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Who'll Run for Council? Part 3 – The Municipality of Clarenville

On Tuesday September 24, townspeople in the Province's municipalities will vote for new municipal councils. Nomination Day is Tuesday, August 27.  In Clarenville there will be two votes; one for the position of Mayor and another for the 6 other councilors who will constitute our Town's government for the next 4 years.   If you are interested in running, Municipalities NL and The Department of Municipal Affairs have created a great resource called MAKING YOUR MARK - it has lots of useful information for would-be-councilors. Here in Clarenville, I expect there will be a lot of interest from people considering running.  I’ve been there and I have some insights on what a new Councilor should know about the town.  Here is a summary of publicly available information on our Town. THE MUNICIPALITY THAT WE CALL CLARENVILLE Population Serviced Clarenville has one of the fastest growing populations in the province.  With an official 2011 population of just over 6000, up

Who'll Run for Council? Part 2 – What to Expect in Council Chambers

On Tuesday September 24, townspeople in the Province's municipalities will vote for new municipal councils. Nomination Day is Tuesday, August 27.  In Clarenville there will be two votes; one for the position of Mayor and another for the 6 other councillors who will constitute our Town's government for the next 4 years.   If you are interested in running, Municipalities NL and The Department of Municipal Affairs have created a great resource called  MAKING YOUR MARK  - it has lots of useful information for would-be-councillors. Here in Clarenville, I expect there will be a lot of interest from people considering running.  I’ve been there and I have some insights on what a new Councilor can expect in his or her role. MEETINGS General Meetings: Structure and Schedule If you like meeting lots of people with great ideas, Council is the place for you.  Clarenville’s Council meets every second week on Tuesdays.   The work of Council however is done in Committee and th

Arts Under the Stars 2013

Arts Under The Stars (AUS) is a free evening in-the-park concert series on held on Thursday evening's in Clarenville throughout the summer.  This summer's series marks the 8th year for Ats Under the Stars and each year hundreds of people from Clarenville and surrounding communities come out to take in the shows. We've had notables such as Ron Hynes, Hey Rosetta and Rising Tide theatre. This year, the series starts this coming Thursday evening and have/will feature(d) such acts as Craig Young & Leeland Wareham, Shawn Wiseman, Gavin Simms, Katie Baggs, Sweet Voices of Youth, Morgan Davis, and the Quidi Vidi Dirt Band (See attached Brochure) -- Thursday's @ 7:00pm at Elizabeth Swan Park Juno Award winning Morgan Davis - Aug 15 Sweet Voices Of Youth - Aug. 8 KATIE BAGGS  www.katiebaggs.com  - Aug. 1 PAST SHOWS Past Year's Shows

Who'll Run for Council? Part 1 - Making Your Mark in Council Chambers

On Tuesday September 24, townspeople in the Province's municipalities will vote for new municipal councils. Nomination Day is Tuesday, August 27.  In Clarenville there will be two votes; one for the position of Mayor and another for the 6 other councillors who will constitute our Town's government for the next 4 years.   If you are interested in running, Municipalities NL and The Department of Municipal Affairs have created a great resource called MAKING YOUR MARK - it has lots of useful information for would-be-councillors. Here in Clarenville, I expect there will be a lot of interest from people considering running.  Here's my take on what I perceive to be the key issues a new council/mayor/councillor will face...   Immediate Issues Municipal Waste - Clarenville is one of the only communities in eastern NL to have twice a week, all you can throw away, garbage collection. We have no curbside recycling and no composting (These make up about 50% of garbage by we

A Fleeting Opportunity to Improve Safety on Shoal Harbour Drive

Shoal Harbour Drive is well travelled, there is no doubt about that.  The road itself was never designed for the load of traffic that is on it currently - let alone into the future.  Some arguments have been raised regarding if the road should or should not be the main road - the fact of the matter is however that regardless of what should have been, Shoal Harbour Drive is now the de facto main artery for traffic from the Bonavista peninsula and Shoal Harbour valley to upper Clarenville. Traffic volumes will only continue to increase over the next few years and the road must be made to meet this challenge.  Something must be done NOW to make that road capable of more safely handling the traffic on it.   With the reworking of lower Harbour Drive owing to problem pavement (see my blog post COUNCIL DOOVERS -   http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2013/07/councils-overdue-do-overs.html  ) , and the development ongoing in the Parkview subdivision, now is the opportune time to fix some bi

Council's Do-Overs

After a three week hiatus, Council meet on Tuesday, July 8 and a lot of positive things got done - some of which have been visited before.    Here's a quick overview of key highlights and how the decisions could affect you: (the PACKET recorded the meeting for everyone to listen to and I encourage you to listen.)  VANDALISM There is a great look-out on the Shoal Harbour trail and seven years ago I was involved in helping get interpretive signage put on this lookout.  I was dismayed last week when I saw one of the signboards vandalized.  Since then vandals have done their utmost to destroy the works.  All four poster  boards and their mounts have now been damaged.   They will have to be redone at considerable expense to taxpayers. This was raised in Council and they agreed to issue a $500 reward for information leading to a conviction of the culprits.  Further Council will look at installing cameras on these problem areas. NEW PAVEMENT for NEW ROAD Owing to it

WALKING & DRIVING: UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED

I firmly believe more people should go for a walk in Clarenville.   Walking gives you a much better perspective on our surroundings and it gives you time to think about – on one hand - just how lucky we are to live here – and on the other hand – some of the challenges we face. Take, for example the Harbour walk around the inner Shoal Harbour.  Each evening, this trail is full of walkers enjoying the views – the ocean, the occasional eagle, ducks etc.  This trail was not an accident.   Some visionary people saw the potential for this trail walk and about 10 years ago through a well-organized effort, they turned their vision into the reality that we enjoy today.  Those are the things and the people that make our town a very livable community – and we are lucky for that. But as you walk, you will also notice a very worrisome trend that is not being addressed.   Traffic volumes have jumped exponentially in the past decade and most worrisomely, the average speed of traffic h