If you thought last year’s family fun day was jam packed full of excitement, joy and mirth, then you won’t be able to contain yourself this year. The LCA is pleased to announce that our 4th(!) annual family fun day will take place on Saturday June 22 from 11-3 pm at Kiwanis Park (Across from the River Heights mall on Montague Street). As usual, hotdogs, drinks, popcorn and cotton candy will be provided for a very small fee.

Activities include:

Bouncy House 
Face Painting 
Fish Pond

and more!

LCA memberships will also be availible for only $5. This would also be a great opportunity to talk to one of our friendly and approachable board members about one of the many easy and enriching volunteer opportunities we have available. We look forward to seeing you there!

LCA co-chair Carrie Hackel and her family eye up some of the raffle prizes at last year’s family fun day.

Is that Ward Two city councillor Bob Hawkins or Indiana Jones?

The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.

With the holiday season fast approaching us, it can be easy to forget about other important events. Events like the LCA’s 2013 Winter Registration night. Before you get too caught up in the excitement that is the holiday season, please save this date:

Winter 2013 Registration Night:  

Tuesday, January 8

7pm-8pm 

Lakeview School  (Location: 3100 20^th Avenue)

Details of the programs offered, as well as prices, dates, and times can be found here.

Happy Holidays and see you in 2013!

Us folks at the LCA are in a bit of a bind. We have lots of plans for the future, but we are running out of people to help with these plans! People keep getting pregnant. Or move away to Harbour Landing. If you have ever considered volunteering in the community, but didn’t think you had the time, working with the LCA is the perfect opportunity! The commitment is only a few hours a month, and you recieve amazing benefits such as:

• The Satisfaction of making a difference in the community
• Working with an amazing bunch of people who take community work seriously, but not too seriously.
• Cake on your birthday, if you mention it at the previous meeting.
• $100 to use towards any LCA program.
• Tickets to the South Zone’s “Volunteer Appreciation Night”, the swankiest volunteer event of the year.
• And so much more!

We hope that you, or someone you know, can help us out. We are currently looking for people to fill the following positions:

Secretary- The secretary is a vital role in our association. None of us have neat handwriting, so our lack of a secretary has become a problem. Things have gotten so bad that the minutes of our last meeting had to be written on the back of a napkin. Your duty as secretary would be to record the minutes of our meetings as well as circulate minutes of previous meetings. A printer and ink are provided. No experience is necessary, we would be happy to help you learn the ropes!

Program Coordinator- Janet, our current program coordinator, has a lot of commitments. Janet is hoping to take a step back and help the person who wants to take on this role. This job involves a bit more commitment, as you are required to coordinate and organize all of our community programs. This may sound scary, but after awhile it pretty much runs itself. Once again, no experience is necessary, we will be here to help you every step of the way!

Special Projects Coordinator- Billie-Jo, our previous special projects coordinator, surprised us all when she stabbed us in the back and moved to the deep south (Harbour Landing). Just kidding Billie-Jo, we appreciate all the work you have done and are going to miss you a lot! Anyhoo, the special projects coordinator handles all applications for community grants, as well as any projects that do not fall into anyone else’s roles. An example of this would be helping out with the planning of special events, such as our family fun day.

Membership Coordinator- Now here is a job for anyone with access to a word processing program. All you need to do is take our membership cards, type them out onto a computer, and keep the list up to date. A simple job that would help us out a great deal!

If you are able to help us out, we would like that a lot! Contact either Bob or Carrie and they will get back to you.

It has almost been a year since that sad day when the bell rang at Athabasca School for the last time. The children have all moved on and integrated into other schools, however the school property remains. As a child, I attended Athabasca for nine years, and it has made me sad to see the school abandoned. Today it still stands vacant, with nature slowly taking over the play structures and basketball courts that were enjoyed by kids not more than a year ago.

When the school closed last year, I predicted in an earlier post that Athabasca School would probably be torn down to build condos, or perhaps apartment buildings. It certainly looked that way, at least until recently.

