5 voted to save greenspace

City council voted today to use a greenspace field instead of re-developing a Brownfield - Walkley yard location.

The votes were 16 - 5 for Bowesville.

Councillors who voted to re-use Walkley yard were:
1) Councillor Legendre
2) Councillor Cullen
3) Councillor Bellemare
4) Councillor Thompson
5) Councillor Hunter

Congratulations and thank you for promoting sustainable development.

Council sent a clear message to the citizens of Ottawa today.

Mr. Rejean Chartrand, claimed staff knew about the contamination since March 2005, but chose not to share this knowledge with council, until today. Unexplicably that was acceptable to all but five councillors.

The MOU which was signed in April 2005, secured $400 M in Provincial and
Federal funding. The MOU outlined in the Project Definition where the Maintenance and Storage Facility will be placed, (at Walkley yard).

The Public Working Group used over 70 hours of their own personal time to contribute to this process outlined by the MOE. 100% of all participants clearly identified the site to use as Walkley yard.

The people from the Greenboro, Fairlea, and Heatherington communities supported this decision. Louise B. from Heatherington came out on May 16th, to speak for 5 minutes to the committees. Louise tried to convince council to help her, clean up the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, only a few councillors heard her speak.

Those wonderful insightful "Walkley yard" individuals showed us they cared more for the environment than council did today.

Cheryl