A Bulletin Board Happy Thanksgiving

Submitted by Richard Harrison ob behalf of the Board

Dear friends and neighbors,

It's been a while since I wrote you, though we've been meeting quite often, so I feel like we haven't been completely out of touch. Still, it's good to pause every so often and think together the way a letter lets us do. Likewise, it's good to pause and share a feast of thanks themselves.

That's what I want to do now, 3 months in to the first year of this Board's work.

The Spaceship has Landed: First, thanks to everyone who participated in any of the ways open to us to figure out what we the building we were going to build should be. That has been a big and complex decision, not without dissent, not without its drawbacks and sacrifices. But in the end, we made a collective decision, one that will become one more step in the Co-op's survival. Not just that. In the maintenance of a thriving housing co-operative in the centre of Calgary

Co-op Meaning: Thanks to Herta and Kevin who joined me a few weeks ago at the SACHA AGM. I came away from that meeting with a renewed sense of how important co-ops are as options for housing in the future. And how unknown. I'm looking forward to working with both SACHA and my fellow Co-op'ers in helping to craft a renewed narrative to describe and promote Co-op life. Thanks to those on the Board, the Buildings Committee, Grounds, P&D, and all the other members who have already contributed to this project. Just as the co-operative movement is, the project is ongoing. I welcome any thoughts on this that you might want to send me.

Thanksgiving Dinner: Anyone looking for an example of what Co-ops mean need only look to Yvonne's invitation to all to join her for a Thanksgiving dinner. Yvonne, we all know this isn't the only time you have extended your time and efforts -- and food -- on our behalf just because that's what it means to you to be here. Thank-you for always keeping all of us as close as a plate away.

The Yards are Fully Pruned: Thanks to the Grounds Committee and all the volunteers who pulled, sawed, chopped, pruned, and carried (I'm thinking of you, small army of the next generation of Co-op kids who I hear at play every day outside my window) all that needed to be pulled etc from our shrubs and trees and yards at the beginning of this month. It was, quite literally, thousands of pounds of work, and it was great to do it together. Thanks for the refreshments, too, Zahurel and Belle.

Bridge Under Troubled Walkers: Congratulations and thanks to the Grounds Committee again on the completion of the access bridge behind unit 746. It's a beautiful piece of carpentry and I love it as a sign of a good thing done and good things to come.

Guests, Speakers, and Writers of Letters: Thanks to those of you who have written or spoken to the Board about the matters that concern you in response to my earlier request for your priorities in the coming year. Some things have been done now, as you can see; others are still in the works.

Yardworx: Thanks again to the current and past Grounds Committees for their work on the recommendation of Yardworx as our new grounds maintenance team. We are looking forward to a busy season with them, and we'll review the decision at the end of their current contract.

I'm realizing this list is long, it's not complete, and I haven't got to the big news of the week: So let me say this. While I haven't yet formalized the relationship between the Board and the Committees in the form of some kind of round-table discussion, over these past few months it has been a great pleasure to have spoken with -- in voice and letters -- the Grounds, Buildings, Member Selection, P&D, and Social Committees and our Privacy Officer to ensure that people know what is going on in areas of overlap, solve problems as they've arisen, and both make and see plans come to fruition to support the Co-op as a progressive, beautiful (I'm thinking of you, mural of honeybee and clover) and inclusive place. Recently, I read an essay by Vancouver writer Jessica Barrett. In it she said that a home isn't just a place you want, it's a place that wants you. I like that. I know we are not all in that place with this place all the time. Maybe no one ever is with where they live. There is more work to do. But I believe that if we keep that idea front and center, and do the work that it asks of us, we will be a place where the people in it want to be.

And second-lastly, I want to thank and express my admiration to Andrea in the office and the members of the Board for all the work that they are doing on the Co-op's behalf.

And now, We've Got Big News, and I'm going to turn this over to the people who brought it to us: Take it away!

(Thanks Richard) Planning and Development is very happy to announce that Sunnyhill has been awarded $112,765 from The Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund. Talk about harvest season! These funds are for the work we began in the spring. We will share details at an upcoming GM. Deep gratitude to the membership for your trust, thoughtful participation, and enthusiasm. (P &D Committee)

Happy Thanksgiving, Sunnyhill!

The Board meets this week. I'll have more to tell you soon.

All the best,

Richard.

