Over the last year, the Occupy movement has brought new attention to the rights and responsibilities of citizens to work for positive change in our communities. In Boyle Street, we are already working at the grass roots: to create a new community centre in a revitalized Boyle Street community, to discuss community needs with developers and planners, and to advocate on behalf of vulnerable parts of our community.

On January 31, 2012 members of the Boyle Street community gathered at City Hall for a special meeting of City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. As you have probably heard, the transportation department’s recommendation to put a tunnel portal right in front of the Chinese Elders Mansion and Chinatown Multicultural Centre and Library was an affront to the historic Chinese-Canadian community which has invested so much, not only in Edmonton but in Chinatown revitalization along 102 Avenue (Harbin Avenue) from the Chinatown Gate to 95 Street.

Members of the LRT Working Group – including Boyle Street and Riverdale community leagues supporting the Chinese community, as well as transportation and community experts – have, for the past year, worked to study and advocate for a change in the LRT route. This journey began with consultations, escalated to demonstrations and protests, took a dedicated group of transportation and community experts many hours of planning, and concluded in a spirit of community (and community disappointment, as you’ll see).

In the interest not just of our community but of the whole city, the group brought forward and presented a modified proposal, pointing out that a route along 102A Avenue would serve the City’s transportation plans better than the proposed route, would not endanger vulnerable pedestrians in the community, would provide greater development potential, and might have even been slightly less expensive. A “compromise” discussed at the planning level was actually more expensive by some forty to sixty million dollars!

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee listened, and recommended the amended route go forward to Council. Council, however, voted against the amendment to the route, and now the LRT is committed to go ahead – but our work is not over. Now we must continue to work together to mitigate the negative impact on our community.

All movements need a “centre.” Ours is the new Community Centre opening in the summer. When its doors open, we’ll welcome forums and debates; weddings and celebrations; poetry slams and plays; badminton players and pick-up basketball; tots and parents and seniors; singer-songwriters and visual artists. We’re ideal for mustering a parade or an open-air (and peaceful) demonstration – or for a place to do yoga or teach your tots to skate on a “snowbank rink” in the winter.Boyle Street Community League is YOURS and we need you to occupy it!

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee listened, and recommended the amended route go forward to Council. Council, however, voted against the amendment to the route, and now the LRT is committed to go ahead – but our work is not over.

In the meantime, stay tuned for notifications regarding:

Membership: get involved and sign up for your card! Information will continue to be distributed throughout the month!

Illuminate Boyle Street: We need area artists of all stripes to contribute to this exciting Boyle Street-themed media arts project. If you are an area visual, film, story, or digital artist, please email evamarie@heartofboylestreet.ca or call the Community League’s cell phone at (780) 422-5857 for more information.

Idea Submissions: As always, we’re looking for your ideas and input. The ramifications of my leg’s losing encounter with a minivan at the beginning of January continue to echo – though by the time you read this, I should be out of the wheelchair and seen again hobbling through the community. However, even when I’m giving the crutches a rest, I am always reachable at the phone number and email address listed above. Give me a call and let me know how you want to occupy Boyle Street, and let’s make it happen!