Regal Heights Residents’ Association
Minutes of the January Executive Meeting – Tuesday January 20, 2015 at 2 Glenholme Ave.

Present: Linda DeGiorgio, Marie Goldthorpe, Anita Kung (recorder), Harry Lay (chair), Jessenia Miranda (assistant to Councillor Palacio), Peter Norman, Margaret Smith, Robert Szachrajuk, Dick & Florence Watts.

Regrets: Rosa Cordiano, John Keating, Dave Meslin, Mary Ann Quance

1. Street Beautification
   1. Graffiti removal, planting, maintenance etc. – Harry reported on behalf of Mary Ann that most of the planter barrels had the summer foliage cut back and evergreen boughs inserted into them for the winter. Grass seed, daffodils and crocuses were planted into the newly sodded part of the Springmount Blvd.
   2. Waste bin at Springmount steps – Marie reported that she has been unsuccessful to date in getting the waste receptacles replaced by the City. According to Transportation Services that there is insufficient sidewalk clearance to allow for a bin at the base of the Springmount steps, the same situation applies to the Oakwood/Regal Road bus stop. Councillor Palacio’s office is also working towards having the bins replaced.

    

2. Planning, Zoning, Construction
   1. Improving access to TDSB facilities – Margaret has been attending the Community Use of Schools Access Committee (CUSAC) meetings. She raised two issues: i) the new requirements of having two paid duty police officers present for meetings. Through her efforts we can get this fee waived. ii) permits to use facility fees which are supposed to be on a cost recovery basis appear to be double dipping so that booking the OCI cafeteria will cost more than $500. That is without the cost of the police. She hopes that these issues will be further addressed at the next meeting February 26^th.
   2. Communications update – Peter reported that there are 306 active subscribers to the RHRA email community. The new system is operating well. Initial glitches have been worked out. RHRA has also created a twitter and facebook account to post mailings and to interact with other local organizations for info sharing. RHRA members on either of these social media platforms are encouraged to connect (links at the bottom of these minutes)
   3. Regal Road School Centenary – Florence and Marie reported on the success of the November 8^th centennial celebration. They also showed the commemorative centennial coin that was produced and handed out to all the children at Regal Road school at a school assembly on December 19, 2014. It was planned for the coin to be handed out earlier in November but funding fell through. Many thanks to the Regal Heights Village BIA for coming through with funding to pay for the making of the coins. The school choir was invited to sing at Queens Park when the centennial celebration was announced in parliament. A video of the announcement was forwarded to the school where the children were thrilled to watch it. Florence suggested that a letter of thanks should be written to the RHVBIA for their help with the commemorative coins. Florence also tabled a proposal to commemorate the centennial tree which was planted for the occasion, either by installing a masonry marker, or a plaque, or both. She also suggested that these be integrated with the landscaping renovation of the School front yard, at such time as it proceeds. RHRA members are encouraged to read the story of the centenary coin and the role played by RHRA members and the RHVBIA in making it a reality, by clicking here.

    

3. Special Events
   1. Carol Sing December 19, 2014 – there was a good turnout for the Carol sing. Unfortunately the police horses did not show up, but an enthusiastic Santa did!
   2. Schedule for 2015 RHRA events — Margaret will create a schedule of RHRA events as she did last year, and the list will be distributed by email to members and posted on the website.
   3. Federal all-candidates meeting – It was decided that RHRA would participate in hosting a debate if possible between local candidates in the upcoming federal election (election is scheduled for October, but may happen as soon as the spring). A discussion was held regarding the format to use for the federal debate meeting. It appears that the format of using a question box helped to focus the discussion at the meetings that were held in 2014 related to the provincial and municipal elections and helped towards better time management than having an open mike for questions.
   4. TDSB policy of charging RHRA for use of Oakwood Collegiate – presently it will cost the RHRA some $500 to use the OCI cafeteria for meetings. With this in mind, we should revisit the policy of having four meetings held in a public place.

    

4. Police Community Partnership – Robert reported on behalf of Rosa.
   • Crime in our area continues to be down. Crimes in the area include: robberies, break and enters in the Northcliffe area – arrests have been made; a stabbing at the Maria Schuka library; recent armed robberies at the Mac’s milk at Oakwood/St. Clair, a convenience store at Eglinton/Ossington (three suspects have been apprehended), and at Bathurst and St Clair.
   • The changing of the timing for lights at Allen and Eglinton will take approximately 2 months to implement due to technology issues.
   • Two officers will be stationed on Eglinton during rush hour where zero tolerance will be observed on stopped cars. Tagging and towing will be enforced.
   • There is a scam going on in the form of a bogus delivery service (reportedly in a white van) delivering packages and requesting payment by credit card only. Credit card information is stolen when payment is made.

    

5. Community Welcome Project – Harry reported that a few packages have been delivered since the last meeting in November.
7. Finances and Membership – there are 48 paid members.
   

   Finances	Nov 18, 2014	Jan 20, 2015
   Operating Fund	$2,314	$2,379
   Heritage Fund	992	992
   Mt Royal Bump-out (in trust)	745	745
   Street Sale (in trust)	150	150
   Petty Cash	52	46
   Total	$4,253	$4,313

9. Other
   1. Street Party – Greg Woodbury has sent out an email to begin the planning of this year’s street party. He is seeking volunteers and input. Further calls for volunteers will be send out to the membership.
   2. Grassy space south of the library – Florence put forth the idea that the under-utilized space next to the library be considered for development into a play space for children. Discussion followed.
   3. Organizing community groups – Margaret was speaking with a gentleman who was interested in starting up a rate payers association for his neighbourhood in Scarborough and wondered whether there was any written materials that could be of assistance. While no known written materials are available, Florence gave Margaret some contact info.
   4. Craft Brewers – Margaret shared an article from the January 15, 2015 Globe and Mail entitled ‘Craft beer store seeks market access via lawsuit’ (Click here for link). She remarked that the lawyer and founder of Barge Craft Beer mentioned, Michael Hassell, has his office at Robina Ave and St. Clair. and is a member of our RHVBIA.

Next Meeting: Tuesday February 17, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Location: 79 Regal Road (Beth Marcilio)