It seems that a proposal has been made to turn the former Athabasca School site into a religious institution! I must admit that I was more than slightly surprised. I was almost certain that Athabasca School, a large piece of property in a desireable neighbourhood, would be snatched up by condo developers sooner then you could say “Regina has a rental housing crisis that desperately needs to be dealt with.” Recently, an open house was held regarding the proposed religious institution, and two of our LCA execs, Amy Mader and Lily Tingley attended. Here is what they observed:

Amy: 

I went to the open house, and was most interested in what the City planners didn’t know, as opposed to what they did know. Apparently there was a Request for Proposals by Regina Public Schools and more than one proposal was received, but the City planner didn’t know how many or what criteria they were assessed against. Thus, the “proposal” of the Sihk temple is a done deal, and the City is just working on making it happen.  

I think I’m fine with it, however it is hard to assess without knowing details of the other applicants. Another issue I have (besides the general ignorance of the City planner) is that my house did not receive a mailout with the details of the applicant’s proposal. The City Planner said that policy requires houses in the immediate area (70 metres) to be sent mailouts, but since this development is “so significant”, they expanded that to 140 metres. Although I am further than 140 metres (perhaps 141 metres), I can see Athabasca School from my house, and am a little distressed that 140 metres is considered a sufficient radius for notification of such a significant change in use of a school facility – which in many regards is the focal point for the entire neighbourhood.

That time of the year is back! That’s right, it’s time for the Lakeview Community Association’s 3rd Annual Family Fun Day! Last year was a great success, and each year our turnout has grown. We hope that this year will be our best turnout yet! Meet us at Kinsmen Park South (on Kings Road) on Saturday June 23  anytime between 11AM and 3PM for some food and fun. Hotdogs and Drinks will be provided for only $2, as well as cotton candy for $1. Activities will include:

•  Fish pond (with great prizes!)
• Bouncy house
• Face Painting
• Raffle Table (With some GREAT gift packages from neighbourhood sponsors)

As well, since Family Fun Day is being held at Kinsmen Park South, feel free to bring your bathing suits for some fun on the spray pad!

LCA memberships will also be availible for only $5. This would also be a great opportunity to talk to one of our friendly and approachable board members about one of the many easy and enriching volunteer opportunities we have available. We look forward to seeing you there!

PLEASE NOTE: Location Change. Previously, our Family Fun Days have taken place at Kiwanis Park. However, due to a scheduling conflict, we have had to move to Kinsmen Park South this year. Please do not show up at Kiwanis, as you will miss out on all of the fun!

Its only January, but already I have recieved a handful of emails from concerned parents wondering if they have missed the dates for soccer registration. They usually follow one of these formats:

“Hey, I was just wondering, have I missed soccer registration yet? ”

or

“Please don’t tell me I have missed soccer registration this year, I missed it last year and can’t stand to see that look of utter disappointment on my child’s face again.”

or

“DEAR GOD TELL ME I HAVEN’T MISSED SOCCER REGISTRATION YET! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET MY KIDS IN, I’LL DO ANYTHING! MONEY IS NO ISSUE! ”

Well, concerned parents need not worry, soccer registration has not happened just yet. But, due to the alarming amount of emails that I have recieved in the past few weeks I have decided to post the dates for registration well in advance. They will be as follows:

Location: (for ALL registration dates)

South Leisure Center 

170 Sunset Drive 

Dates and Times: 

Saturday, March 3 ,9-11 AM

Tuesday March 6 , 7-8 PM

Wednesday March 14, 7-8 PM

These same dates will also be seen:

• On the LCA sign two weeks before regisration
• In the newsletter that will be distributed to all schools in the area
• On the Soccer Page on this website
• On signs throughout the South End
• On our facebook page  (which you really should “like” if you haven’t already)

Hope to see you at one of the registration nights! If you have any additional questions or would like to volunteer please do not hesitate to email me

At one of our meetings a few months ago, Diana, a resident of this neighbourhood, came to visit us to discuss an issue she has been fighting ever since she moved here in 2006: noise. As someone who lives substantially west of Lewvan Drive, I was surprised. I didn’t know noise in the neighbourhood was at all an issue.  According to Diana, noise from vehicles on Lewvan Drive is so loud that she finds it unbearable to even sit on her deck and enjoy a cup of coffee.

