Soho Community Association archives October/November 2015
Soho Community Association
Heroic SoHo Woman Wins Battle with Rampaging Bull
This story could be included in a book titled Folk Tales of London’s SoHo District. The heroine is Jane Prior of 87 Wellington Street who apparently exuded such a sense of calm that she stopped a raging bull in its tracks. Continue reading →
Association News – Upcoming Election for PresidentResignation of Cheri McLeod
With a heavy heart, we would like to announce that Cheri McLeod has decided to step down as President of the association. Cheri has been with us since November, and although her tenure has been short, it has definitely had a tangible impact upon our neighbourhood.
Cheri’s resignation will be effective pending the appointment of a replacement. She will remain in London for a period of time to help ease the transition and will then be returning to Collingwood to be with her family.
If you would like to help see Cheri off, please join us at the Victoria Tavern on Thursday, February 18th at 7:30pm.
Election for the office of President
With the resignation of the current president, we will be holding an election to fill the position during our next (January) meeting. The president is elected by a secret ballot by the members of the association, and to be eligible, must be a member. Membership is free, the only requirements are that you are either a resident, property owner, or representative of a business in the neighbourhood, and that you attend at least one meeting within a calendar year for your membership to be considered “active”.
If you would like to nominate yourself or another person, please contact Jamie Edwards, the association secretary at jamie (at) jamieedwards (dot) org. Please try to have your nominations in at least one week before the meeting so we can formally announce the candidates and print the ballots. Each candidate will be given a chance to address the attendees prior to the ballot.
Change of Venue
Unfortunately, with the change of management at Maple View Terrace, we will no longer be holding our meetings at that location. The team at the London Roundhouse have graciously offered to host our future monthly meetings. The Roundhouse is located at the corner of Waterloo and Horton streets. Our next association meeting is January 20th at 7:00PM, with regular meetings occurring on the third Wednesday of each month except for June, July, August and December.
All are welcome, and whether or not you have attended a meeting in the past, we hope that you will join us!
Little Girl Lost, Little Girl Found: A SoHo Tale
In 1920, the London Advertiser ran a story that sounded more like a romantic novel than real life. But the tale did prove the old adage that truth really is stranger than fiction!
This is the story of Vernon Boxall, who left SoHo as an eight-year old girl and was accidentally reunited with her birth family a decade later. Continue reading →
Minutes – November 18th, 2015
Cheri called the meeting to order at 7pm
We went around the room and everyone introduced themselves Cheri announced her resignation (letter to be attached)
Jamie made a motion to elect a new president on January 20th, seconded by Nancy, unanimously approved.
Jamie will accept any nominations for president.
Thames River Rally River cleanup will be in the parking lot of Long & McQuade
Mike Small joined us and introduced himself
New owner of the Vic
Has a liquor license application submitted, hopes to have it open at the end of December/beginning of January
Menu will be traditional british pub food
Building a stage in the games room, hopes to have live music – local bands
Will display works from local artists
Does not want to change much, wants to restore, capitalize on the history
Manitos hopes to open soon (Editor’s Note: Manitos is now open!) Posno flowers is now closed
The legion has the top two floors for lease
Nancy Powers gave us an update from the centre of hope
She explained the programs that they administer
They want to focus on getting people in homes instead of shelters – moving people into the community
Will support moving youth out of the centre
Crowds in front of the building will dissipate
Will provide financial assistance for rent and utility arrears (see http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/en/ontario-electricity-support program/ < http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/en/ontario-electricity support-program/> for details)
Developing a community garden
For the love of laundry moved into the pathways building on Horton Cheri introduced the students from Ivey who are helping us with our food security initiative
They will be conducting a survey
Some ideas they are brainstorming are a greenhouse or providing transportation to grocery stores
The second group suggested the option of having delivery, pooling orders – possibly providing a central pickup location
Cheri called attention to our food garden in Meredith park Unity church has expressed interest in helping
Laurie proposed producing some kind of map to show people what food is where
Jamie provided an update on the Active & Green program Cheri provided an update on the Western public history project Cheri asked if anybody was interested in participating in the SoHo Blues event – volunteers are needed
This is a brand new event, not replacing/moving an existing event Workign with the great lakes blues society
Could use this to drive creating a natural amphitheatre
Cheri asked for input on conversion of South/Grey to two-way operation Laurie distributed a survey from Councillor Park on this
Jamie made a motion at 8:24pm to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Deb. Unanimously passed. The meeting adjourned
Minutes – October 21, 2015
The members of the association met at Maple View Terrace on October 21st, 2015. Cheri called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
Kyle Gonyou, from the City of London was invited to present to us on heritage
Kyle is a heritage planner in the urban regeneration group The department of history at Western is doing a project on heritage in our neighbourhood
Western was previously here in 2011
The RFP for the hospital lands will be going out in November A stabilization report was received for the Colborne building, it is in good shape and efforts are being made to retain it, the war memorial children’s hospital and the health services building We have over 1200 properties in SoHo
A large number of heritage properties (yellow dot) are listed in SoHo, but not many are designated (red dot) (NOTE JAMIE: provide instructions for locating the info in citymap)
Direction has been provided by Council to perform a heritage conservation district study for SoHo
Significant elements of heritage designated properties are
identified, and those are the focus of any efforts to preserve the
building
Michael Dove, from Western was also invited, with 9 of his students to present to us on heritage and the Public History program at Western His program is the oldest public history program in the country It’s about putting history to work in the community
Students spend a lot of time communicating stories to a broader audience than just academics
It’s a 12 month program with 8 months of coursework followed by a summer internship
They are busy putting together material for the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
Students are also working with ACO and LACH on heritage designation projects
The student’s reports on SoHo properties are due the second week of December, and the information should come back to us early next year.
Jamie made a motion (seconded by Maria) to approve the sending of a letter supporting the installation of needle bins in Richard B. Harrison and Meredith Park < http://www.sohovillage.ca/wp content/uploads/2015/12/Jan-Richardson-Letter-of-Support-Needle Bins.pdf> . The motion passed.
Nancy requested that Jamie forward a list of the volunteers from the last meeting
Jamie made a motion (seconded by Cheri) to approve the last meeting’s minutes. The motion passed.
Alex Meilutis and Vanessa Kinsley from environmental programs at the city wanted to pick a date for the “Active and Green” community
discussion.
A few dates were suggested
wed, nov 11
fri, nov 13
sat, nov 14
mon, nov 16
Saturday was chosen tentatively, with 2-2.5 hours needed. Can be done as a drop-in, with food provided.
Some students from Ivey business school are helping us with our food security initiative. They will present us with a full business plan for our social enterprise.
Cheri will be meeting with them this month
December 5th it will be presented.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20pm