Another Letter to the Independent Editor - from a 5th grader

In this weekend's Elmira Independent (September 4), there was a letter to the editor on page 7 titled "Save the Park." Since the Independent doesn't include letters to the editor on its webpage, I'm including the text here:

"TO THE EDITOR:
"I am writing you as a Grade 5 student from Riverside Public School, on behalf of preserving Victoria Glen Park. Victoria Glen Park is worth saving. If you think about it there is not any other place like it. It's a perfect mixture between country and a town. That is what we want, isn't it?
"Victoria Glen Park is a great learning facility for all ages. Animals have learned to have that as their home. If you take it down now where are they going to go? The dumpster? If you cut down the trees think of all the loss of old growth. Plus what is going to happen to the stunning creek that runs through the park? It's going to get polluted.
"Not only will you be affecting wild life in this forest but it will travel. Think of all the hearts you will be breaking. And think of all the animals' lives you will be saving. Is it worth it?
"We have lots of other subdivisions that can be used. Why are you taking away the most beautiful and lively spot for more houses? We need that more than ever. If they want a house in Elmira they can accept what we have.
"SAVE VICTORIA GLEN!"
Jessica Bouwman.

Observer cartoon hits home - again

A reader pointed out that this week's "The View From Here" cartoon in the Woolwich Observer (dated August 13th) deals rather chillingly with the as-yet unresolved fate of Victoria Glen Park woods. (In response to this week's thunder and wind storm that took down many branches and several mature trees, the cartoon shows Mayor Strauss -- saying "There, we're all safer now" -- and his crew clear-cutting the woods with the caption "After fallen trees cause damage, the township calls them a potential menace, furthering development in Victoria Glen."

I remember, when we lived for a few years in the middle of the prairie in Alberta, being amazed at how my view of the natural world was sometimes light-years apart from people in the town: one of our neighbours cut down a lovely tree on her lot because it was "too messy - every fall all those leaves drop all over".

I think we're going to need to keep a close eye on this issue and not take for granted that the Powers that Be have the same sensibility we do when it comes to valuing the woods for all the reasons outlined at the public meeting. However -- they are our elected representatives and they need to know that many, many hundreds of people want that woods preserved. Period.

minutes from that meeting

I was checking on the Township of Woolwich website to see if there was any new information about when the report on Victoria Glen Park might be available and which council meeting it would be dealt with. (I've been told late September or early October -- will keep you posted!)

While I poke around the site, I did find the minutes from the June 23rd public meeting on the parkland. Take a look and see if you think it reflects the depth and intensity of the presentations.

It's been a fine summer next to the woods. Neighbours report that more people than ever are making there way down here to walk the paths -- many who hadn't really known it was there until the publicity this spring and many who have realized "you don't know what you've got until it's [almost!] gone".

Let's keep up our vigilance and make sure that this woods is one that won't go anywhere!
(The poster, above, was on the bulletin board at Foodland most of the summer.)

Woolwich Observer Victoria Glen Forum: Join in

On the Woolwich Observer website, partway down on the right side of the page under "Forums," they've established one devoted to saving Victoria Glen Park: "Open Discussion: Victoria Glen"

So far, there is only the original post (which has links to the news story and the editorial the weekend after the public meeting) plus one other comment.

I suggest that those of you committed to preserving the Park as greenspace go on over and join in the conversation and keep the issue up front. They've provided a public forum -- let's make use of it!

And while we're at it, they also have a set of 15 photos from the public meeting posted in their "Image Gallery" for June 27th: "Council Meeting - Victoria Glen."

(And thanks, Observer folk)

Woolwich Township council contact information: Let them know we won't give up!

Here is the contact information for the Mayor and four members of Woolwich Township Council who will make the ultimate decision on whether or not to "dispose" of Victoria Glen Park as "surplus" greenspace for residential development.

Let each one of them know what you think.

We need to persist in our efforts not only to keep this development from happening but to have the woodland rezoned so it will remain park for future generations!

Mayor Bill Strauss
Residence 664-1180
sbill@region.waterloo.on.ca

Councillors:
Sandy Shantz
Residence 669-8981
sshantz@woolwich.ca

Ruby Weber
Residence 669-5459
rweber@woolwich.ca

Mark Bauman
Residence 664-3318
mbauman@woolwich.ca

Murray Martin
Residence 664-1493
mmartin@woolwich.ca

Write to them at Township of Woolwich
24 Church Street West, Elmira, Ontario N3B 2Z6

"Emotional attachment is the glue that holds a community together"

The July 4th Woolwich Observer published a "Letter to the Editor" by Laurie Jonkman of Elmira that included these comments:


"Victoria Glen plans harmful to ecosystem"

"Victoria Glen Park was established as parkland early in the 20th century. It was rezoned residentional in 1948 in the belief that it would be needed to provide accommodations for returning veterans in tha face of a housing shortage. Yet, Elmira managed to get by without bulldozing the valuable nature preserve.

Until now.

More than 60 years later, Woolwich Township council is looking to bulldoze Victoria Glen Park. The purely pragmatic reason is to realize conservatively $1 million (or maybe two) from the sale of land for residential development.

But Victoria Glen is even more valuable to our community as green space. There is so little natural forest left. As parkland, it costs the municipality nothing. Destroying even a small portion of the forest would serously damage if not destroy the forest's ecosystem.

At the June 23 public meeting, Councillor Ruby Weber expressed surprise that there was more to the presentations than "just" emotion. Her implication seemed to be that emotional arguments for preserving our environment weren't as important as council's desire to realize a profit from the sale of this nature preserve.

I guess she doesn't realize that emotional attachment is the glue that holds a community together....

Rather than destroying Victoria Glen Park, Woolwich should restore it to the original zoning designation as parkland and preserve this irreplaceable public green space for now and forever."

Woolwich Township commitment to parks...

In an article "$10.5M for recreation across Waterloo Region" in today's Record, detailing recently announced provincial and federal grants, we find this paragraph, near the end of the article:

"Woolwich Township will receive $371,940 for Bloomingdale Park, Breslau Park and the TransCanada Trail."

It's good to see Woolwich Township's commitment to parks and trails! Let's make sure they extend this commitment to Victoria Glen Park.

(As one friend of the Victoria Glen Park wrote in an email, "wonder what they are doing in these areas with this money?)