Monday, December 26, 2011

Community Consultation

Each year St. John's Residents Association has an event that is open to our community that welcomes feedback. We are here to serve our residents and help us achieve what our neighbourhood is asking for.

On Sunday, January 29, 2012, from 2-5 pm we will be having a feast at Win Gardner Place (363 McGregor St.)  with opportunity for community to give further input to the St. John’s Resident’s Association. If you live, work, own property or utilize services in the St. John’s Neighbourhood, we invite you to participate in this survey. The event is open to all.

There will be prizes, activities for children and adults and great food for everyone. Everyone is welcome!

The activities and events will be held between 2 pm and 3:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. when we will then serve food from 4 - 4:30 and end our event with voting on our nominated Winter Wonderland homes from within the Community.

Our Online Survey that we will be using for our Community Consultation is located here.

If you have any questions please leave a comment or send us an email at stjohnsra@gmail.com.

Winter Wonderland Contest

Though Christmas is now over, the St. Johns Residents Association is still on the look out for wonderful decorations. They don't need to be Christmas decorations; just decorations making your home and/or yard look festive.

If you see a home in the neighbourhood that has put that extra effort into their outdoor decorations, please let us know. We will be going through the entire neighbourhood handing out nomination forms to each home letting them know they are entered in the contest.

The voting for our contest will be at our Community Consultation on January 29 closer to 5 p.m. (The event starts at 2 p.m.) There will be prizes for the top 3 and for the runners up!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

December's Meeting

I am getting around to posting all of the new information we have going for the next little while. Our newsletter is off to the printers and will be delivered within the next week or so to your mailboxes!

Our December meeting has been moved up one week due to the craziness that can be December! Rather than December 21, our meeting will be held on December 14th. January's meeting will remain the same.

Please keep in mind that meetings are not mandatory for our residents. If you would like additional information that you don't see on our blog, Facebook or Twitter, shoot us an email (stjohnsra@gmail.com) and we can always discuss more information or our induvidual Community projects going on!

Snow Removal Service

We are pleased to announce that this year the St. John's Residents Association is able to offer FREE snow removal service to people with disabilities or seniors who are unable to remove the snow or need assistance.

Members of the Residents Association and youth volunteers from the Community will be available to assist. If you would like to use this service, get in touch with us!

Leave us a comment, send us an email at stjohnsra@gmail.com, send us a message on Facebook (St. John's Residents) or send us a tweet!

Province of Manitoba | Bug N Scrub program

The Province of Manitoba Bug N Scrub program is now accepting referrals!

The success of any bed bug treatment program increases with proper preparation of a home or apartment.

For vulnerable persons who need help due to limitations that prevent them from preparing their home, the Bug N Scrub program provides a variety of preparation services such as moving furniture, general cleaning, laundry service, and reducing and removing clutter.

The Bug N Scrub team also returns to the home or apartment after treatment is complete to put things back in order.


To qualify and make use of this program you NEED a referral. If you would like for the St. John's Residents Association to write a referral for you please contact us at joy@necrc.org or stjohnsra@gmail.com

Thursday, November 24, 2011

St John's, speak up!!!


We have created an online survey and are looking for residents and business owners in St. John's to provide your input.

We are using all information collected from this survey in our Community Consultation scheduled for January 2012. At this meeting we will be hosting a free feast and will be using it as our starting line to work towards what our Community wants.
Click here to take our Online Survey

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

November through January!

Boy, is time flying! We are having our November meeting tomorrow at 7 pm at Ralph Brown Community Centre, 460 Andrews Street. Not only are we voting on our Halloween Contest Submissions we are planning a whole bunch of events.

We are finalizing our last 2011 Newsletter, which will be going to print in the coming weeks, and then hitting your mailboxes! This is your last chance to get your addition in. Please remember we welcome small businesses, non-profit organizations or community events published in our newsletter.

We are also planning our Winter Wonderland contests, snow removal service for our residents (provided by volunteers) and our Community consultation for 2012.

Come on out or send in your ideas! Any input is welcomed and appreciated.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

November 16th Meeting

Our upcoming meeting will be held on November 16 at Ralph Brown Community Centre at 7 pm. We will be:

  • Voting on Halloween Four Season contest
  • Planning our Winter Wonderland contest
  • Finalizing the December (Final 2011) newsletter
  • Talking about tree banding and bedbug meeting
The meeting is free and open to all. If you can't attend or would like something added, let me know!