As a person who is skeptical of everything, I was, of course, skeptical. Could vehicular traffic really be that noisy? I have lived in this neighbourhood my entire life, and I have never been bothered by any noise. I looked up the address that Diana gave to us, and found out that she lived quite a distance from Lewvan Drive. Was this “noise problem” really an issue, or was this just a person with oversensitive hearing?

One night, it turned out that a friend who I was visiting lived close to Diana’s street. On my way over, I decided to pop in and hear all of this noisy traffic for myself. I pulled onto her street, shut my car off, and rolled down the windows. Then I sat and listened. To all of the noise. The cars and semis barreling down Lewvan Drive could, indeed, be heard clear as day from where I was sitting on Diana’s street, some 500 meters away. After a few minutes of listening to all of the traffic, it became easy to understand how all of that noise could become bothersome.

So, what to do about it? It turns out that Diana has been lobbying the city for quite sometime to have the problem solved. Diana’s proposition is to install noise abatement along Lewvan Drive (Saskatoon has these, on Circle Drive). A few years ago, she even asked the city to do a noise study, which they agreed to do, and they set aside $155,000  in the budget to cover the costs.

Unfortunately, there have been delays. Diana writes:

“In December 2009, I presented these concerns to the City of Regina during a council meeting. The issue was discussed and the Council proposed a two-year traffic noise monitoring study. In March 2010, funding ($75,000) for the first year of the noise study was approved but deferred to the 2011-12 fiscal. When I contacted Tom O’Connell, City of Regina, in October 2011, he explained that because of higher priority projects, the traffic noise study had been delayed. Mr O’Connell anticipated a call for tenders would be completed soon; he also explained that a decision whether to fund the second year ($80,000) of the study would be made by December 31 2011. To help mitigate this two-year delay, a solution could be having a more intensive noise monitoring study completed by December 2012, using the combined 2-year budget of $155,000.”

So the city promised Diana they would do a two-year noise study, two years ago. But, because it is not deemed a priority issue, it has been delayed. Diana came to see us, and asked if we would write the city expressing our concern that this noise study should be done. In response, we wrote to Councilor Hutchinson and Mayor Fiacco and noted that “One of our roles as a community association is to assist residents who have concerns that they wish to bring to the attention of City Hall. Our association feels that [Diana] is raising a concern that deserves to be investigated. We urge the City to conduct the deferred traffic noise study as quickly as possible and to take noise attention measures deemed appropriate in light of the results of the study. We also ask that Lakeview Community Association be advised of what actions the City is taking in this matter.”

The letter we wrote to both Councillor Hutchinson and Mayor Fiacco was sent in early December. As of yet, we have not heard a reply from either of them. On December 31, Regina was to finalize its budget for the 2012 year, and since we have not heard back from anybody, it cannot be confirmed if the noise study was approved for this year’s budget or not. The city made a promise to do a study, and the promise should be kept. It is not fair for Diana (and other residents, who perhaps are annoyed by the noise) to be strung along year-to-year hoping that other projects won’t take priority over the noise study and cause it to get pushed back yet again. It is also concerning that when addressing concerns to both the city councillor and mayor, nobody responds. Is it not their job to look after concerns of the residents of the city that they represent? Even a response such as “got your letter, I’m looking into it” would have been better than no response at all.

So, as of yet nothing has been done. No noise study. No noise abatements. No response from the city. In the mean time, the Lewvan gets busier and busier, driving residents like Diana crazier and crazier.Clearly, if you are a citizen in Regina and have an issue you want addressed, you’d better have patience, as it seems to take a lot of  time and effort to get something done around here.