Bulletin Board- August 2020

Submitted by Richard Harrison, on behalf of the Board

Hello fellow Co-oppers, 

I’m writing to catch up on the week since the Board meeting, and give you a couple of pieces of information regarding Saturday’s General Meeting as well.  The majority of that meeting will be taken up with discussion of Planning and Development’s presentation, as it should be, so I’ll be brief. 

Celebrating the Past: the Co-op Birthday

The recent past first: Congratulations and thanks to the Social Committee for setting up one of the most fun and memorable Co-op Birthdays in the 42-year history of our great experiment in team living. I’ve known Dan the One Man Band a long time, and I’ve rarely seen him in such fine form, chasing the laughing children in the way that only someone of whom one child could ask “Are you Santa?” can do and make them laugh even more. And of course, playing the oldies for the audience who love to smile at what we remember. Then: Hire Heels YYC, a Calgary Drag Queen trio, delightful, witty and risqué in a way that only the most clever and sensitive are with grown-up humour when they have a family audience. And no one’s going to forget this improvised number from Sunnyhill’s own (co-op member-built) playground: https://www.facebook.com/HireHeelsYYC/videos/306459357102090.

Looking to the Future: General Meeting Focused on Planning and Development 

The upcoming meeting will provide an update on the ongoing work of our Planning and Development Committee. In the past month or so, a lot has happened: the open sessions on MODA’s drawings for the proposed development as reported by the Communications Committee in their mid-August newsletter, negotiations with the city for purchase of our land, developments in our grant proposals. And a lot is still ongoing. This will be a good meeting to bring us all up to date, and to lay the groundwork for the decisions we will need to make in the coming months. I look forward to hearing from our Committee. 

Bringing the Past into the Present 1: The Motion about the Dryer Vents 

There is one other item on the agenda for this meeting. At the last Board meeting, Buildings presented us with a recommendation for work to be done based on our furnace and ductwork contractor’s assessment of our single-bedroom units. These are currently venting dryer air into the crawl space beneath them. This arrangement is not in compliance with the current buildings code, which to vent dryer air and lint out through the wall (the way it is with our two- and three-bedroom units). However, it is not compulsory that we change it to fit those codes, although rerouting the vents would be that much safer in terms of fire hazard, and less likely to lead to a build-up of mould. 

Now it’s true that this situation has been in place since the Co-op was built, so it will be up to us as a whole, since the expenditure is as stated in the motion, to assess the situation, and decide if we want to go ahead or not. 

Bringing the Past into the Present 2: Answers to the Questions about the TELUS Fibre Optic Plan. 

Last meeting left us with several questions regarding TELUS’s proposal to update our internet access by replacing the current system with a fibre optic one. The result will be more efficient and reliable internet. Here are the questions we were left with in our deliberations, the answers we have today. Let me quote from Andrea’s summary of her discussion with TELUS: 

• Will it be more efficient?

  • Yes. There will be no issues with port capacity with the fibre upgrades.

• Will it be more reliable?

  • yes

• Is there a bulk usage bargain?

  • Yes, the SACHA agreement is a 40% discount on residential internet and TV services. All residents will benefit from the 40% discount with the fibre upgrades. 

• Could TELUS provide a Fiber optics community cable that would provide Wi-Fi access to Sunnyhill grounds as well as in the homes? 

  • Yes, Ankit and team may look at the site and determine the best location to support this request.

I will attach the supporting documentation to this letter.

Telus Fibre Information

Bringing the Past into the Present 3: A Matter of Minutes 

You’ll have noticed that there is no mention of the minutes question, which has been an ongoing discussion, in the agenda for this meeting. Partly, this is because of time-dependent considerations. Planning and Development is our first priority right now, and what the Committee will be talking about should get our attention in as full and complete a way as possible. Zoom meetings have many advantages, but being less tiring than in-person conversation isn’t one of them. So as much as possible, the Board will arrange meetings to be as efficient and focused as we can.

The other reason for moving the minutes discussion to our next meeting is because, as we have seen, it is a contentious one, so we are going to need some time to work it through. This week’s meeting is about coming together to make decisions to move forward as a coop as a whole. The minutes discussion is, in part, about moving on one of the recommendations from our June 7 meeting to repair past damages to our functioning as a group. These are two very different tasks, requiring different mindsets; for now, the first cannot wait, the second can.

So I need to ask for your patience while the Board prepares a presentation on this matter – including all the minutes that require the community’s approval – at the next General Meeting. And we can return to that discussion at that time. 

Thanks, 

See you Saturday, 

for the Board, Richard Harrison, Chair