CCRA PRESIDENT Bob Baron: October 2001 As I write this report, the television continues to update details of the horrific terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and frightening details on the possibility of a war. I pray for the victims, the loved ones they left behind and for those who are going through the horror of hoping to save survivors and having to face the reality of discovering only more victims. These are circumstances that are beyond the normal scope of our lives, beyond the understanding of most of us and almost beyond belief. I find myself constantly questioning the importance of everything I'm doing and then being overwhelmed by a feeling that I should somehow be helping out the victims of those attacks followed by anger at my inability to do so and then anger at the perpetrators of these vile acts. Talking to friends and relatives both here and in the States, I find that most of them seem to be experiencing a similar feeling. There are too many complexities and too many emotions involved for this to be easily put aside. To me, this has changed the world forever. I no longer feel I can take anything for granted and I feel more compelled than ever to hold dear the things that are important to me: to be a good relative (husband, father, son, brother, etc.), a good friend and a good neighbour I owe you an apology on behalf of the executive. As you no doubt have realised by now, we did not produce a September newsletter. The printer who normally looks after us has fallen ill and was unable to carry out his normal excellent production. He became ill at a critical point in the production cycle and it was impossible to work around this situation. As I am writing this he is still quite ill and we are hoping for his speedy recovery. I also owe an apology to Nicole Galea. Nicole submitted an article for inclusion with the March newsletter. Somehow I managed to misplace her article and did not find it until the summer months. Nicole wrote about the West Rouge Centennial Softball League (WRCSL). Some of the information included was regarding how and where to join, for those who were interested. She detailed dates and places for signing-up and even included the league's website: www.interlog.com/~wizcom. My apologies, Nicole and also to the WRCSL. At the time, Nicole was a Grade 7 student at Joseph Howe Sr. Public School. The rest of her article is as follows: " I thought these people were really cool for volunteering their time and effort to create a baseball league. Although I never realized how much work is contained, someone has to print, stuff, seal & stamp envelopes to all the players and sponsors from last year. Someone else has to take care of registration and another person has to put all the teams together. Then they have to organize opening day, picture day and trophy/closing day. But don't think that they rest during the winter; they have to attend meetings and start planning for next year. The coaches and all the people I mentioned before are volunteering but the Umpires get paid a good amount per game. The league prefers teens to umpire and the younger you are the lower the level you will umpire." Thank you, Nicole. We look forward to your next article. Next time, we'll make sure it gets in straight away. The communications tower. Telus, wants to erect, will not intrude on the Port Union Village Common Park. Telus has decided they can meet their requirements and move the tower to the east of the GO station. There have been interesting developments over the summer, regarding the Yellow Moon and Quest properties. Yellow Moon has submitted its Record of Site Condition (RSC) to the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). This is the first step required before anything can actually take place re building any homes, etc. on that property. They did that without the usual courtesy of informing the city and the community. If you'll remember, the last RSC they submitted had to be withdrawn as asbestos was found on site even though their RSC stated the site was clear. One of the other developers 'Quest' appears to have withdrawn their proposed development. The city sent them a letter stating that as they had not paid the appropriate fees by the specified deadline, Quest's application was considered expired. Intercorp, another developer active at this site has expressed interest in acquiring the Quest property. The city wants them to include a commercial/retail component in their proposal. This begs the question, what happened with our referendum? While I don't have the final tally (we are still receiving responses) the results are overwhelmingly in favour of a retail/commercial element. The Port Union Village Homeowners Association (PUVHA) also held a referendum and their results were 100% in favour of there being a retail/ commercial component to the development around the Village Common. As far as I've been able to find out, no charges have been laid against the company and crew that were spreading the asbestos around the Yellow Moon property instead of removing it. Maybe Mr. Gilchrist can bring us up to speed at our Annual General Meeting at Port Union Community Centre, October 25th Apparently, the Village Common has gone out to tender. This is great news but unless we have an extremely unusual fall, it is unlikely that any significant work will be completed prior to next spring. Thank you to every one who contributed to making the Concert Series such a success. They were a lot of fun and the music was terrific. The permanent skateboarding facility by the Port Union Community Centre has been approved by the city. There have been some construction delays but it is proceeding. There is an update in this newsletter. Keep those e-mails coming and remember to visit our website. Bob Baron