Emery Village BIA Executive Director's Message -April 2019

“Spring is a time of plans and projects,” -- LEO TOLSTOY

A surprising quote from one of history’s greatest authors, the message encapsulates for us at the Emery Village BIA the launch of of our busy outdoor season that extends to the fall.

Spring is also the time for nature to begin anew.

With the planting season under way at our source nursery, numerous hanging baskets are now being prepared with soil, fertilizer and this year’s selection of flowers and greenery that will bring colour and life to our streets.

Soon our landscapers will prepare raised garden beds, reconditioning soil and planting flowers throughout the BIA.

Hopefully, this year’s program will again be noticed by and bring smiles to Emery Village’s pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, shoppers and employees who travel our roads and routes.

The reconditioning of our existing stock of street furniture is also underway, with repairs, and replacement of benches, metal planters and the refurbishing of our pedestrian decorative lighting.

Back at the office, coordinated plans and projects for our latest streetscaping, maintenance and beautification projects await their turn for tendering by the city.

The tendering is there in order to ensure fairness, accountability and the lowest price in the process to select the contractors and suppliers for what may become one of our busiest construction seasons yet.

Finch West LRT construction will begin in earnest with the Highway 400 Bridge reconstruction phase. Along Finch we have seen signs of this major project well underway. Expect more soon.

For our children, good weather brings outdoor play activity and the need for drivers to be more aware of their presence on or near our roadways. Later in the season, school ends and brings more activity to the outdoors. The last day of the school year is also the day we choose to host our annual Movie in the Park Night at Joseph Bannon Park. As always, we feature first new releases and the latest in popular children’s movies, whose titles are always surprises, and rarely do they disappoint.

We supply the snacks and popcorn, the kids supply the energy, while the parents contribute to the neighbourliness.

I guess we could say that our plan for spring is to continue to promote renewal and resilience in our community.

We wish our readers a bright and happy spring.

Sincerely,

Executive Director Sandra Farina