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Cumberland councillor demands City Hall draft anti-gangs and guns action plan for Ottawa
believe we should shy away or abdicate our responsibility with respect to this critical issue as the safety of our residents is para- mount.” Blais noted that Ottawa Police Services “does a wonderful job” of enforcing laws in the city and surrounding areas. A com- prehensive action plan on gangs and gun- violence would help with coordinating resources and putting more emphasis on proactive prevention. Development of the action would involve police services, City Hall, and key non-profit social issue groups. “By ensuring our crime-prevention mea- sures are centrally coordinated,”stated Blais, “we can ensure the programs are being run where they are needed most and are do- ing the most good. The kids who are gang- bangers were not born wanting to be this way. Posters of athletes on their walls have been replaced with guns in their hands.” Last year the City of Ottawa had 23 gun-
related incidents. The first half of this year has seen 27 cases for police investigation involving guns. Blais will also ask Ottawa Police Services to look into offering a gun amnesty pro- gram to get illegal guns off the streets. Be- tween 1992 and 1999 such programs were set up several times with about 2400 fire- arms turned over to police. The Cumberland Ward councillor will also ask city administration to review and up- date the municipal bylaw on private shoot- ing within municipal boundaries. He noted that the new Millennium Park in his own ward is located within the rural boundary area where private shooting is al- lowed. Blais will also demand a new zoning des- ignation for shops that sell guns and am- munition. City zoning regulations have specific rules dealing with strip clubs and drive-through service windows but nothing specific dealing with firearms.
“Let me be clear that I am not asking city staff to venture into areas of provincial or federal responsibility,” stated Blais, “or more importantly, proposing any ideas that tar- get farmers or hunters. We can implement a gun amnesty program, close loopholes where guns and ammunition are sold, and ensure that the discharging of firearms does not occur where children study or play.” The Cumberland ward councillor will ask the provincial government for amend- ments to legislation on public housing to prevent violent criminals and gangs from gaining easy access to low-cost housing. “People living in public housing have a tough enough life,” he stated, “and so we should not subject them even further by liv- ing side-by-side with gangsters, who have no respect for life. The provincial govern- ment should allow us to ban thugs, convict- ed of serious crimes, especially ones involv- ing guns, from living off of the taxpayer in public housing.” “One of my first priorities following the election was to secure the funding neces- sary to significantly expedite the building of this much-needed community park.” Vista Park is now scheduled for comple- tion in 2013 and will feature multi-use fields for soccer and high school football, a win- ter ice rink, a multi-use court for summer basketball and a winter puddle ice rink, a splash pad, play structures for various age groups, individual pathways designated for jogging, rollerblading, and stroller-walking, a skateboard area, along with benches, pic- nic tables, and shade trees.
VISION@EAP.ON.CA PRESCOTT-RUSSELL
Cumberland | Recent and tragic shooting incidents in Toronto and elsewhere have prompted one of Ottawa’s rural council- lors to demand a detailed action plan for the city to prevent such tragedies fromoc- curring in the nation’s capital. Cumberland Ward Coun. Stephen Blais will present a motion during the next city council session asking for city administra- tion and the police department to develop a “comprehensive action plan” to support existing senior government efforts to deal with gun crimes. “We should have a made-in-Ottawa ac- tion plan to support the provincial and fed- eral governments’ efforts to stamp out gun violence in our communities,” stated Blais in a press release. “As a city councillor, I don’t
Ground breaks for Vista Park project
VISION@EAP.ON.CA PRESCOTT-RUSSELL
Orléans | By this time next year children in the Avalon subdivision should have a new neighbourhood park for their play area. Cumberland ward Coun. Stephen Blais and Don Pettipas, president for the Vista Park Community Association (VPCA) both put their hands and feet on the shovel for the ceremonial groundbreaking on the $1.9 million Vista Park project. The neighbourhood park project was first scheduled for design and public consulta- tion in 2006 but budget constraints pushed the schedule back to 2013. Aided through lobbying work from Blais’office, city officials and representatives for the Minto develop- ment group were able re-schedule the pub- lic consultation and design work for 2011. “The residents of Avalon have been wait- ing for years to see some progress made on Vista Park,” Blais stated in a news release.
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