Lakeshore Ave?
I must confess I was mad, so I immediately replied that I was one of the many who had been behind the City to "wake up" regarding the cross walks on Lakeshore. These transient drivers were not respecting them and traffic volume had considerably changed through the years. I continued to also say that this "Boulevard" should look more like a boulevard , perhaps by adding wider sidewalks in some sections, lowering the speed limits, and this may help encourage more people out with there bikes and walking too. Also supporting our local merchants, who knows?

Anyways, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, unless somebody can give me a better one.
Cheers