Latest news with #communityHousing
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
After-school program aims to provide opportunities for children in Windsor's west end
The Windsor-Essex Community Housing Corporation is launching a new after-school program for children in Windsor's west end. The program is specific to children living in community housing in the Sandwich community. It will provide after-school support, homework help, financial literacy, and field trips, along with personal development and sports activities. Senior Manager of Community Development and Engagement with Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, Jennifer Cline, said they're launching the summer recreation program to get kids involved before the after-school program begins. 'We have around 100 kids who attend our summer recreation program every day, so we're aiming for around 60 to 100 kids who will access our after-school program,' she said. Cline said it's a chance to give these kids different opportunities and perspectives. 'We have a lot of youth who grew up in our summer rec program who are now camp counsellors, who are not in university, and who are now going to college,' she said. 'We have some of our Windsor police officers who grew up in social housing and are now coming back and giving back to our communities. It really provides a lot of opportunities for them to see there's life outside of social housing.' Cline said the grant is going to help them offer different field trips to help broaden the kids horizons. 'A lot of our kids in social housing with low socioeconomic status; the families unfortunately don't have the financial means to access those different resources that cost to go to the movies or to go to the art gallery; there's a fee associated with that. So a lot of times our families are having to choose between putting food on the table or doing an activity,' she said. The program is in partnership with McBride Youth United and is being supported through a grant from the Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefits Plan. - Written by Rusty Thomson/AM800 News.
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘I was offended, highly offended': LMCH under fire as graffiti with swastika and genitalia left on housing complex wall for months
The region's public landlord is coming under fire. Graffiti showing a swastika and male genitalia were left on the outside wall of a London Middlesex Community Housing complex for as long as two months, according to tenants. 'I was offended. Highly offended. My family fought in World War Two. Seeing that symbol, it's a hate-symbol. It was not nice,' exclaimed one tenant of 1481 Limberlost Road. He didn't want his identity revealed for fear that he could be evicted by LMCH for speaking out. Instead, he reached out to CTV News to express his concerns. 'That's really sad. Tenants do not speak out because there's a cone of silence,' he said. The graffiti in question is a mess of scribbles made in chalk on the outside wall of a unit facing Gainsborough Road. The offending images are easily identifiable. 'There's always something going on along here with all these kids. So, never really thought anything much of it, I guess at the time,' said Rob Lavigne. A family friend of the tenants in the vandalized unit, Lavigne says he initially wrote it off as kids being kids, until the swastika was pointed out to him. 070425 Graffiti of swastika and genitalia on a London housing complex. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) He tells CTV News the graffiti has been on the wall for a couple of months, and maintenance staff at the complex were aware of it. 'They stop by, they give us new screens, apparently, and they never did. And they just looked at that and walked away and we haven't seen them in like almost two months,' said Lavigne. 'It's worse than offensive, it clearly constitutes hate speech,' said an angry Sam Trosow. The city councillor says he was contacted by tenants in the complex who complained about the graffiti, so he visited the site to see for himself. A vocal critic of LMCH, Trosow pulled no punches in expressing his disgust. 'Just disgraceful. This is on Gainsborough, it's visible when you're coming into the Wonderland Road, you see that. I've been complaining about the conditions at London Middlesex Housing. This is yet another example of their absolute failure to keep their premises in any kind of reasonable shape,' said Trosow. The city councillor says he's filing a municipal code compliance complaint against LMCH. CTV News reached out to LMCH to see what it had to say about the graffiti and the claims made by tenants. The agency issued the following statement: London and Middlesex Community Housing strongly condemns anti-Semitism and hatred of any kind. These acts are unacceptable. We encourage tenants to report these incidents to us immediately. The graffiti has been cleaned up, and this matter has been referred to London Police for further investigation. — London Middlesex Community Housing LMCH also says it sent a power wash crew to the site Friday afternoon for a thorough cleanup of the graffiti. In the meantime, just one question from the anonymous tenant who first called it out. 'Why did it take so long?'
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
No takers to redevelop Upper Clements Park site
It used to be a bustling tourist attraction boasting one of Canada's only wooden roller coasters, but now the former site of Upper Clements Park is a deserted chunk of land no one is in a hurry to buy. A request for proposals issued this year to redevelop the 26-hectare property has closed without a single official bid. Coun. Jon Welch, who represents the area, said it's back to the drawing board for Annapolis County municipal council. It will likely look to redefine the request for proposals and hopefully drum up new interest six years after the theme park near Annapolis Royal closed its gates for good. "I think we were looking for anything that would help return the land to some form of productive, community-orientated use," Welch told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia. "We were leaning pretty heavily toward some form of housing." Aging infrastructure The theme park opened in 1989 and Welch said he thinks developers could be reluctant to take on the cost of replacing the site's aging infrastructure, including water and septic systems. Demolition of the theme park's attractions and buildings has already taken place, except for a few buildings "that were in decent enough shape," said Welch. He said he met recently with Jill Balser, the PC MLA for Digby-Annapolis, and they talked about how the province may be able to help improve the infrastructure to be more desirable to develop. Welch said there is probably some disappointment and concern within the community over the lack of progress to redevelop the site, but he believes people understand that it takes time to find the right fit. "I think a lot of residents in the area have a very strong emotional connection with the site as it does have a long history as a community landmark," said Welch. Park closed for good in 2019 Upper Clements Park originally cost the Nova Scotia government $23 million to build in 1989. The park was privately operated between 1994 and 1997 before a non-profit society took over. The park received injections of public money over the years amid falling visitor numbers. In 2017, the province agreed to put $300,000 toward maintenance of Upper Clement Park's buildings, rides and attractions. The cash-strapped park shut down two years later. In 2020, Annapolis County council bought the site for $600,000 to be redeveloped as a private boarding school and advanced $1.8 million for the project. The $62-million Gordonstoun school project was described by the warden at the time as a "game changer" that would bring significant spending and employment to the area. But the land transfer and lease decision were ruled illegal in 2021 by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The court's decision said the outgoing council disregarded provincial legislation when it voted on the matter after a municipal election and before a new council was to be sworn in. Proposals 'have to benefit the public' Welch said the latest council wants to "do this right, not just do it." "Any projects that we are looking at I think have to be financially viable and they have to benefit the public and they should be sensitive to the site's history and potential," said Welch. "So I think we'll continue to welcome any serious well-developed proposals and we'll explore new pathways forward."