Just a friendly reminder that our registration night is happening soon. If you are thinking of signing up for one of our great programs this year then be sure to show up, as some programs fill up fast. Especially Zumba. You can find further information about our winter programs here. Registration Night details are as follows:

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Lakeview School

7:00-8:00 Pm

Hope to see you there!

Believe it or not, us folks at the Lakeview Community Association occasionally deal with issues other than planning awesome programs for you and your family to enjoy. Occasionally, people come to see us with community-based issues that they would like resolved, but need assistance resolving. At our last meeting, we were met by a group of concerned citizens who are concerned about the direction the neighbourhood is going.

If you have not noticed, there is a lot of new development that has been happening in Lakeview lately. Taking a drive down Regina, McCallum or Hill Avenues you will notice a handful of new, large homes in places where older, small dwellings once stood. While these new houses look lovely, they raise some issues that are concerning to the citizens whom we met with.

While the older homes in the neighbourhood are set back from the street and have large front and side yards, the new houses seem to take up the majority of the property. This causes the newer homes to stick out from the older ones quite noticeably, making the small houses next door look like the new homes’ garden shed. Another concern raised was the issue of trees. In order to build these large homes, trees need to be cut down. This, it was pointed out, could damage our lovely, tree-lined streets. The most important issue that was raised however, was the style of homes being built.

The houses being built right now also vary greatly in terms of their style. While some are traditional, others are very modern-looking. Both styles have the “newly-built” look that makes it obvious that the house is not original to the neighbourhood. This, the group said, undermines the heritage of our neighbourhood. So, Do we even have “heritage”?  If we do, how do we keep our heritage?

I have no easy answers to that question. One suggestion that was put forward would be to have Lakeview desginated as a heritage neighbourhood. Doing this would be a huge undertaking, and would involve strict building codes when it comes to new home construction and the tearing down of older homes. This is something that I would personally be opposed to. People are choosing to build homes in Lakeview for a reason. The big lots, the convienient location, the arcitechtural freedom and of course the great people are all incentives to build new in Lakeview and I would hate to discourage people from doing so by implementing strict building codes.

It should also be noted that it is not the historical character homes that are being torn down. Rather, it is smaller homes that have been neglected or are in need of major repair  making saving the home simply not worth it. If there were rules and regulations that would prevent these homes from being torn down, they would likely fall into states of disrepair and dampen the image of the neighbourhood. The older homes in Lakeview that do have a unique archetechtural style or are of some important significance are certainly worth being saved and the homes that are designated as heritage properties are already protected by heritage laws.

The heritage of Lakeview is that of uniqueness. When the neighbourhood was first established in the early 20th century, there were no guidelines as to the style of home one good construct. There is a wide variety of archetectural styles amoung the older homes that do not share uniform guidelines, yet somehow fit together with one another. New development does not undermine our heritage, rather, it adds to the uniqueness of the neighbourhood. The wide variety of home styles as well as the mix of new and old construction is part of what makes Lakeview a great place to live.

what do you think of new construction in Lakeview? Leave a comment below!

I wish I had a river I could skate away on. Or,at least a rectangular piece of ice in the park that my friends and I could use to play hockey . Unfortunately due to unseasonably warm temperatures, the city is behind on the rink flooding schedules. Normally my friends and I would be several weeks into our Friday night hockey league (its not much of a league, its more just a bunch of guys with sticks and skates who really aren’t that great at using them). However, today I recieved good news. The Lakeview rink will open for buisness soon! Yay!

According to Billie-Jo, our wonderful special programs coordinator, the Lakeview rinks will officially be ready for skating Monday. The skate shack will open around this time as well. Billie-Jo has asked that I give some helpful reminders regarding the rink and ice shack. They are as follows:

• The Ice Shack Will be Supervised.