The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

Last's week's Packet included an article (Overpass Over Time) about the Manitoba Drive/TCH intersection. The Mayor of Clarenville was interviewed regarding the response the town had received from the Minister of Transportation and Works to alter the entrance. Unfortunately, there have been a few deaths at the intersection and consequently, the speed in the area has been reduced to 70 kph. Also unfortunate is the lack of adherence to that speed. At any time of the day or night you can travel that stretch of highway and encounter faster speeds. As important, however, and more potentially dangerous is the entrance into Clarenville between the Irving and the Clarenville Inn. Unlike the west entrance, the east entrance sight lines are not good. More worrisome is the confusion with turning lanes. Being in the turning lane heading west might mean you're turning into the Irving, Clarenville or the Clarenville Inn.  In a couple of months time it will be worse when the new North A

(Normally I try to stick to Clarenville matters here, but Bonavista's health directly affects Clarenville. So here I go...) How much egg can Bonavista Mayor Betty Fitzgerald and Bonivista MHA Glen Little possibly wear on their faces?  Seems like a lot. There’s a fuss coming out of Bonivista this week that speaks more to how issues are handled in some municipalities. The issue surrounds the historic Bonavista lighthouse. It seems as if it is slowly rotting, demonstrating that maintenance is lacking and restoration is required.  (You can see the story online:  Bonavista mayor asked MHA's staff to pen critical letter and see the copy of the letter on the CBC website) .   Unfortunately neither is happening and because of this yet another of Bonavista’s star tourist attractions is being threatened.  For a town that has pinned a lot of its future hopes on tourism this news and news of similar problems with the “Mickbegger Premises” and the “Matthew”pose a definite threat

Clarenville is gearing for the Kraft Celebration Tour coming to our town and our province!  We want to invite everyone to take part in the celebration and the live NL broadcast of SPORTSNET from Clarenville.  (If you can't come we'll have pictures on our companion Facebook page). So if you live in Clarenville - head down to the SHORELINE MARKET on the waterfront next Saturday (Aug 18). If you are not from Clarenville, here's your opportunity to visit - we'd love to see you!      YOU HELPED US GET HERE AND NOW TSN & CLARENVILLE ARE INVITING YOU TO COME OUT TO THE KRAFT CELEBRATION TOUR 10 in 10's CLARENVILLE STOP on SATURDAY, AUGUST 18th! This Community Celebration is taking place in Clarenville on the Waterfront at the SHORELINE PARK on Marine Drive from 5:30 - 9:00pm.  It's going to be a great evening featuring the LIVE BROADCAST of TSN Sports Centre, hosted by Jay Onr ait & Dan O'Toole from 7:30-8:30. Before the broadcast there wil

This photo is of the former Clarenville Primary School.  You can't quite make out the graffiti on the door which says Welcome to Hell.  Perhaps the artist doesn't realize that it's no longer operating as a school. As I passed by it today, I wondered about the status of the building. It has been closed for over a year now. I assume it is considered an asset of the provincial government but I wonder about its future. It certainly can't be left to rot or left to be the target of vandals. While travelling through Ontario recently with the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference , I toured the Rexdale Community Hub . The community of Rexdale is a priority neighbourhood of the City of Toronto.  The Hub is housed in a renovated school. It houses about 11 social agencies, including a women's centre, medical clinic, family resource centre and employment centre. It also includes a gym with hopes to soon include a community kitchen. It was a pricey ventur

People dumping trash wherever they choose. It’s an old story and one that we see evidence of all too often.   Every once in a while such a mindless trashing gets reported to the authorities, and even more rare is that sometimes it is so heinous and so bold that such a blatant offence gets reported in the media.   This latest case of “dumping stupidity” managed to make it through all three stages - I‘m glad it did and I feel that that‘s a very positive sign.  (see the PACKET “In your own backyard” by Ross Mair Aug 2, 2012 ) This dumping got noticed, it got reported and it written up in the local paper.  Many people are now aware of it and with any luck the perpetrator is feeling pretty ashamed. It’s a sign that as a town we are moving forward in developing a stronger notion of community pride.  The the Town too has to be commended for acting so quickly to get the mess cleaned up. So yes there was bad - but the good that came out of it far outstripped the crime.  It’s a win for C

Have you noticed the price of houses in Clarenville.   Prices are bumping into the stratosphere and this s taking a bigger bite out of every new buyer's budget.   If you are of limited financial means this this means that buying a house is becoming next to impossible and renting is becoming a major challenge. So what are we to do as a community? That's the question that the Town has posed and has generally it has been answerd by saying that the the market dictates price and if the price is too high there is little that the Town can do. A role for the Town? The Town's municipal plan clearly spells out a role of the Town.  Corner Brook  has the workings of a potential model for Clarenville.   That city provides non-profit organization's who are involved in developing affordable housing tax relief....if the Town of Clarenville sees a role for itself, this may be an idea worth pursuing here.    