October 19th meeting

At our meeting from October 19th, we decided to continue with our Four Seasons contests for Fall and Winter. Our Fall contest was for Halloween decorations. Before Halloween I went around our neighbourhood and made not of decorations. Houses that were decorated only on Halloween were also noted and included. We will be holding a vote at our November 16th meeting for the winners of the contest.

Our Winter contest will be Festive decorations. If you have any Indoor/Outdoor Winter Themed decorations in view from the street, we will take note and enter your address in for a draw for a gift certificate (ranging in price depending on price you may win!).

Our newsletter submission deadline is November 14 to make it to print for November 23.

If you want to add anything to our newsletter, feel free to comment, email or let us know on Facebook (St Johns Residents) or Twitter (StJohnsResAssoc)!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

October Meeting

October has come in like a lion! I can not believe that it is already October 11th. Our October meeting is coming up fast on October 19th (next Wednesday) at Ralph Brown Community Centre at 7:00 p.m. If you would like any concerns brought up during our meeting, please let me know!

I don't have many updates on the SJRA specifically and it seems like it has been forever since our last meeting what with the Annual General Meeting on September 24th and all. Check out this space next week though, I'm positive there will be a bunch o' updates!

My mini side project of random boulevard cleaning was a somewhat success the other day. I have been on a search for a wagon; if you know of a good deal on a wooden wagon, please let me know :). Right now I have a make shift grocery cart (not shopping cart) that is acting as a recycling & garbage can. In 2 hours I managed to get 2 bags of garbage and 2 bags of recycling collected off Boyd Avenue and Redwood Avenue from Main Street to Powers Street. More could have been done but the malfunctions of the cart caused some delays!

As always, if you have questions or comments let me know!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Fall cleanup

Well I've been looking for a wood wagon but havent been able to find one at a decent price yet. I have however found a little cart that will be able to do a little bit for me, but not as much as I would like.

I'm going to be around our neighbourhood next week to do some much needed Fall cleaning. I'll be collecting  garbage, recycling, weed whacking, handing out graffiti waivers to properties and discussing concerns with anyone willing to talk!

If you have a concern in your neck of the neighbourhood let me know via twitter, facebook, blogger or email at stjohnsra@gmail.com.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Send a message

As my time in BC winds down, I am getting anxious to return to Winnipeg and get back to work. I have started an online petition that community members and all of Winnipeg can feel free to sign to take a stance against the violence in our City.

This is the first small step of a larger plan I will be trying to put together. The petition is the start showing our members in Government that we are not going to stay silent. There is no reason a City needs to have this level of violence and nothing be done about it. Last year near this time we had our night of violence shortly before Halloween that ruined many childrens opportunity to experience a night of fun trick-or-treating. After this there was an increased number of Police vehicles and presence that really put a cap on the violence, or stopped any that was caught in progress, and made me feel somewhat safer, though that was short lived as less than a month later everything went back to normal.

Do we need another nightly crime spree ending in countless murders to happen before our area gets help? Will it be short lived help again? Is anyone trying to create a long-term plan that doesn't need to be inacted after a violent burst?

You can find the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/winnipeg---stop-the-violence/.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Community Goals of the SJRA

At the beginning of this year members who attended our goal planning meeting sat down and tried to cover the majority of areas such as safety, housing, beautification and groups that should be looked at within our neighbourhood and what we wished to achieve. We came up with four areas; Communication, Green, Safety and Miscellaneous. Below is our list that we strive to complete and review want to look back at during each meeting to keep ourselves on track. The items highlighted in blue have been completed. The items highlighted in dark green have been started but are either awaiting contact from an outside group or are a work in progress.

