The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

It's budget time again in Clarenville. Here is my account of the budget presentation: Here's the Packet's link to AUDIO of the Budget Council meeting What is a Budget anyway? Each year, governments and organizations plan their expenditures and their revenues for the coming year.    The budget process forces the planning process and, in theory, it improves how and where money is spent.    On December 11, Con. John Pickett, Chair of the Finance committee of Council for the Town of Clarenville presented the 2013 Budget to a public meeting of Council.   What follows is an unofficial   summary of the 2013 budget presentation.     The Opportunities and Challenges of Growth: Clarenville Statistics ·          Clarenville’s population has grown by 14% in the past 5 years.   This makes us one of the fastest growing towns in the province with an official 2011 population of 6,036 people.   See: http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2012/02/clarenville-grows-144-in-5-years.

It was a beautiful pre-winter morning, perfect for the 48th running of the Lion's Clarenville Santa Claus Parade. This parade has grown with the town, this year's featuring almost 50 floats/vehicles.  The work and dedication that goes into the Parade each year is clearly demonstrated as the parade rolls by.   Most importantly, I am always impressed with the number of people who are actually in the parade!  The Clarenville Volunteer Fire Department,  Nancy Stanford's Dance Studio, Newfoundland Power, the Salvation Army are just a few examples.  They seem to have every member of thier respective organization's there - that is fantastic to see and it speaks so highly of their dedication to the event. The members that make up the Clarenville Lion's Club, have done an outstanding job at growing the quality of the annual event.  For almost 50 years they have been the ones who have organized it and it speaks to their dedication to the community. Finally, the Triple

Over 60 students and staff at Clarenville campus attended the Day of Remembrance event Thursday, December 6, marks the 23rd anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in which Marc Lepine walked through l’Ecole Poyltechnique in Montreal , separated the men from the women, and then proceeded to shoot and kill 14 women while making anti-woman statements.  A new generation of students now attend postsecondary schools like Clarenville Campus all over the world.  These commerations ensure we will never forget this tragic event and others like it - many of which happen closer to home..

While at the Clarenville Co-op Gas Bar on Shoal Habour Drive this evening, I noticed this sign. It's easy for businesses to say they cater to seniors. This is a great example of a local business really trying to provide excellent service to a particular age group. It will be interesting to watch this unfold to see if seniors will take advantage of it.

8:25 am, Dec 5 - Imagine walking on the sidewalk back on to this oncoming load of trusses.  You would not stand a chance. CLICK the photo to zoom Yesterday in St. John's there was a rally held at Memorial University to raise awareness of the issue of pedestrain safety.   Certainly, this issue is not limited to St. John's.  All high traffic centres should focus more on the relationship between pedestrian movement and traffic movement. Clarenville, for example, has some very definite areas where pedestrain safety can be improved.  We need more sidewalks and more and safer crosswalks.  Council has, to their credit, recognized this. The Business community, however, now needs to play a stronger role in pedestrian safety as well.  With all of the construction in Clarenville there are a lot of large vehilces plying our roads with heavy and often wide loads.  Better care must be taken by companies to ensure pedestian safety in our town, especially around these vehicles. Tight

When you think of public spaces in Clarenville, what do you think of? Elizabeth Swan Park? Perhaps. Kids and their parents might gather because of the playground. But usually the gathering is because there's something happening--Winter Carnival event, Clarenville Day, Arts Under the Stars. Where do people in the town go to hang out, meet up with people, feel good about their community? Some of you are thinking Tim Horton's! The Shoal Harbour Trail is the beginning of what could be a nice public space. Many people enjoy the walk around the harbour but there's not really a gathering place per se. White Hills plays a bit of that role. Many people hang out at the lift line! Or meet in many of the cross-country chalets or the downhill chalet. There's a sense of community there. The creation of public places is an important topic to consider in community planning. Communities thrive because neighbourhoods thrive. Because people know and care about each other. Does t

It's often a challenge to show people the potential impact of mixing booze and driving.   Over the past few years, some innovative approaches have been taken in the form of mock disasters.   Such a disaster took place in Clarenville today.     First Responders from Clarenville held such a Mock Disaster Drill Thursday, November 29, 2012 in front of the Clarenville Middle and High school complex.   Members of Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD), the RCMP, the Clarenville Volunteer Fire Departments, & Fewers Ambulance Service extricated volunteer “victims” out of two smashed cars.    About 600 students, teachers and parents looked on as a very real rescue and recovery played out.