I've been doing a lot of beating around over the summer, walking, running, driving and the like and I have come across a bunch of things that caught my eye that I think add greatly to the value of the town (Potential),  can be improved with minimal effort (Real) and that are downright scary (Life).  Here's what I saw: POTENTIAL Outstanding Community Involvement - The Kraft TSN Celebration Tour.  Clarenville won this competition with over 350,000 votes.  If ever person that voted, voted an average of 100 times that would mean that 3,500 people and businesses were engaged.  In fact Clarenville had the highest vote total in Canada!!  Now, if we can get that many engaged for the opportunity to win $25,000 and an hour of national TV coverage, surely we should be able to get as many involved in other critically important town issues - like voting. Dog poop on the trails is one of the banes of my, and many others, walking existence.  I was so glad to see this disp

Ahh the Newfoundland Kitchen party was alive and well at the Clarenville Events Centre this week as we began Clarenville Days 2012 Enjoy! Goowiddy Adam Randell Accordion Time Bond Peddle Evelyn Avery Curtis and Joseph Blackmore Darryl Duke Fireworks

Monday marked the beginning of Clarenville Day's here in Clarenville.  Clarenville Days is a week long celebration of what we have in Clarenville.  Last evening we celebrated what could be. After a year long development process, last night the Town unveiled its new branding strategy and logo - Real - Life - Potential . Pilot Communications designed the logo, slogan and the marketing material including a new town website ( www.clarenville.net   ) that you will see compliment the branding strategy.  kudos to them for suggesting such a  bold move and kudos to the Town Council for buying into it. (The degree to which we see the town buy-in and live up to the "Brand Promise" remains to bee seen - I am watching to see real change - See my previous post on this  http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2012/04/sizzle-steak-brand-aid-for-clarenville.html  ).   The new logo is a complete departure from the traditional wheel and goose logos that we have seen in the past.

WOW! You could feel the tension inside the Clarenville Events Centre tonight.  Over 250 people packed the hall to hear a 3 second announcement. Here's what it looked like: After an all-nighter of voting and the dedicated support of many-many people and businesses CLARENVILLE won the Kraft Celebration Tour match-up! Final vote count: 385,717 votes for Clarenville to 354,727 for for Canning, NS. For two "small" towns that's a lot of community spirit in both! Elizabeth Swan Memorial Park will now be awarded $25,000 by Kraft foods to help make improvements.   TSN SportsCentre will also broadcast live from Clarenville on August 18th!  This was a huge community building effort that literally extended across the country - thank you all for your active involvement in making it such a success.  If you don't live in Clarenville please visit - and make sure you stop by the park that you will help improve. Emcee - Councillor Rod Nicholl Mayor Fred Best

The day is here! Today, Clarenville is paired in voting competition with Canning NS for the Kraft/TSN Celebration tour Competition prize of $25,000 for park upgrades. The voting window opens at 1:30 pm NL time for 24 hours. We are asking you to vote and vote often for us. On Wednesday evening the winning announcement will take place on TSN's SportsCentre at 6 pm EST (Wednesday 7:30 pm Newfoundland Time). Clarenville's video will begin running Tuesday at noon EST (1:30 pm Newfoundland time)both both on TV and online. OUR VIDEO TSN Video about the Clarenville/Canning Challenge Here's the voting process (Starting a 1:30 NST Tuesday):   1. Go to www.kraftcelebrationtour.ca    2. Click the Blue VOTE NOW button at the top of the between the pictures of both communities.  3. VOTE for  Elizabeth Swan Memorial Park Clarenville . 4. You have to read and type the "Captcha" code (It consist of two separate jumbles of letters. If you cann