Safety:

  • Focus on crime and problem houses, brought forward by members and residents
  • Removing and 'fighting'/preventing graffiti which we will include our Urban Green Team in, community clean ups and trying to have added to the Neighbourhood Liveability Bylaw
  • Reduce backlane fires, clean our backlanes, report bulk waste and try to improve the collection process
  • Create a better relationship with the Winnipeg Police
  • Start a partnership with Farraday for C.O.P.P. and once we have a committed group of 8+ we can branch into a St John's specific C.O.P.P.
  • Block captain program; which is anonymous participation by residents where information is gathered and reported. We would be able to support this program once C.O.P.P. is established and at that time would need to canvas regularily and educate area
  • Have a regular WPS presence at meetings
  • Community consultations with WPS, city of Winnipeg, Ma Mawi, residents and businesses
  • A working and well attended Safety Committee


Communication:

  • Door knocking and outreach for input from residents and create an identity for St John's independently from the North End and inclusivly which can be acheived by -
  • Create a poster/information hub where we regularily place posters and remove them
  • Constant use and maintenance of public space
  • Minimum 4 newsletters per year; every 3 months
  • Host informative meetings at library like TLC meetings, Residential Tenancy Branch information sessions and garden committee
  • Gain 5 new members who are actively engaged by the end of the year
  • Increase participation through positive incentives (best yard, volunteer appreciation, etc)
  • Host meetings over the summer
  • Have food at monthly meetings and have community feasts


Green:

  • Closer partnership with North End Food Security Network to promote gardening, fruit share and community kitchens
  • Community clean ups held often
  • Monthly block clean ups
  • St John's wide clean ups in May, July and September
  • Have a North End wide clean up from Selkirk Avenue to Inkster Boulevard from Main Street to Arlington Street
  • Introduce 'Love your backlane' program
  • Paint and beautify autobins with local schools
  • Create a R.I.Z. (Resident Improvement Zone) where there is no B.I.Z. such as McGregor, Salter, Mountain and Redwood where residents can plant flower boxes, hang baskets from light standards, bird houses, etc.
  • Have 4 seasons contests to promote residents to be outdoors and take pride in their properties. Ex: Spring - clean yard, Summer - Flowers, Fall - harvest/Halloween, Winter - Snowmen
  • Have functioning and supportive gardening committee


Random:

  • More board training programs, capacity building, Treasurer training, grant writing, proposals and reports, and volunteer coordination
  • Get political and lobby City Hall on behalf of our Residents, like more programming for our area, additions to the Neighbourhood Liveability Bylaw, Building Communities Initiative to include St John's, Ralph Brown CC to have more support from the City of Winnipeg
  • Develop a Youth Strategy to include volunteering, recreation and employment training and skills and build partnerships with service providers and people in the field and to find funding.


We ran into a few snags during the earlier part of the year, but now with our AGM completed, we have 1 newsletter to complete for sure and the rest of our schedule is wide open to start work on our goals. Of course, some goals are reoccuring and that we will try to implement each year and keep ongoing.


Do you see a goal that has yet to be addressed on this list that you feel is most important to you (or several)? Do you see a goal you wish to be added? Please let us know as we are here for you and want to work for our residents!

Latest Homicide

The latest homicide of Winnipeg happened within our St Johns neighbourhood, just down the street from my home. The previous incident within our neighbourhood happened just the other week. That incident resulted in a walk showing our want for this to change.

As put on our Facebook page, I am wanting to know what the Community wants. Do we want to:

- Do another walk?
- Do an online petition?
- Contact our Winnipeg Police and request more Police presence?
- Start a Citizens on Patrol Program with rotational shifts through volunteers from our Community?
- Do we want to do all of the above?

I can easily start the online petition and write our Winnipeg Police a letter or an email requesting their assistance. Planning a walk would also be able to be done quickly though I would need everyones availability and the assistance from everyone to spread the word. I think that is one of our groups biggest flaws is that we are still struggling to find our voice and make it known that we exist.

Starting a COPP is one of my wants however I am finding it difficult to start up due to low interest or sparatic interest and then finding a time for everyone to be able to meet with the Coordinator to set it up.

Please let me know via Twitter at StJohnsResAssoc, on Facebook, by email or on Blogger what you would like to see done in regards to this incident!

Madelaine Dwyer
President

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Wednesday June 15

Well we have reached mid way into another year. This Wednesday is our June meeting for our Residents Association. We will be holding our meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Ralph Brown Community Centre. We will be discussing our second newsletter, including articles to include. If you have anything you would like to see, or if you have a write up you would like published in our newsletter, please email stjohnsra@gmail.com.

We are also moving forward with our Residents Association by welcoming Joy, our new Community Development Worker. We are looking forward to the next year with you! Joy has a lot of passion and is again going to be a guiding force for our Residents Association to expand, assist our Community and plan many fun and exciting activities and events.

