Many people are amazed at the speed at which the Boyle Renaissance phase one project is growing. Whoever heard of a construction project that was ahead of schedule? Ours is! The Boyle Street Community Centre should be ready for a “soft opening” around the first of June, after building completion in April-May. That’s soon!

This month, September, we’re hiring a program co-ordinator. This community animator will spend the winter getting programs, membership, and community spirit activated for the opening. You’ll hear a lot from this person over the months ahead – and we will want to hear from all of you.

We want to create a community centre which really is a centre: an exciting hub, a destination for community members, neighbouring communities, and people from all over the city. That means finding out what people really want your community centre to be doing.

We have a big gym, a little theatre, festival spaces, classrooms, and we hope that as of the soft opening, they’ll all be pulsing with the heartbeat of Boyle Street. We’ve been calling our community “the community with heart in the heart of the city” and we aim to prove that our heart beats strongly and proudly!

Our “green shack” program was a lively success again this year, providing lots of successful activities for big crowds of kids – and sometimes grown-ups, like the community potluck! They also had to deal with some bullying issues, always a difficult challenge. The problem was happening after hours, so it wasn’t easy, but by pulling together lots of resources, the program leaders made the space as safe as possible. It’s up to the community itself to do the rest. To create a safe community we have to report bullying wherever it occurs: to the school, to police, and to each other. There are lots of ways to help break the cycle of bullying.

We’ve applied for funding for a community mural project, which we’re hoping to receive soon. If we get it, we’ll be transforming a corner of Boyle Street Community with new art!

We’re also looking at other community improvement projects too, so we’d be happy to hear from anyone who has an idea where Boyle Street should place a bench, a picnic table or a tree. If we find a place, we can apply for it using the Community Amenity Program. So give us a call or an e-mail!

We want to create a community centre which really is a centre: an exciting hub, a destination for community members, neighbouring communities, and people from all over the city. That means finding out what people really want your community centre to be doing.

In other news: the Boyle Street Community League has created a position paper on non-market housing in response to a city study of the issue. As one of the communities in Edmonton with a high percentage of non-market housing, we have been participating in meetings to discuss the issue.

In brief, our paper stated that we support non-market housing initiatives, including harm reduction facilities, as part of our overall growth. Boyle Street community density is growing with the addition of The Quarters, Boyle Renaissance, and other high-density projects. These projects will have a huge impact on our density and our community profile, and most of the housing will be market housing. Non-market housing will make up only a fraction of the new density, and overall, is a positive way to help our homeless and under-housed neighbours and meet our community’s needs for safe housing and streets.

We’ve also been participating in the LRT Working Group that is pressing for options to the 102 Avenue LRT corridor. The leadership of the Chinese community has been awesome and we are pleased to be part of this community groundswell. So far we have made progress at being heard at Council and in the Transportation Department. We continue meeting and working together in hope of a better route being chosen.

You can see that there is a lot going on with your community league, and much more coming up. If you live in the Boyle Street Community and you want to be part of the action, call or e-mail us to volunteer. You can be part of community initiatives or help set up programming you want – there are lots of ways you can help make Boyle Street the community we all want it to be!

_Call the Boyle Street Community League at (780) 422 5857. If you leave a message, someone will call you back quickly. Or e-mail us at programs.boylestreet@gmail.com