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Catherine Fortuné has no illusions that flower power alone will hold back the tide of community mailboxes, but she figures gardening may slow them down and make them an election issue.
That’s why there are flowers (mostly mums) planted on two concrete-and-brick pads that are waiting for big new mailboxes in the Copeland Park neighbourhood.
She and her husband, Tim Martin, hope to rally people to keep home delivery. Like the neighbourhood itself their dissent is peaceful and polite, with neat borders.
“Why would anyone sit back and not take action?” Catherine Fortuné wondered aloud on Tuesday. “You have to stand up for your beliefs.”
In this case, you may have to garden. The couple put their flowers on one mailbox site on Navaho Drive and another on Ainsley Drive. Both are near their home. Both are formed by wooden sides laid on the concrete to hold earth, and bunches of colourful flowers.
“We’ve left room for other people” to plant more, she noted. And she said the midnight gardening doesn’t damage the concrete underneath.
“We don’t think it will stop them (boxes). We think it will delay them,” she said.
It’s certainly a gentler protest that the one Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre took part in, using a jackhammer to break up a concrete pad.
Fortuné hates the idea of community boxes, mainly because she thinks the snow will be an obstacle for elderly and handicapped people. As well, she suffers from a medical condition that makes it painful to go out in the cold, because her fingers and toes don’t have proper circulation.
In this election campaign, the New Democrats say they would end the phase-out of home delivery and restore it to homes that have lost it. The Liberals say they would halt the phase-out.
Marjorie Shaver-Jones is president of the Copeland Park Community Alliance, and when she heard about the guerrilla gardeners she burst out: “Good for them!”
“We’re totally frustrated by our attempts to deal with Canada Post,” she said.
She said it took intervention by Coun. Rick Chiarelli to persuade the corporation to meet residents of his ward.
At the meeting, “the two fellows from Canada Post really weren’t listening. They made it really obvious that they didn’t care what we wanted to discuss.”
Shaver-Jones said residents were only asking to change locations of proposed boxes, not stop them completely.
“In many cases there were real problems with the sites. The location is such that it would be a traffic hazard to have cars stopping there, or it would block someone’s driveway. Anyway nothing came of it.”
“A lot of people don’t like community boxes,” she added, “but we know we can’t stop this thing. We would like better sites. That’s the saw-off, I guess.”
She said Canada Post tries to give the impression of caring what local residents think, “but in reality they don’t care, they aren’t listening, and that’s really frustrating.”
Asked whether flower gardens will stop the community boxes, she answered: “I wouldn’t think so, but nice idea.”
One person who isn’t thrilled by the flowers is Yvan Brisson. The Navaho plot is on his lawn, and he says people think he’s the activist.
Canada Post wouldn’t say what it will do with any such gardens, but says it must go ahead with community mailboxes. It defended its record with residents in an email to the Citizen: “Whenever a concern arises from residents or municipal officials, we make it our policy to investigate but ultimately, our equipment – like our grey relay boxes or red mailboxes – have to be placed somewhere to best serve the entire neighbourhood.”
tspears@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
That’s why there are flowers (mostly mums) planted on two concrete-and-brick pads that are waiting for big new mailboxes in the Copeland Park neighbourhood.
She and her husband, Tim Martin, hope to rally people to keep home delivery. Like the neighbourhood itself their dissent is peaceful and polite, with neat borders.
“Why would anyone sit back and not take action?” Catherine Fortuné wondered aloud on Tuesday. “You have to stand up for your beliefs.”
In this case, you may have to garden. The couple put their flowers on one mailbox site on Navaho Drive and another on Ainsley Drive. Both are near their home. Both are formed by wooden sides laid on the concrete to hold earth, and bunches of colourful flowers.
“We’ve left room for other people” to plant more, she noted. And she said the midnight gardening doesn’t damage the concrete underneath.
“We don’t think it will stop them (boxes). We think it will delay them,” she said.
It’s certainly a gentler protest that the one Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre took part in, using a jackhammer to break up a concrete pad.
Fortuné hates the idea of community boxes, mainly because she thinks the snow will be an obstacle for elderly and handicapped people. As well, she suffers from a medical condition that makes it painful to go out in the cold, because her fingers and toes don’t have proper circulation.
In this election campaign, the New Democrats say they would end the phase-out of home delivery and restore it to homes that have lost it. The Liberals say they would halt the phase-out.
Marjorie Shaver-Jones is president of the Copeland Park Community Alliance, and when she heard about the guerrilla gardeners she burst out: “Good for them!”
“We’re totally frustrated by our attempts to deal with Canada Post,” she said.
She said it took intervention by Coun. Rick Chiarelli to persuade the corporation to meet residents of his ward.
At the meeting, “the two fellows from Canada Post really weren’t listening. They made it really obvious that they didn’t care what we wanted to discuss.”
Shaver-Jones said residents were only asking to change locations of proposed boxes, not stop them completely.
“In many cases there were real problems with the sites. The location is such that it would be a traffic hazard to have cars stopping there, or it would block someone’s driveway. Anyway nothing came of it.”
“A lot of people don’t like community boxes,” she added, “but we know we can’t stop this thing. We would like better sites. That’s the saw-off, I guess.”
She said Canada Post tries to give the impression of caring what local residents think, “but in reality they don’t care, they aren’t listening, and that’s really frustrating.”
Asked whether flower gardens will stop the community boxes, she answered: “I wouldn’t think so, but nice idea.”
One person who isn’t thrilled by the flowers is Yvan Brisson. The Navaho plot is on his lawn, and he says people think he’s the activist.
Canada Post wouldn’t say what it will do with any such gardens, but says it must go ahead with community mailboxes. It defended its record with residents in an email to the Citizen: “Whenever a concern arises from residents or municipal officials, we make it our policy to investigate but ultimately, our equipment – like our grey relay boxes or red mailboxes – have to be placed somewhere to best serve the entire neighbourhood.”
tspears@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
