Sweet Nuthins'

Princess Di wintered with us one year.
Her highlights shone like 18k gold.
There was no doubt about it. She was pure Royalty.

Tickety-Boo, on the other hand, got sent to the
Microbiology Lab in Winnpeg.
Tickety-Boo did not have Lyme Disease.

Cuddles the Caterpillar stayed just where he was
out on the hydro property.

For Bird Lovers Everywhere

For Sammy

http://www.maniacworld.com/bird-loves-ray-charles.html

The Ubiquitous Black Box

Its presence is known throughout the co-op
Yet stands alone in its perseverance
It is neither big, nor small
It brings us Good Tidings and that which is not
It is a forecaster of things unknown
And serves without reservation
It is the thread amongst us
The ubiquitous black box is in its essence
Our Mailbox

*****

I thought our mailboxes needed some uplifting. We take them for granted. Next, the fire hydrants.

The Meeting

There was a quorum at our All Members Meeting held on April 15th and so we proceeded to vote on a new by-law - The Financial Solvency By-law. In my posting entitled A Silver Lining, March 21, 2009, I expressed the following:

. . . it is essential that co-op Members be treated with respect by the outside management team. Member concerns must be addressed, letters or emails answered and phone calls returned. I emphasize this point, because to do otherwise is abusive. The general membership must also receive reports by the outside management team on a regular basis.

I expressed this point again. Another member at the meeting also stipulated that the membership must receive regular reports in order to be transparent. The Financial Solvency By-law was passed and we then proceeded to vote for two members of the co-op to sit on the new Board of Directors. In addition, two outside Board members were introduced to the membership. A third outside Board member was not present at the meeting. All three Directors work within the co-op sector.

Our By-laws have been suspended for three (3) years. However, the Co-operative Corporations Act still applies, as do all provincial and municipal by-laws.

Apparently there is one other co-op in our city and about a dozen co-ops in Ontario undergoing the same transition. Hopefully, we will now move forward.

Leftovers

This is our new garbage pad, or an illegal additional parking spot. Permission was given to our snow removal company to dump snow on our greenspaces. The company then laid down a surface upon which to dump. We now have a huge permanent gravel eyesore. It goes on and on. Gravel containing medium-size rocks tumbles down a once grassy hill where children used to play. The trees are severely damaged as well. NO, NO, NO!

Roadways

The surface of our roads seems to have been scraped away in many places - at least in Phase I. The underlayer of small pebbles is now exposed and those are breaking away too, leaving small potholes of dirt. The roads had a normal appearance before our roads were swept by the snow removal contractor. This will be costly for the co-op to repair.

Sunshine

Congratulations
to the two Board Members
elected at last night's meeting