As your Community League President, I feel it is important to report back to residents on our direction as a Board. The following objectives were voted in by the general membership in 2009 and are still the basis upon which we focus and operate today.

The League’s Proposed Position for Short and Long Term Change in McCauley

Immediately

1. Moratorium or cap (stop) on concentrating poverty: no more non-market housing and no more funding for new social initiatives in McCauley. We are over concentrated and studies show that more affordable housing will not help but will add to the concentration. Selecting between new social initiatives means being discriminatory.
2. Media blitz to publish new change in direction to create a healthy mixed community, a neighbourhood of choice.

Longer Term Actions

1. Promote fixing the basics: work on safety issues.
2. Promote reducing services that operate in McCauley by the creation of a “win-win” for all involved.
3. Promote home ownership and stability in McCauley.
4. Encourage families to move to McCauley.
5. Promote quality public education for our school.
6. Promote McCauley’s connectivity to downtown and other areas (transit oriented redevelopment of 96/95 Street; remove overpass).
7. Preserve and promote our history and heritage.
8. Reflect new goals in a Master Plan.
9. Ongoing process of review.
10. Mitigate the unintended consequences.

To continue our work towards these objectives, we have been in the spotlight talking about patterned poverty and the issues residents face within distressed communities.

To continue our work towards these objectives, we have been in the spotlight talking about patterned poverty and the issues residents face within distressed communities. This included writing an open letter to the Edmonton Police Service and fellow Edmontonians which can be found on our website and Facebook page. While the whole letter is too long to reprint in this column, the following captures the perspective we continue to present: “Structural inequality entrenches discrimination based on social conditions. In our case, it is directly related to the perpetration of multiple crimes on a daily and hourly basis and the seeming inability or unwillingness to police and enforce the same as it would be policed in any of the non-distressed communities within the City of Edmonton . . . Meaningful revitalization will only occur by challenging the status quo and changing the way that people think about McCauley including how agencies operate with respect to crime, disorder, and patterned poverty.”

To address resident safety, we continue to attend meetings with EPS, residents, our MLA, and various City of Edmonton department representatives in order to address resident safety concerns. We are also continually working on resources for residents to empower individuals to communicate their own concerns to those who are able to respond with action and solutions. Check out our website and Facebook for ongoing updates regarding this work.

To promote McCauley as a family-friendly neighbourhood of choice, fall of 2013 brings the beginning stages of planning for a new Rink Committee, with exploration of a partnership with KIDS and other interested groups. This work promises to be incredibly challenging and also potentially highly rewarding. If you have a passion for outdoor recreation pursuits, especially rink-related activities, we would love to hear from you. We are especially looking for someone to develop and coordinate a recreation volunteer program.

As always, we are always in need of committed resident volunteers interested in making a difference. If this sounds like you, get in touch. We would love to meet you!