A lot of neat stuff is being looked into for the remainder of 2011, including Seasonal contests (however we did not have one for Spring yet, but it is still early) For Summer, Fall and Winter members of our association will be nominating our Community members, neighbours and friends for their beautiful yards, flower gardens or a recent improvement. We are wanting to encourage and reward positive change in our neighbourhood. If you know of a neighbour who takes pride in their yard and you feel they should receive a nomination, please email stjohnsra@gmail.com. Keep watch in your mailbox, SJRA is still delivering!

With the announcement of our new Community Development Worker I would like to take this opportunity to say a big Thank You to Maia, our previous Community Development Worker. The past year had a lot of enthusiasm, new ideas and hard work and much of it was made possible by Maia's amazing attitude, positive thinking and drive to achieve. We got a lot accomplished and started off our regular quarterly newsletters, different community events, a successful community clean up, a Garden Committee, the ground work laid in place for a Safety Committee with a Citizens On Patrol Program being looked into and a year plan that we are able to stick to. We owe a lot to Maia and will be forever grateful and appreciative of all the work that Maia put into our Residents Association, Community, Neighbourhood and lives. Good luck to all of your new opportunities and new journeys.

Looking forward to seeing new and regular faces at our Wednesday meeting!

Madelaine
SJRA Treasurer

Monday, May 9, 2011

Community Clean Up

Our Community Clean Up was held this past Saturday May 7. It was a great success with over 20 volunteers cleanings over 20 blocks of the St Johns Area including Ralph Brown Community Club/School and Peanut Park at Powers and Machray/Church.

We would like to give a big thank you to everyone that showed up and congratulations to all the prize winners.

If you couldn't make it out to our Community Clean Up we will be having cleanups throughout the summer that we will be advertising about. Also, you may email us with any bins in your back lane that require attention or do a small block clean up with your neighbours.

Thank you again to all that came out!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Spring Activities

As the weather is getting warmer the SJRA is getting ready for up coming spring activities. Our focus right now has turned to getting the community gardens ready as well as starting to plan our first community wide cleanup. Right now we are still in the planning stages so if you have some suggestions of what your block needs or what you would like to see happen give us a shout. So far the tentative date for the cleanup has been set for May 7th but keep your eyes open for more information. Contact us at stjohnsra@gmail.com or call Maia at 927-2340.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Looking for a few good people

So as March is getting going so are a lot of the community activities. As these are usually planned and executed by residents we are looking for a few people to get involved with the following events/programs. Please check these out and give us a shout! we'd love to hear from you.

Newsletter Submissions:
As we are gearing up to produce a quarterly community newsletter we are looking for people to write submissions. It is always nice to have different voices, opinions, information etc in the newsletter and we'd like to have yours. Deadline for submissions is March 11th and you can email them to stjohnsra@gmail.com

Exterior FixUp Grants:
The grant applications will be coming out in the March Newsletter so it is time to set the criteria again. Fix Up Grants are awarded through the participation of resident feedback and this is your opportunity to change how it works. If you have applied for a grant, received a grant, or knew nothing about the grants it is a great opportunity to find out more and provide your feedback. The consultation is going to be March 9th at 6pm held at NECRC office (509 Selkirk Av). Please RSVP with Kali at 927-2341 or email at kali@necrc.org Also if you can't attend but have an idea feel free to send your ideas to Kali.

Urban Green Team:
We will be applying for an Urban Green Team again this year so we need some ideas of what they should be doing. If you would like to be involved with this amazing program by providing ideas, helping to structure the youth's job description and task or have any ideas what so ever please contact Maia at 927-2340 or maia@necrc.org Deadlines for getting involved with the green team is March 18th.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Seed Starting Workshop - March 5th

This Saturday a "Seed Starting Workshop" will be held at Ralph Brown Community Centre starting at 1pm. The workshop will be hosted by Urban Eating Gardener's Co-op and will help teach you how to start your seeds indoors for your garden this year. It is FREE and we encourage anyone in the neighbourhood interested in/curious about/ experienced with gardening to come out. Please RSVP at 927-2342

Monday, January 10, 2011

Goal Setting for 2011

As the new year has now come upon us it is time to set a plan. The next meeting is January 19th, 7pm at Ralph Brown Community Centre and we will be setting our goals for the year. If you have any ideas of what you'd like to see your residents association achieve this year, come out and let us know.
Light dinner served before at 6:30
If you have any questions send us an email stjohnsra@gmail.com or call us 927-2340.