NEWS ARCHIVESFebruary 21, 2011 Honouring Stittsville volunteer extraordinaire John Leroux It’s my pleasure to announce the City will formally recognize the many contributions of John “Johnny” Leroux, a Stittsville resident who has volunteered countless hours over the years to enhance the quality of life and recreation opportunities in our community. On March 11, we will honour him by naming the Stittsville arena the Johnny Leroux Stittsville Community Arena. This facility is located at 10 Warner Colpitts Lane, just off of Stittsville Main Street. In 2002, City Council created a commemorative naming program to formally recognize individuals who give selfless, courageous or exceptional service to the residents of Ottawa, the Province of Ontario, or Canada. The program lets us honour these individuals through the naming of municipal streets, parks and facilities. John Leroux is particularly well-known for his dedication to amateur and recreational sports. He is a former Canadian Army Featherweight Boxing Champion and has won the Golden Glove competition in Montreal. His passion for sports led him to form a local boxing club, a recreational men’s fastball league, and the bantam girls’ softball team, the Stittsville Roadrunners. John is also the founder of the Stittsville Merchant Select teams who have hosted numerous old-timer hockey tournaments and participated in national and international tournaments, including the Can-Am Tournament in Lake Placid. In addition to playing and coaching, John has been a stick boy, an umpire, an official timekeeper and a referee. He has also maintained baseball diamonds in Stittsville for 15 years and has hand-crafted benches for the benefit of local sports teams’ fundraising efforts. His charitable spirit has touched the lives of so many people in the community. He has received several awards of appreciation from the sporting community, including the Stittsville Men’s 30 Plus Hockey League and the men’s and women’s recreational softball leagues, and was inducted to the Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame in 1999. John served his country in the Korean War and is an honoured member of the Stittsville Legion. He received the Legionnaire of the Year Award in 2002 and the Certificate of Merit from the Government of Canada for his contributions to his community. I look forward to MC’ing the ceremony on Friday March 11 from 2 to 4 p.m., when we name the Stittsville arena the Johnny Leroux Stittsville Community Arena. Please contact my office at 613-580-2476 if you’d like to attend the ceremony and need more details. Stittsville – Carp/Hazeldean off site work This is to notify residents that the developer of the Sobey’s Plaza on the corner of Carp Road and Hazeldean will be starting the required Carp Road and Hazeldean Road modifications including turning lanes and sidewalks as per the approved plans. To view the plans, visit my website at www.shadqadri.com. Click on the Planning and Development tab and scroll down to Commercial Development. The plans are listed under 6303 Hazeldean Road. The road improvements will be commencing on March 1st with a target completion date of sometime at the end of May. Most of the work in March will be utility relocates with the bulk of asphalt/paving starting in April. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website for more information. Thank you Flower Mania and Happy Valentine’s Day I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bob Gervais, the owner and operator of Flower Mania in Orleans for generously providing my office with 1,500 roses that we delivered to three seniors homes in our community. We delivered the flowers to Poole Creek Manor, the Stittsville Villa and the Goulbourn Seniors’ Centre received special roses in celebration of Valentine’s Day. It was my honour and privilege to deliver these roses for all the wonderful ladies at these three establishments. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Transit budget As a member of the city’s interim transit commission, last Wednesday, the transit commission budget was tabled. The transit budget at a glance includes:
Staff has identified internal efficiencies for the past three years that will limit the impact of increased costs on riders and taxpayers. OC Transpo will make improvements to the system to implement these initiatives resulting in a more sustainable system. The number of stops and the routes that have developed over time have created an inefficient system with areas of overlap and bottlenecks in the downtown core. In fact, Ottawa has an unparalleled reach of almost 99% of households within a 400 metre walk to a transit stop during peak times. Please note that any changes that are being proposed are simply proposals and will not take place without public input. The transit commission will be hearing public delegations during its meeting on February 24th. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Crime Prevention Ottawa I would like to thank the board of Crime Prevention Ottawa for electing me as chair of the board during our last meeting. I look forward to the opportunity of working with the board and all of our partners as we work towards creating a safer Nation’s Capital and reducing the amount of criminal activity in our city. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to be part of such a tremendous and important movement. Together we can make a difference in providing a city that our residents can be proud of. For more information on Crime Prevention Ottawa, please visit www.crimepreventionottawa.ca Always listening and acting on your concerns As your Councillor, I always welcome your keen input and ideas on how we can improve Stittsville. Please contact our office anytime by phone at 613-580-2476 or by e-mail at Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca. My ward office is located in the Goulbourn Recreation Complex, located at 1500 Shea Road. The hours of operation for the winter are Mondays 9-2pm, Wednesdays 3-8pm, Fridays 9-5pm, and Saturdays 9-1pm. Please do not hesitate to pay us a visit. |