    When Jill Monk first sent me an email on her plan to nominate Clarenville‘s Elizabeth Swan Park for the Kraft/TSN Celebration Tour, I have to admit that I knew little to nothing about neither the plan nor the tour.  But it intrigued me. I did not need to be convinced of the value of Elizabeth Swan Park.  Quite a few years ago, when our children were younger the Moody family and our family proposed to the Town that we upgrade the town’s playgrounds. With a lot of work it happened.  Elizabeth Swan’s playground was renovation #1 and we feel good about the work we had done there to make the park better.  Having been a park user for so many years, and having seen other similar community parks across the country; I am always interested in dreaming up ways to improve our park.  I noted in an earlier blog the opportunity to add a new multipurposechalet .  Jill’s thinking was truly aligned with my way of thinking.   After a bit of research (anyone can be an expert on any is

Random Thoughts...: Arts Under the Stars Unveiled : Arts Under the Stars, a series of free arts performances Thursday nights in Clarenville, was started seven years ago by me and Dave Strong, ...

Arts Under the Stars (AUS), our Town's outdoor summer concert series, starts the first week in July. More on that in a later post. AUS reminds me of Reg Pretty.  Reg was a stall-worth in the early years of AUS. He was the sound man, the lights man, the spare instrument man, and the goto man. I had the privilege of helping him. Reg passed away earlier this year after a battle with cancer. It was a loss to his family, the school system where he had taught for years before retiring in 2001 (He was my kid's favorite substitute) and the community. He was one of the, what we call "usual suspects" of volunteers that you know will be there if you need them. Clarenville was better because of Reg - and we miss him. Last weekend his family put together a Memorial Concert that served to remember him and to mark the beginning of the Reg Pretty Memorial Scholarship . It was a great celebration of his life and his legacy. I hope you enjoy these selected clips found below

Random Thoughts...: Rootin', Rantin' and Roarin' in September : Last year, volunteer work prevented me from attending the Roots, Rants and Roars Festival in Elliston. And from all accounts, it was a roa...

  "...nothing happens in a community unless you (are) were a part of it"                                                                                                                                                  Mayor Fred Best His name is synonymous with Clarenville.  He's been mayor forever and he's been on Council before that.   In his previous life he was a teacher, a principal and he and his wife raised their family here.   Fred is know across this province as being the mayor from Clarenville.  He has, quite literally, overseen the growth of this town for close to 40 years (He's been mayor for 31). Having served on Council, I know that that job is not always the most pleasant and certainly not the highest paid. Regardless of one's political viewpoints of the job, the people in it do their best - because nothing happens in a community without such people's efforts. To do that for 4 decades, like Fred has done, is something worthy of

The Shoal Harbour River is a relatively short river by Newfoundland standards.  It's a 19km network that captures water from Shoal Harbour Pond and Andrew’s Pond as it flows into the ocean at Random Sound. Despite its short length, it is an important habitat for seven species of fish and it is the sole source of drinking water for the 6000 plus residents and 250 businesses of Clarenville.  Its security is vital to our town. In recent weeks, information has surfaced that there is a proposed quarry development along the river system that Council is going to be asked to consider.  Council (and the public) had been silent on the request until the river’s conservation group; the Friends of the Shoal Harbour River (FOSHR) raised the alarm in the PACKET .  This project, located at the start of the river and within approximately 500 feet of it (150 feet minimum), is deemed a “discretionary use” project meaning that Council has the right to turn down the project.  Unfortunate

Over the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting with editing video and playing it at high speed.  You see, I am developing course related videos and this sideline gives me the opportunity to learn new tricks and techniques.  So, here's my "Pitch to Aways" and "Treat to Tourists".  If you are neither Away nor a Tourist, just sit back and enjoy the ride...

What meets walkers on Shoal Harbour Drive Sadly, I don’t get to see this town from the perspective of a walker as much as I should.  I don’t think I’m alone either, considering the volume of cars that we see on our streets these days.   Yesterday I had the opportunity to walk from work at the College, up the Wellness hiking trail, up the new sidewalk on Manitoba Drive, and up the side of Shoal Harbour Drive towards home. The first part of the journey was great.  We have some beautiful trails through town that make you feel as if you are deep in the woods.  I saw one person.  If you get the chance, take the opportunity to explore the Clarenville trail system – I am sure you will enjoy it. I emerged from the trail at Gladney Street and crossed Manitoba Drive at the lights to pick up the new sidewalk.  I was great to be able to walk up there on a nice day.  Our town is bustling!  Again, if you get the chance, use the town’s growing network of sidewalks. Finally, the side