On November 25, the Kiwanis Club of Clarenville held a fundraiser at the Clarenville Events Centre that will contribute towards supplying Tetanus drugs to underdeveloped parts of the world. Here's a sample of the artists:

It’s a cool Saturday morning as I write this in Clarenville. The temperature is hovering at the 5 degree mark.   At this hour, on Harbour Drive, crews from a paving company are in the process of repaving damaged parts of the road. This “scratching and patching” as it is known, started Thursday morning.  Numerous pieces of equipment and numerous people swarmed over the road at the Huntley Drive intersection – at 8:30am.  10’s of vehicles, including school buses full of children were lined up to get in the single entrance way to Riverside school and 10’s of vehicles were lined up trying to get out. It was, for anyone caught in it, anarchy. Exactly one week before Council crews were busy doing a similar road repair in the middle of the intersection of Memorial and Manitoba Drives – again at 8:30 am at the height of morning traffic, causing further traffic anarchy and making a dangerous situation for Council crews. Arguably these jobs are necessary and have to be done some ti

Hebron just recently published their human resource requirements for the GBS build at Bull Arm on their website.   Needless to say, a lot of skilled people will be required to build that platform and, with a clear strategy, Clarenville could benefit greatly during the construction phase and beyond.   The first table gives the best indication on the types of jobs and the damand for each of these jobs through the project (Measured in Employment Hours).  No doubt we're in for a couple or three busy years!    CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT SOURCE:  www.hebronproject.com

To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. From: In Flanders Fields   John McCrae It's Remembrance Day in Clarenville. It was cold and crisp. Just the type of day that makes you appreciate the things we have - that things that make our lives more enjoyable and more comfortable. Based on the number of people at today's ceremony here in Clarenville, I am more convinced than ever that the significance of this day is certainly NOT being lost on a generation or two who have had no to limited experience of war. As we loose our veterans to the "failing hands" of age, I am glad to see so many young people catching their torch and holding it high. See photos of today's Ceremony on our OUR TOWN CLARENVILLE page HERE Stan Rogers wrote what I consider to be on of Canada's best songs dedicated to veterans - Sailors Rest... Dave Sullivan is an educator and a writer...this is a powerful piece from his book about S

What a Difference Seven Years Makes in Clarenville.   Today we climbed to Scholar John's lookout at the top of Lion's Face in Shoal Harbour.  It's just a 15 minute walk from the parking lot of Riverside school and yields a breathtaking view of the Shoal Harbour Valley looking out Ramdom Sound.  I took a picture from the same spot in the fall of 2005.  Compare the two photos and spot the differences. I'd encourage you to take the trail up to the lookout to see for yourself.   Click either photo to enlarge it and the right left arrow to toggle and compare the two Shoal Harbour Valley November 2012     Shoal Harbour Valley November 2005

We LOVE WINTER in Clarenville! Our community owned White Hills Resort has had some great improvements over the summer that will make your winter that much better. Thanks in part to a significant investment by the Federal Government through ACOA ,  $441,000 has been invested into upgrading two critical parts of the visitor experience in the 2012-2013 seasons.  First, improvements have been made to the interior of the day lodge and an extension has been added to the ski rental shop.  These changes will improve customer flow and reduce wait times. Second, there is a new point of sale booking system installed for 2012-2013 that will allow for a speedier and more efficient processing of skier registrations.  Through it, the resort will be able to book ski rentals and other equipment in advance, reducing congestion at the rental kiosks during peak periods. Our White Hills Resort offers winter  enthusiasts access to 18 ski runs and over 750 vertical feet of tra

For the past several weeks Clarenville campus’ Enactus team has been planning Trick-or-Eat. It’s a cross-Canada program of the Meal Exchange that has people collect non-perishable food for food banks in their local area on Halloween. Last Evening, our campuses Enactus team, coupled with a committed gang of Clarenville High School student volunteers, broke into seven groups to canvass Clarenville, Trinity and Burgoynes Cove in support of Trick-or-East . Thanks to the support of VOCM, THE PACKET and a social media blitz, many of the homes we went to already had their bags of food or their monetary donation ready. We collected hundreds of food items (in excess of 2500lbs and counting...) thanks to the generosity of people and organizations in Clarenville, Burgoynes Cove and the Trinity area. Owing to time constraints, we certainly missed some areas, however our collection is ongoing. If you want to help us help the food bank, please drop off you donation in the